Address by the Honourable Minister of Science and Technology of South Africa, Mr Mosibudi Mangena

31 January 2006

Venue: The South Africa–United Kingdom Day hosted by the Royal Society in London, UK

Ambassadors and High Commissioners,
Sir David King, Chief Scientific Advisor to the Prime Minister,
Professor Julia Higgins, Foreign Secretary, Royal Society,
Richard Catlow, the Royal Institution and the University College of London,
Professor Michael Brown, Vice Chancellor, Liverpool John Moores University,
Dr John Rowett, Secretary-General, the Association of Commonwealth Universities,
Distinguished Guests,
Ladies and Gentlemen

This day marks a special date in the history of our two countries as we celebrate the South Africa Day in the United Kingdom. It is a day where we celebrate the many achievements of our Science, Technology and Innovation partnership. More importantly, we want this day to mark a point of inflection, a day which takes our already good relationship to a higher and even more vibrant level. In all our endeavours, we should never lose sight of the need to use our collective capacities, energies and goodwill to contribute towards the improvement of the lives of both our citizens and the global community, especially those living in the developing world.

Science and technology often exists in a "disembodied form" in public consciousness. It seems to happen in a strange world where the linkage with humanity is minimised or lost. Popular culture also reinforces this dissonance by creating a stronger association between science and "aliens" rather than between science and the wellbeing of humanity. We must work harder to strengthen the public face of science. The S&T community also needs to be much more overt in demonstrating the contribution of Science, Technology and Innovation to the socio-economic improvement of people’s lives. While we have made some inroads in creating an international following around the core role of S&T in improving competitiveness, we clearly need to do much more to develop an international commitment to invest in S&T as a core instrument for tackling poverty in a sustainable manner.

The signing of the SA-UK bilateral S&T Agreement in 1995 marked a joint commitment to intensify our science and technology collaboration. The establishment of the Joint Research Fund fuelled our partnership at researcher level. Our work in Biomedicine, Biotechnology, Environmental Protection and more effective use of Natural Resources have benefited from this co-operation. A number of lasting research collaborations has been established and many young scientists and engineers have had rich experiences of international exposure with the resultant benefits of developing relevance and excellence in research. And in December 2002, we signed a Networking Agreement that brought together researchers from our countries to develop partnerships in natural sciences, mathematics and engineering. We are pleased that a growing number of researchers are utilising this instrument.

South Africa continues to seek innovative solutions to everyday challenges. We continue to explore strategic partnerships at governmental level in a broad global context to strengthen our human and institutional capacity. It is pleasing to note that our Science and Technology partnership operates in other international spheres as well. We have an increasingly significant partnership in the EU Framework Programme context; we are both key players in the AU/NePAD context and are often allies in many multilateral forums on S&T issues.

Over the last decade African leaders have substantially moved towards the realisation of increased cooperation within the continent. The adoption of a New Partnership for Africa’s Development ushered in a new era in the advances of Africa towards responding to challenges faced by Africans.

The 2003 African Ministerial Conference for Science and Technology adopted a Plan of Action for Science and Technology. This Plan of Action outlines priority areas in scientific research and technology that will respond to grassroots social and economic needs.

This Plan of Action has already borne fruits in prominent continental initiatives. The African Laser Centre (ALC), a network of research laboratories in Africa that collaborate on programmes to stimulate innovation in laser technologies, has already been launched. This network continues to develop research capacity in laser technologies, which resonates with our collective vision for NEPAD.

The African Biosciences initiative is demonstrating strength through focal points in every region of the continent. The hub for Southern Africa is hosted at the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) in South Africa. The International Livestock Research Institute based in Nairobi, continues to be the focal point for Biosciences in East and Central Africa. In West Africa, the Senegalese agricultural research institute is pivotal to regional research. The core of North African Biosciences research is strategically located at the National Research Centre in Egypt. Nodes to the hub in Egypt have already been identified and they include the Techno park of Borji Cedria of Tunisia, Biotechnology Research Centre of Libya, Mentouri University of Algeria and the University of N’Djamena of Chad. These nodes are forging networks of cooperation in life sciences and biotechnology, emphasising on agriculture, health, environment and industrial manufacturing. The African Institute for Mathematical Sciences (AIMS), continues to develop human resources from across Africa. We are now seeing AIMS gearing itself to expand into a network of regional centres throughout Africa.

These African initiatives do not only lead to a climate within which trade across borders can flourish, but they also provide a platform for human resources circulation. The Consolidated African Science and Technology Plan of Action is a demonstration of science capacity development on the continent.

The launch of the Southern African Large Telescope (SALT) in November 2005 marked a key historical moment in the development of Astronomy Geographical Advantage Programme. President Mbeki refers to SALT as the “Gigantic African Eye’ through which we can observe our earliest stars. Central to achieving the construction of this elegant instrument in a quiet and remote Karoo town of Sutherland, is the global collaboration which includes the United Kingdom as one of the key partners. The Astronomy Geographical Advantage Programme aims to establish Southern Africa as a multi-wavelength hub for Astronomy research. The completion of the first phase of the High Energy Stereoscopic System (HESS) and the imminent construction of the Karoo Array Telescope, which is a Square Kilometre Array Science and Technology Demonstrator, are significant steps in the establishment of the Astronomy Geographical Advantage Programme.

Science and Technology continue to evolve at an astonishing pace. For the SA-UK collaboration to build from the solid foundation laid in our history, we need to invest at all levels of human capital development. It is within this context that we can continue to explore increased collaboration in areas such as indigenous knowledge systems, advanced manufacturing, energy and climate change research.

The South African Centres of Excellence are forging ahead with research collaboration with the international research community. More specifically, South Africa and the UK are exploring partnerships of equivalent research centres. This development resulted from recent discussions during Sir David King’s visit to South Africa.

The South African Centre for Epidemiological Modelling and Analysis (SACEMA), established in 2003, is another example of our dynamic partnership. SACEMA has effectively drawn on the South African “mathematical Diaspora” - Professor Ekkehard Kopp from Hull University, Dr Brian Williams of the World Health Organization and Professor Wayne Getz from Berkley, played key roles in establishing this new capacity in South Africa. We commend the passion and leadership of all those who are involved in the development of the scientific programme, building of networks in South Africa and the development of a new generation of young researchers in this field.

Today we are faced with new challenges in developing the next generation of scientists and engineers to take us on new journeys of discovery. The attractiveness of being in managements of multinational corporations and the demand by the business world for scientifically trained managers, has increased the number of potential scientists being lost from the natural sciences and engineering fields.

Consequently, the need to replenish our SET population at adequate rates can never be overemphasised. The importance of our meeting here to explore further practical measures of mutually addressing this challenge, is bound to create sustainable platforms for knowledge generation and human resource development to our mutual benefit. We expect that through such collaborative efforts and partnerships, practical solutions to our common challenges will emerge.

Our human capital challenges need to be associated with sustained programmes to build a viable science and engineering infrastructure in African Universities. Indeed the challenge of producing engineers for the development of the African continent is not a small one. We need imaginative career pathways and post-graduate programmes that can produce graduates in applied sciences to offset the deficit of engineering skills, while still focussing on excellence and leadership for the knowledge economy in which we participate.

May I, in closing, take this opportunity to thank you for your unwavering interest in the programme and its objectives. We look forward to future engagements that will infuse us all with a will to make science and technology a positive life force for addressing global challenges and answering profound questions that have engaged humanity for all time.

I thank you.