https://www.engineeringnews.co.za

Pandor calls for greater ICT research, development investment

Science and Technology Minister Naledi Pandor

Science and Technology Minister Naledi Pandor

Photo by Duane Daws

8th September 2015

By: Natasha Odendaal

Creamer Media Senior Deputy Editor

  

Font size: - +

More investment is needed in research and development (R&D) activities in the information and communication technology (ICT) sector to tackle five “grand challenges” identified by the Department of Science and Technology (DST).

Science and Technology Minister Naledi Pandor on Tuesday urged the private sector to take advantage of the department’s tax incentive to embark on R&D initiatives that could lead to solutions for “global change, energy security, space science, the bioeconomy and poverty alleviation”.

“With increased investment in R&D by both the private and public sectors, opportunities exist for bold interventions that will enable South Africa to secure a greater share of global markets in both R&D and manufacturing,” she told delegates at the eighteenth Southern Africa Telecommunication Networks and Applications Conference (Satnac), being held near Hermanus.

The DST aimed to further catalyse the development of an “innovative, sustainable and indigenous” information technology (IT) industry to provide the bulk of the country’s own technology requirements, while attracting local and foreign investment.

The IT industry provided solid platforms for the development of high-performance computing, mathematics, computational science and software applications to unlock climate change modelling and forecasting and enable natural science and environmental monitoring, besides others, Pandor pointed out.

The move was in line with the DST’s 2013 ten-year ICT Research, Development and Innovation Roadmap, which aimed to guide investments into ICT and harness the potential of strategic public–public and public–private partnerships (PPPs).

The roadmap was being implemented under the leadership of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research Meraka Institute.

Meanwhile, the DST had developed an overarching framework to engage large global IT companies, including IBM and Cisco, and stimulate PPPs in IT R&D and innovation.

“In the implementation of the ICT R&D and innovation strategy, collaboration with the IT industry and academia is of key importance,” Pandor noted.

The DST had injected R62-million into its Industry Innovation Partnership fund over the past three years to predominately enter cofunding projects with ICT multinationals.

The DST had now set its sights on cofunding projects and potential partnerships with South African-owned companies and partially State-owned telecommunications giant Telkom's 16 university centres of excellence.

Edited by Chanel de Bruyn
Creamer Media Senior Deputy Editor Online

Comments

Latest News

Magazine video image
Magazine round up | 29 March 2024
29th March 2024

Showroom

Booyco Electronics
Booyco Electronics

Booyco Electronics, South African pioneer of Proximity Detection Systems, offers safety solutions for underground and surface mining, quarrying,...

VISIT SHOWROOM 
Showroom image
Alcohol Breathalysers

Supplier & Distributor of the Widest Range of Accurate & Easy-to-Use Alcohol Breathalysers

VISIT SHOWROOM 

Latest Multimedia

sponsored by

Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):

Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format

Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):

All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.

Already a subscriber?

Forgotten your password?

MAGAZINE & ONLINE

SUBSCRIBE

RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA

SUBSCRIBE

CORPORATE PACKAGES

CLICK FOR A QUOTATION







sq:0.196 0.251s - 164pq - 2rq
Subscribe Now