As the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) celebrates 75 years of establishment on October 5, the organisation marks a strategic year of redirecting its focus into industrial development and technological innovation, chairperson Professor Thokozani Majozi notes.
He says that, for seven-and-a-half decades, the CSIR has been improving the quality of life of South Africans through ground-breaking research and innovation.
During this time, Majozi points out, the CSIR has gone through three stages of development. From 1945 to 1988, the organisation focussed on addressing South Africa’s technological problems and on serving as a “central scientific powerhouse”.
From 1988 to 2006, the CSIR’s focus shifted to a market-oriented approach to support industrial development and, from 2006 to 2019, it increased its focus on research.
However, from 2019 onwards, the CSIR is focusing on industrial development and research, he states.
CSIR CEO Dr Thulani Dlamini says the organisation’s new strategy will create a science council that plays a more visible role in industrial development, underpinned by a strong scientific and innovation capability.
“The strategy focuses on getting our scientists, engineers and technicians to work more closely with private sector companies in their innovation efforts and it is upheld by the four pillars of growth, sustainability, impact and relevance.”
BETTERING SOUTH AFRICAN LIVES
The CSIR’s mandate has remained the intrinsic guiding force over the years, with the focus having been refined to respond to the global and local context.
A refined focus resulted in, for example, the spin out of a number of institutions and the establishment of science councils, such as the South African Bureau of Standards, the National Research Foundation, the National Metrology Institute of South Africa and the Human Sciences Research Council.
“The CSIR is an exceptional organisation and our unique multidisciplinary capability and the focus on making an impact in improving the quality of lives of South Africans is our steadfast pursuit,” says Majozi.
He adds that this “outstanding feat bears testimony to the relevance" of the CSIR and the role that it has played in South Africa’s ecosystem of innovation since 1945.
“It has played an important role in shaping the country’s science, engineering and technology space.”
Meanwhile, the CSIR’s 75-year anniversary comes as the world faces the biggest pandemic in a century – Covid-19, with Majozi pointing out that the CSIR has managed to “step up to the plate” to support the country in its efforts to curb the spread of the virus and demonstrated its uniqueness and relevance.
“We collaborated with a number of local partners to produce local ventilators that have been rolled out nationwide to patients showing respiratory distress in the early phase of Covid-19 infection.”
To date, 7 000 ventilators have been completed and delivered to hospitals and clinics, he says, adding that this is in addition to over 18 000 Covid-19 tests having been conducted at an upgraded CSIR Biosafety Level 3 laboratory in a bid to boost South Africa’s testing capacity. This was done in partnership with the National Health Laboratory Service.
Further, Majozi highlights that the CSIR is working to manufacture South Africa’s own Covid-19 sample purification kits in large quantities, creating a steady local supply that will speed up testing and reduce the country’s reliance on international suppliers amid intense global demand.