Chairperson, chair of the portfolio committee, Dr Nqaba Ngcobo, members of the executive, Deputy Minister Hanekom, hon members, distinguished guests in the gallery and members of my family - my lovely children - I hope that this afternoon, Deputy Minister Hanekom and I will present you with a very clear picture of the immense opportunities for development that exist in science. Much has been done in the past decade to give life to these opportunities and former Minister Mangena must be applauded for his sterling contribution. [Applause.] This administration will build on the foundation that has been laid.
The world has changed fundamentally from the spendthrift world of just two years ago. Countries and parliaments are alert to the fact that, if they are to direct their economies to a new path of growth, traditional approaches to socioeconomic development will not suffice. Countries are trying to define a new way - one that leads to prosperity, inclusion, collaboration and creative ways of using knowledge and skills.
If one listens to discussions in policy networks and world parliaments, all are agreed that future growth will depend on expanding investment in science, technology and innovation. It is only countries and companies that make a sustained and well-designed investment in human capital that will be globally competitive in the future.
The key priorities, as elaborated by our President recently, for this government are health, education, jobs, rural development and agrarian reform, and the combating of crime. Each of them has a direct link to our work in science and technology. Better health-care provision will require new medical remedies, efficient medical technology and an indigenous pharmaceutical production capacity, so that everyone is able to have access to cheaper medicine.
Innovation is vital for a country that faces the challenges of creating sustainable jobs and improving living standards. The identification and use of new sources of energy, confronting and eliminating diseases, developing new treatments, expanding communication, manufacturing new products and using new technologies all depend on our investment in science and innovation. We've made welcome progress as a country in creating and supporting a robust innovation system.
In this financial year we intend to give increased attention to strengthening partnerships among universities, colleges and enterprises that have a positive track record in research and development and in promoting technology and innovation. In this regard we'll also promote direct collaboration with innovative private sector leaders in science, technology and innovation. Our awards and recognition for established, new, and aspiring researchers and science and technology workers will be expanded so that we seek out talent, reward talent, and put talent to work on making South Africa smarter and more effective.
The department will also give attention to encouraging co-ordinated government action at national, provincial and local spheres. Many departments support innovation. We therefore need to integrate our efforts without stifling creativity. Ministers responsible for research councils and other innovation bodies need to work and plan together. In fact, I would say we need to consider whether or not research councils should exist under different Ministries. Maybe it would make better sense to rather have them existing under one Ministry - that would make co-ordination more effective.
The Department of Science and Technology has been given the task of developing a National Science and Technology Expenditure Plan to provide a coherent approach to government science and technology investment. I am pleased to note the collaboration that exists between the Departments of Trade and Industry, Public Enterprises, Science and Technology, and Agriculture and Health. And it's this kind of collaboration that will inform the technology expenditure plan that we shall develop and present to this House.
Early analysis indicates that the South African government spends about R10 billion on scientific and technological activities. We need to derive maximum value from that expenditure. Our economic success will be shaped by the degree to which we successfully anticipate the future as the future will be shaped and transformed by new technologies. We need to ensure that we have a new generation of scientists. We need to work to turn South Africa into a knowledge-based society, and this requires that our schools, universities and colleges offer high-level skills training for all our people; training that will make them globally competitive, yet locally relevant. The Departments of Science and Technology, Basic Education and Higher Education will have to work closely together to ensure that we offer quality learning opportunities to future scientists.
It would appear to be true that whenever countries face economic downturns, the first thing they do is cut budgets for research and development. However, if one looks at past histories, there are very clear, well-known examples of countries that have invested heavily in science and technology during a recession. I'm thinking here of Finland and Korea which are excellent examples in this regard. In the 1990s, Finland faced a very serious economic crisis. Most public expenditure was cut across the board, except for research and development. Research and development investment was raised by Finland. In particular, the Finish Funding Agency for Technology and Innovation played a central role in laying a strong basis for an economic rebound. And all of us know the success that Finland has made out of Nokia and other technology-based industries.
We undertake to increase financial support for science, technology and innovation. Just look at the figures. Over the past five years, government has improved funding to science and technology. The budget has grown from a mere R2 billion in 2005-06 to R5,1 billion projected for 2011-12. In this financial year our budget will be R4,2 billion. Moreover, in 2006 our gross expenditure on research and development was just over R16,5 billion. These are respectable figures, but we have to acknowledge that, although these figures come close to our target of 1% of Gross Domestic Product, GDP, this investment really, in world terms, is very modest. Now is the time to increase our target beyond 1% of GDP for funding of research - if we want to do better.
