Hon Chairperson; hon Minister of Science and Technology, Comrade Derek Hanekom; our former Minister of Science and Technology, Comrade Naledi Pandor; hon Ministers and Deputy Ministers present here; hon members and guests of Parliament in the gallery; the Director-General and his team; sons of the soil, flowers of the nation, people of integrity, I greet you all. [Applause.]
On 13 March 2013, the Director-General of the Department of Science and Technology, Dr Phil Mjwara, briefed the Portfolio Committee on Science and Technology on the annual performance plans and budget of Department of Science and Technology. Subsequently, seven entities that receive their budget allocations directly from the department, namely the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, the Human Sciences Research Council, the African Institute of South Africa, the Technology Innovation Agency, the Academy of Science of South Africa, the National Research Foundation, and the SA National Space Agency also followed suit to present their annual performance plans to the portfolio committee.
The Department of Science and Technology's presentation provided an overview of the strategic context within which it operates, detailing its strategic goals, key priorities and recent outputs. In addition, the Department of Science and Technology highlighted a selection of performance indicators and their concomitant targets and summarised the budget allocation for each of its entities for the current financial year.
At this juncture, it is important to highlight that the work of the Department of Science and Technology is mainly guided by the White Paper on Science and Technology, which actually introduced the concept known as the National System of Innovation, NSI. This concept signifies an enabling framework for the development of science, technology and innovation at the national level.
In seeking to transform the South African economy into a knowledge-based economy, the department has engaged two key strategies, namely the National Research and Development Strategy, adopted by the Cabinet in 2002, and the Ten-Year Innovation Plan, launched by the Department of Science and Technology in 2009 as Vision 2018. The department's policy framework is further informed by and aligned to broader government priorities such as the National Development Plan, NDP.
The NDP considers science, technology and innovation to be key aspects of the South African developmental agenda. According to the NDP, science and technology are crucial for equitable growth because advances in these fields underpin advances in the economy. The NDP has its vision focused for our country to eliminate poverty and reduce inequality by 2030 through a variety of measures that would unleash the energies of its citizens and grow an inclusive economy, moving away from being unsustainably resource- intensive to becoming knowledge-based.
This signifies a clear alignment with the department's Vision 2018 and the resolution of the 53rd ANC Conference in Mangaung on science and technology. This means that five years from now the march towards 2030 will be led by the ANC-led Department of Science and Technology. [Applause.]
In the era of offensive and dominant global market forces, where biotechnology is being adapted by many countries in the world to biosolutions such as biomanufacturing, biomining, biofuel processing, bio- entrepreneurship, bio-informatics, biomanagement, etc, the Department of Science and Technology has also decided to review its National Biotechnology Strategy. This was first launched in 2001 and has been redefined in terms of a bio-economy strategy. The concept of "bio-economy" refers to activities that make use of bio-innovations based on biological sources, materials and processes to generate sustainable economic, social and environmental development. In the bio-economy, the entire innovation system or network, ranging from ideas, research, development, production and manufacturing to commercialisation, should be used to its full potential in a well co-ordinated manner.
The new bio-economy strategy is expected to provide an economic engine for the new knowledge-based economy, which in turn will provide a basis for future growth in the economy. Such science-based biosolutions can be used, for instance, to manufacture high-value protein products such as biopharmaceuticals and vaccines; produce biofuels; produce biomining products, improve and adapt crops; reduce production costs, reduce environmental impacts; improve quality of products, etc.
The bioeconomy strategy is well aligned to the National Development Plan's Vision of 2030. It is expected that by 2030 the bioeconomy will be a significant contributor to the South African economy in terms of gross domestic product, GDP, through the creation of biobased services, products and innovations, including bio-entrepreneurs and intellectual property management.
A major comparative advantage for the bioeconomy is the fact that South Africa is the third most biologically diverse country in the world, with almost 10% of the world's known plant species and 15% of all known coastal marine species. Furthermore, South Africa comprises nine unique vegetation types, of which three have been declared global biodiversity hotspots. It is also the only country to contain an entire floral kingdom, the so-called Cape Floristic Region.
South Africa's natural capital of biological diversity, combined with its wealth of indigenous knowledge, forms one of the country's greatest assets. In a nutshell, the bioeconomy strategy aims to build on the achievement of the National Biotechnology Strategy, to incorporate lessons learnt and to move forward with initiatives that can address the challenges and opportunities of the future.
In the global context, it is envisaged that the global population will increase by 28%, from 6,5 billion in 2005 to 8,3 billion by 2030. Ninety- seven percent of this population growth will occur in developing countries. Such population growth has a direct bearing on resources such as health services, essential natural resources, food, animal feed, clean water and energy. It is for this very reason that there is a notable and growing interest in the concept of the bio-economy in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, OECD, countries and in non-OECD countries alike. This interest is due to the bio-economy's potential for significant global economic, social and environmental benefits in an integrated framework. While the bio-economy contributes less than 1% of GDP today, it is expected that by 2030 this would have risen to 2,7% of GDP in OEDC countries and probably considerably more in non-OEDC countries.
The expected outcomes of the development of the bio-economy by 2018 are: a globally competitive pharmaceutical industry; functional technology platforms to facilitate preclinical drug development; funded centres of competence in the top five national health priorities, namely HIV and Aids, TB, malaria, diabetes and cancer; increased foreign direct investment in health-related research and development; functional technology platforms for agricultural biotechnology; strengthened animal vaccine research and development, as well as production; functional biosafety platforms to provide regulatory guidance and support; and functional bioprospecting platforms for Indigenous Knowledge Systems, IKS, as the hon Minister mentioned.
Judging from the above-mentioned outcomes, it is clear that a well- developed bio-economy strategy is very much interlinked with the development of the IKS. The IKS is a subprogramme of the Department of Science and Technology and is administered by the National Indigenous Knowledge Systems Office, Nikso. The Nikso mandate is to interface IKS with other knowledge systems for sustainable development and improved quality of life. The subprogramme comprises three directorates, namely advocacy and policy development, knowledge development and knowledge management. The IKS policy advocates that centres of excellence in IKS be established in order to interface with other knowledge systems, while generating knowledge and developing human capital. In line with the bio-economy strategy, the strategic focus of IKS Centres of Excellence would be public health and traditional medicines, food security, learning and teaching.
The IKS Centres of Excellence are currently hosted by the Universities of North West, Limpopo and Venda. Of late, Unisa and the University of KwaZulu- Natal have also been added. The participating universities have succeeded in registering a Bachelor of Indigenous Knowledge Systems through the SA Qualifications Authority, Saqa. Subsequently, Saqa also accepted the development of the Bachelor of IKS to honours, Master's and PhD levels. [Applause.]
There are three flagship programmes in IKS bioprospecting and product development platforms aimed at developing products, processes and services based on interfacing and mainstreaming IKS with other knowledge systems, namely the African traditional medicines flagship programme, the cosmeceuticals flagship programme and the nutraceutical flagship programme.
The first flagship programme, which relates to African traditional medicine, is focused on innovation in herbal medicines against diabetes, HIV/Aids and TB. The second flagship programme of cosmeceuticals has conducted human trials on two skin-care products with anti-ageing qualities. Some of you whose faces are ageing will be helped by this technology. [Laughter.]
HON MEMBERS: Hear, hear!