Looking into the Future: Innovation Capacity needs in South Africa

Transcription

1 Looking into the Future: Innovation Capacity needs in South Africa Rasigan Maharajh, PhD. Special Session A: BUILDING NATIONAL RESEARCH CAPACITY ON INNOVATION: THE CASE OF SOUTH AFRICA, AfricaLics 15 Conference, 18 November 2015,Kigali, Rwanda.

2 Outline Introduction: Concepts and Context Case of South Africa: Empirics and Learning Conclusions

3 Innovation across Time There is nothing more difficult to take in hand, more perilous to conduct, or more uncertain in its success, than to take the lead in the introduction of a new order of things. For the reformer has enemies in all those who profit by the old order, and only lukewarm defenders in all those who would profit by the new order, this lukewarmness arising partly from fear of their adversaries and partly from the incredulity of mankind, who do not truly believe in anything new until they have had actual experience of it Machiavelli (1515) The opening up of new markets, foreign or domestic, and the organizational development from the craft shop to such concerns as U.S. Steel illustrate the same process of industrial mutation if I may use that biological term that incessantly revolutionizes the economic structure from within, incessantly destroying the old one, incessantly creating a new one. This process of Creative Destruction is the essential fact about capitalism (Schumpeter: 1942)

4 Technological Surges Source: Perez (2010)

5 Accelerating towards a Collective Fate

6 Ecological: Faith and Fate? Source: Steffen et al (2015)

7 Innovation according to RSA Innovation tends not to arise by itself; it is generated and sustained through the efforts of people: innovation is where the spirit is. It cannot be legislated, or brought about by edict. It comes from individuals and from creative and interactive communities. Like happiness, innovation wilts in a climate of criticism and repression yet thrives in an environment of encouragement and support (Canadian AG quoted in RSA: 1996). Innovation is the application in practice of creative new ideas (RSA: 1996). a national system of innovation can only be judged as healthy if the knowledge, technologies, products and processes produced by the national system of science, engineering and technology have been converted into increased wealth, by industry and business, and into an improved quality of life for all members of society (RSA: 1996).

8

9 South Africa s Basic Domestic Characteristics Population of estimated 54 million people 35.4 million people aged years 15.1 million employed 5.1 million unemployed 15.2 million not economically active STATSSA (2014) QLFS Gap between Average Worker s Wages and Average Director s Salaries 1994: 40 years for an average worker to earn as much an average annual CEO salary 2014: 200 years for an average worker to earn as much an average annual CEO salary LRS (2014) Bargaining Indicators 2014 About 1 in 4 South Africans is out of work, and 1 in 2 among young people. Despite the progress in reducing poverty, there is a long way to go in tackling inequality. While a black middle class has grown up in the past 20 years, the average white household still earns about six times the average black household, and inequality within the African population has increased. Access to education has improved, but the overall quality continues to lag David Lipton (2015) First Deputy Managing Director, International Monetary Fund at the University of Cape Town, 5 March.

10 South African Periodization Political Economy Dominant Ideology Governance Framework Macroeconomic Policies Siege Economy Siege Economy Mixed Mixed Market-led Apartheid Dual Power Keynesian Structural Adjustment Authoritarian - Military Normative Economic Model Negotiations Normative Economic Model Democratic Developmental Reconstruction and Development Programme New Public Management Growth, Employment And Redistribution Strategy Mixed Marketled Mixed State-led Mixed Marketled Neo-liberal Neo-liberal Neo-liberal NPM NPM NPM Accelerated and Shared Growth Initiative for SA New Growth Plan National Development Plan Microeconomic Policies Sub-regional Industrialisation Deregulation & GATT WTO Privatisation & Structural Adjustment Reducing Costs of Doing Business Industrial Policy Action Plans Infrastructure and Sector Strategies

11 South African STI Policy Evolution Green Paper on Science and Technology White Paper on Science and Technology: Preparing for the 21 st Century The National Research and Development Strategy The 10-year Innovation Plan Ministerial Review of the Science, Technology and Innovation Landscape The National Development Plan 2015 Preparing for Next Phase new White Paper

12 SA: Gross expenditure on R&D as percentage of GDP ( ) Source: Mouton (2015)

13 SA: R&D expenditure by sector, ( ) Source: Mouton (2015)

14 SA Total Researchers per 1,000 Employed ( ) Source: Mouton (2015)

15 SA Headcount R&D Personnel Gender ( ) Source: Mouton (2015)

16 SA Headcount R&D Personnel Population Groupings ( ) Source: Mouton (2015)

17 Outcomes of the SA Ministerial Review The state s investment on innovation has been biased towards big science and inadequate focus had been placed on requirements for meeting the social development priorities; The role of social innovation in the NSI is under-conceptualised and underdeveloped; Supply-side thinking was prevalent and this contributed to continuing poor responses to market and social demand; and Inadequate institutionalization of science, technology and innovation measurement capacity. DST (2012)

18 Conclusions Embracing Learning by Doing at the Policy Level NACI Review of the 1996 White Paper (2015) Ministerial Review of STI Institutional Landscape (2015) Widening of the STI Policy Research Base IERI s launch 2004 SciSTIP CoE launch 2014 Monopolies, Oligopolies and Widening the Scope of STI Policy New research on informal sector Local innovation production systems (enterprise variations) Competitiveness versus inclusion Constant Challenges of Integration and Coordination

19 Faculty of Economics & Finance, Tshwane University of Technology, 159 Nana Sita Street, Pretoria CBD, 0002, Gauteng Province, Republic of South Africa. Obrigado Спасибо श क र य 谢谢 ngiyabonga Murakoze cyane