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Volume 3 - 1
| Contents | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 |
| 1. Foreword Welcome to the first issue of Innovation for Development for the year 2004, and good wishes for the remainder of the year. We have started 2004 with oodles of energy and loads of excitement. In the first two months we have continued to lead the advance of science in South Africa and the rest of the continent, and during January and February there have been many positive developments, amongst which I would like to highlight the following:
The theme for this edition is The Coelacanth - a big, solid name for a big solid, yet graceful fish, which has its home a hundred metres beneath the waves, a fish so elusive, that prior to 1938 it was thought to be extinct. Dr. Tony Ribbink reports that although the Coelacanth was "once a scientific rarity, it has become well known since a recent South African discovery of a colony of these 'living fossils', Latimeria chalumae, has sparked great interest, and triggered a study of coelacanths and their ecosystem in the submarine canyons of the Greater St Lucia Wetland Park." We hope that by profiling the coelacanth, we will encourage young people to seek careers in marine sciences and so become knowledgeable future custodians of our marine resources. We have also hosted the Third Meeting of the Group on Earth Observation (GEO), which brought together high level delegations from more than forty countries and several international organisations. The Third GEO Meeting held in Cape Town from 22 - 27 February, had the critical task of preparing for adoption by the Second Earth Observation Summit, (to be held in Tokyo in April 2004), the GEO Framework Document, which will form the basis of the ten-year Implementation Plan for the creation of the envisaged new globally coordinated Earth Observation System. South Africa is the Co-Chair of the organization together with the USA, Japan and the European Commission. One event that is likely to attract a great deal of interest from both the media and the public, is the working conference on biotechnology, scheduled to take place from 9 -10 March 2004. The conference seeks to clarify South African policy on biotechnology, to update the media on developments, and to look at the concerns of the consumer. As everyone knows, this year South Africa will be celebrating its first decade of freedom, and as a department we expect massive participation in science and technology events over a period of several months. As a sample of the good things to come, you might like to note the following events in your diary:
On a sad note, the department lost Minister Dr. Ben Ngubane to Foreign Affairs. He has been redeployed as South Africa's ambassador to Japan. However, we are hopeful this will provide an opportunity to forge closer science and technology links with Japan. We would like to express our warm gratitude to Dr Ngubane and wish him well in all his future endeavors. At the same time we warmly welcome Minister Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka from Minerals and Energy, who now has the additional responsibility of the Ministry of Arts, Culture, Science and Technology. In conclusion, we hope that this edition of Innovation for Development will contribute some stimulating ideas to the work of the department and the scientific community at large, and will assist in raising public interest and engagement with science and its attendant technologies. Thank you Nhlanhla Nyide General Manager: Science Communication |
Nominations of potential candidates for the Technology Innovation Agency (TIA) Board of Directors
