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Grahamstown, Eastern Cape
26 March 2009

The programme director
Representatives of the Makana Local Municipality
Chairperson and members of the SciFest Africa National Advisory Committee
Deputy Vice chancellors of Rhodes University
Executive Director and Council members of the Grahamstown Foundation
Official representatives of the embassies
Group General Manager of SASOL Limited
General Manager and representatives from Old Mutual
Representatives from other official sponsors
Presenters and contributors
Ladies and gentlemen

SciFest Africa is the first science festival to be established in South Africa after the release of the White Paper on Science and Technology in 1996. It is now in its 12th year. During this period, we have also seen the growth of a number of other science festivals in our country. And this is good news. The more people are exposed to the marvels of science, technology, engineering and mathematics, and the advantages they can bring through innovation, the more people will want to be involved, and want their children to be involved.

However, more festivals do not necessarily translate into better quality experience for the people who attend them. It takes a lot of work and knows how to organise a successful science festival, and that’s where SciFest Africa’s 12 years of experience shows. We hope the organisers of newer festivals will take careful note of what goes on here, and equally hope that the SciFest organisers will be generous in sharing their experience with the newcomers. We need more scientists, and we need to raise interest levels in science among our people. This is a national priority.

I learn with great interest that SciFest Africa intends to expand to other parts of the continent. This is in line with the public science awareness agenda of both the African Union and the Southern African Development Community (SADC). As a region, we have now agreed to launch and promote an SADC Science Week, and officials of the member states are currently engaging with one another.

South Africa needs to have a national science, technology, engineering and innovation public awareness strategy. Several components of this already exist, both inside and outside government, and further progress towards the national strategy will embrace the work that has already been done. The process will bring together initiatives by all the role players, with my department playing an important co-ordinating role.

Programmes and festivals designed to encourage public interest and participation such as this one, are a very useful means of communicating with the public. But it is equally, if not more important, to think carefully about the range of activities included in such programmes. A balance must be struck between activities designed to create a “wow” reaction, and those that show the impact of science, technology, mathematics and engineering on people’s daily lives. For example, it is one thing to show why Eskom must impose load-shedding when parts of its system are closed for scheduled maintenance, but it is arguably more important for people to understand how this electricity is generated; what resources in terms of coal, hydro-electric and nuclear power are needed; why coal and water are finite resources and what steps our country is taking to establish renewable energy supplies.

The question of electricity supply involves aspects of science, technology, engineering, maths and innovation. Engineers build massive dams to support hydroelectric schemes. Geologists work out where coal mines should be operated. Engineers plan how to drill mine shafts and build the railway lines and roads to transport the coal. Mathematicians plot how loads can be most effectively spread through the national power grid. Scientists are working on alternative supply choices, like thin solar panels, hydrogen engines, and improvements to the lithium battery. Technologists are figuring out ways of improving atomic reactors, and how to achieve less pollution in feasible ways. All these professionals are looking for innovative ways of improving the performance of their systems. And that is only in electricity and just a small part of it.

The aim of events like SciFest Africa is to enhance the public’s understanding of science and the important role it plays in modern society. Our National research and development strategy encourages government to take a lead in supporting initiatives to exploit scientific areas in which our country has knowledge, or geographic advantage, or both.

For example, we are custodians of the coelacanth. Specimens of this living fossil, a creature long thought to be extinct, were discovered off our East Coast, near the Chalumna River, in 1938. The fish has an ancestry going back millions of years, to the Cretaceous period, but has remained relatively unchanged. We have a responsibility to ensure its continued existence. Here in the Eastern Cape, the South African Institute for Aquatic Biodiversity has been hosting the African Coelacanth Ecosystem Programme since 2002. Significant progress has been made, and the programme has now moved to a second phase, which is mainly concerned with the delicate question of suitable levels of involvement, by ordinary people, with the coelacanth fish and the ecosystem programme in general. As far as the coelacanth is concerned, we have both knowledge and a unique geographic advantage.

As already indicated, we are moving towards the development of a national science, technology, engineering and innovation public awareness strategy. In order to face a knowledge intensive future with confidence, we need to develop a scientifically aware public. For this reason, organisers of events and festivals with broad scientific content should be on the alert for developments and issues of vital interest to the nation.

Ideally, we would like a mechanism to be developed, outside of government, by means of which organisers are kept abreast of developments in new national priority areas. It is the only effective way of engaging ordinary citizens in ongoing debates over science and technology policy, instead of confining such discussions to academics, professionals and government officials. A society that understands the implications and impact of different science and technological advancements on the environment and our daily lives will be in a better position to deal with global challenges such as climate change and drug addictions.

My department has developed a ten-year innovation plan that outlines the manner in which we propose to promote innovation to drive our transformation from a resource-based economy to a knowledge-based economy. In this plan, we have identified five priority areas we wish to pay particular attention to. These include strengthening our bioeconomy, developing space science and technology, improving our energy security, increasing our ability to respond to human and social dynamics, and dealing with global changes such as climate change.

Careful implementation of this plan will go a long way in assisting the department in its attempts to coordinate and steer the national system of innovation towards the achievement of common objectives. We have great hopes for this plan, and we want to infuse the same enthusiasm in more people to make it work better.

I want to commend the organisers of SciFest Africa 2009 for representing science as the global activity that it is, and for highlighting South Africa’s role in the international community. The strong astronomy content, not only demonstrates support for the International Year of Astronomy, but also bears testimony to the fact that South Africa is a strong global player in this field. We are bidding to host the most powerful radio telescope, the square kilometre array, together with a number of African countries. If we succeed, this will make Africa once again the global hub of astronomical activity that it so richly deserves.

Since the beginning of this year, I have been involved in a number of activities in which the private sector plays a forceful role in the development of vital human resources. Once again, the strong support of SciFest Africa 2009 by the private sector is a clear demonstration of the collective determination to build South Africa into a knowledge society. We thank and commend all the companies that are collaborating in this noble effort.

We hope the people who are visiting SciFest Africa 2009 will become infected with the enthusiasm for science. If you are a learner, give your imagination free rein, and revel in the quality of the science showcased here. What more motivation do you need to follow a science-based career? You can do much in life with a science degree. And a career in science, engineering or technology provides great intellectual and emotional rewards. As an academic in science, you might even collaborate in changing the world hopefully for the better! Fortunately, this science festival contains all the clues for making your dreams come true.

That is why it gives me so much pleasure to declare SciFest Africa 2009 officially open. Have a great time!

I thank you.

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