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South Africa is reaping the benefits of its considerable investment in research capabilities through the SA Research Chairs Initiative (SARChI).
National Research Foundation chief executive Dr Albert van Jaarsveld says this is most evident in the country punching above its weight in the volume and quality of research outputs as a percentage of the global output.
“We were at 0,5% of global output in 2004, and that has now grown to 0,74%. And while this is an improvement, I think we should be aiming for 1%,” says Van Jaarsveld. “The local research community has also become increasingly internationalised, with 52% of our work being done with international partners. This compares very well against our BRICS partners who are at levels of 20% to 25%.
Expanding the base
“The increased output and capabilities in local institutions have also contributed to the retention of skills that may have left our shores for better opportunities abroad.”
Van Jaarsveld says the programme has been vital in expanding the base of scientific expertise in the country, not only in human resource capacity but also in introducing research programmes at universities that have not traditionally been research intensive.
“It is changing the culture of those institutions and I would like to see all universities become more research active if we can. We have also been very successful in attracting talent from abroad to further improve research capabilities.”
He says that other important measures of the success of the SARChI programme include the creation of a vibrant research system that attracts skills, investment and R&D-intensive enterprises that create employers rather than a culture of seeking employment.
This ties into the long-term goal of commercialising South African intellectual property developed in the country’s research labs and projects.
“Slowly but surely we’re seeing the number of patents improving in some exciting fields that range from malarial drugs and radio pharmaceutical isotopes to quantum computing. We have to make sure we pass on these products to the right industrial partners to commercialise successfully, which we are doing through our relationship with the Technology Innovation Agency,” he says.
“The pipeline is quite thin at the moment, but it’s a culture we have to develop. We are also learning that we can’t always expect researchers to run a business concurrently with their research work. We have to create these linkages and make sure the right people get access to that intellectual property.”
Van Jaarsveld says this approach is essential to realising the socio-economic benefits of a future knowledge economy. “I think we need to understand that the only thing that will make us competitive in the future is our skills base. We can’t be training people for the economy that exists now, we should be training them for the future economy over the horizon.”