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2 March 2009

Honourable Paavo Väyrynen, Finnish Minister of Foreign Trade and Development,
Your Excellency, Ambassador Heiki Tuunanen,
Captains of industry present,
Distinguished guests,
Ladies and gentlemen

On my recent trip to Finland, I visited a number of enterprises. Among them was the Nokia headquarters and several scientific institutions, including Tekes, your Funding Agency for Technology and Innovation, Sitra, the Finnish Innovation Fund, and the Science and Technology Policy Council, which I believe, was renamed the Research and Innovation Council at the beginning of this year to indicate a change of focus in its mission, which now emphasises the "direction, follow-up, evaluation and harmonisation of science, technology and innovation policies."

South Africa is a great admirer of the Finnish way of doing things, and we follow the changes you are making closely. What inspired me most during my visit was the close co-operation between public players in the innovation environment, and the strong partnerships between your government and the Finnish private sector. I have no doubt this factor lies at the heart of your formidable competitiveness as a nation. And that is why your country's admirable system of innovation has attracted our special attention.

My country has several valuable international science and technology partnerships, but none is more unique and nuanced than the relationship we enjoy with the government of Finland, which has been in the forefront in encouraging us in our quest to build our innovation capacity to develop a knowledge society.

As you know, there are no less than three partnership programmes between us:
First, is the Co-operation Framework on Innovation Systems between Finland and South Africa (or COFISA),
Second, is the South Africa-Finland Partnership on information and communications technology (SAFIPA), and
Third, the Finnish-Southern Africa Partnership (BioFISA) to strengthen the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) South African Network for Biosciences (SANBIO) node

Let me touch briefly on the progress made in these initiatives:

Through COFISA, collaboration has been established between South African and Finnish innovation system practitioners and experts. A number of working visits, focusing on specific facets of the national and regional innovation systems, have taken place, and there is evidence that a growing 'community of practice' in innovation is now emerging in our society.

The Finnish co-funded Activator Programme is currently running in partnership with the Innovation Hub and the Gauteng Provincial Government (GPG). In this, the context, policies, methodologies and know-how are being developed to stimulate and facilitate collaborative business-oriented projects linking large and small business, research and development institutions and academia.

The outcome of the initiative will be sustainable opportunities for the development of small to medium high-tech enterprises, and the creation of job opportunities in South Africa. We are aware that such programmes in Finland are most commonly led by science parks, which is why we believe the Innovation Hub is an ideal partner.

Speaking of science parks, I'm sure you will be pleased to learn that in the Eastern Cape – one of our poorest provinces, and one that remains largely rural – the initiative to build a new science and technology park in East London is underway. This is a combined effort of the East London Industrial Development Zone, Walter Sisulu University, and the Buffalo City Metro. The involvement of these three entities reinforces our perception that the triple helix approach, so successful in similar initiatives worldwide, is a good recipe for sustainability.

In the Western Cape, progress is being made in aligning elements of the innovation system and the co-ordination of relevant activities. Here again, discussions on potential science park developments are ongoing, and an Activator Programme similar to that in Gauteng will be launched as part of the Innovation Convergence Centre of the Cape Biotech Trust, one of my department's Biotechnology Regional Innovation Centres. In addition, growth sectors such as boat building and information and communications technology have been the subject of in-depth studies.

As you know, SAFIPA is a much more recent development than COFISA. Yet an encouraging level of support is already being provided to small businesses from poverty stricken areas and individual entrepreneurs, some of them surprisingly young. SAFIPA is also playing a crucial role in complementing our government's information and communications technology (ICT) social programmes. Again, I wish to use this opportunity to acknowledge the valuable contribution made by the private sector in both South Africa and Finland.

The BioFISA programme dates from only last December, but the few lessons learnt from the SAFIPA and COFISA will be used in its development.

As you are aware, one of our biggest challenges here is to improve the levels of investment by the private sector in research and development. Our public sector investment is currently about 45 percent of the total research and development (R&D) investment, which is very high when compared to Finland's 30 percent and that in most Organisations for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries. As far as investment in R&D as a percentage of the Gross Dometic Product (GDP) is concerned, Finland's percentage is four percent, but South Africa's target of one percent, which is hardly competitive, has not yet been achieved.

One of Finland's many strengths is its strong public-private partnerships, which facilitate the uptake and translation of research results into products which can be readily commercialised. We want to do something similar, and I am pleased to inform you that significant progress has been made towards the establishment of our country's Technology Innovation Agency and National Intellectual Property Management Office.

These are crucial instruments, and we are optimistic that together, they will help foster the funding and support partnerships required for the development of essential cutting-edge science, technology and innovation capabilities in South Africa.

The Technology Innovation Agency will be an institutional mechanism used by our National System of Innovation to mine the existing body of knowledge, and stimulate the generation of new knowledge. The objective is to develop technology-based products and services that have the potential for commercialisation locally and abroad. Once again, honourable Minister, this is where we hope our partnership with Finland will come in handy.

We were envious when we learned, recently, that the number of nanotechnology companies in Finland has tripled since 2004, effectively increasing employment from around 300 to almost 3 000 people. And this can be fully attributed to the research and development activities in the field. As a result, the revenue of your nanotechnology industry revenue now exceeds 300 million Euros.

We believe we can and must provide the same sort of stimulus, and that is why we are in the process of establishing centres of competence, which are a new form of industry-academic-science council alliances aimed at undertaking research and development that is geared towards commercialising the outcomes.

Another important factor is the question of intellectual property rights. Since 2004, there has been a growing emphasis on the creation and exploitation of South African-developed intellectual property to benefit the country. This has led to the design and implementation of a legislative and policy framework, which provides for the establishment of a dedicated agency function that can identify and effectively manage intellectual property resulting from public financing. In order to fulfil this function, the National Intellectual Property Management Office will be established during the course of this year, under the Intellectual Property Rights from Publicly Financed Research and Development Act passed in 2008. This, in our view, entrenches our country's commitment to protect intellectual property rights.

In closing, I once again thank you, Honourable Minister, and Your Excellency the Ambassador, as well as the people of Finland, for your continuing interest in South Africa's unfolding tapestry. We were, for many years, once handicapped in demonstrating our nation's worth. But thanks to the good will of countries like yours, we are learning to be competitive again. Indeed, in several fields such as astronomy, anthropaleontology, biosciences and renewable energy research, to name but a few, our scientists rank with the world's best.

But our research and development expenditure remains at a level that makes it impossible for us to succeed in the global marketplace. I urge this forum to engage on this vexing issue, and try to find the remedies we can use to stimulate the growth and prosperity of our country.

Thank you.

Issued by: Department of Science and Technology
2 March 2009
Source: Department of Science and Technology (http://www.dst.gov.za)