Other countries are spending more - much more. China and India, in particular, are investing in their own potential for success. China is fast becoming the largest exporter of products in the high-end Information and Communications Technologies, ICT, industry, and through its 2005 decision to rejuvenate and promote its economy, India has substantially grown its research and development budgets for the public funding of science research and education. We need to build aggressively on these lessons and on our strengths to realise our potential.
Knowledge and innovation depend on us having skilled and educated people. We are investing in advanced education, advanced research and professional development. We are encouraging talented South Africans and immigrants in the department to take advantage of South Africa as a place to live and work. And we are ensuring that we support them to perform to their full potential.
In 2007, our government introduced the South African Research Chairs Initiative. With this initiative, we have given universities the resources to attract and retain top scientists, and they have access to the funding and infrastructure that will enable them to perform at the leading edge. We are committing R150 million over three years for new research chairs. By December 2008, we had 72 research chairs awarded in key areas aligned with our national priorities, and a total of 374 postgraduate students had been supported through supervision and mentorship by these chairs.
The process of awarding research chairs has unfortunately progressed more slowly than anticipated, but this year we will award 10 more research chairs, bringing the total to 82 in 2009.
We also intend to approach influential media organisations to secure their support in popularising innovation. Young people have to be encouraged to be innovative and to develop their exciting ideas into business initiatives. As government we must tap into the youth's affinity for exploring new technology. We should examine how young people can use Facebook and Twitter as virtual science tutorial rooms, and tap into their efficacy with such technology. Many people do not realise that within science and innovation lies the opportunity for significant skills development as well as job creation. Through our department for example, we provide bursaries, for undergraduates master's candidates, doctoral and postdoctoral students. This training requires support from well-trained science technologists, and if we could expand the training of technologists at our universities of technology, we would be increasing the pool of knowledge workers that would support high-end research and thus ensure that we have many more young people building the new research pool for South Africa.
We have designed incentives and a framework for scarce skills that recognises that knowledge cannot be bound by borders. We encourage scientists in the Diaspora to come back to South Africa for work visits or collaborative virtual research. We have hundreds of scientists, who are South African, at universities all over the world. We must create opportunities for them to work with us, in South Africa, without binding them to be fully or permanently resident in our country. These interventions require a research infrastructure that supports a national innovation system. Worn-out laboratories, old machinery and thus disillusioned, neglected scientists will not give us the kind of results we want.
Seventeen years ago, state-supported institutions in South Africa led in several areas of science: agriculture; electrical technology; and mining engineering. Much of this infrastructure has, in the past 17 years, been allowed to deteriorate due to neglect and the lack of appreciation as to its impact on our scientific world ranking. Infrastructure attracts world scientists, and allows for the development of new ideas, new technology and innovation.
The excellent progress we've seen in the Square Kilometre Array radio telescope is visible testimony of how a country can benefit from its natural attributes and from a focused strategic investment. South Africa and Australia have been shortlisted in the final phase of the world search to build the most efficient and advanced radio telescope. Our Australian colleagues tell me they are hoping to beat us, as we have beaten them in cricket and rugby, and I have informed them there is no way they will beat us with this one. [Applause.]
We have been successful, up to this point, due to the skills and talent that we have in our country, due to the investment we have made, and due to the world interest in such an exciting project. The winning country for the Square Kilometre Array will be announced in 2011. We are working very hard to ensure that South Africa is the winning country. We have two more years to provide sustained and committed support for this project. Let us not allow anyone to deny the SKA the funding it needs for us to get to completion. If we do so, we'll lose out on a world achievement. Both of us, Australia and South Africa, are busy building demonstration telescopes to develop the necessary technology and to illustrate our ability to meet scientific research expectations. Our demonstration telescope, called the Meerkat, would be fully assembled by 2010. This is a Meerkat. [Laughter.]
As part of this development, we have taken steps to protect the ideal radio astronomy conditions offered by the Karoo area. Whoever thought the Karoo would be a world site for such a scientific development? We have passed, through the third Parliament, the Astronomy Geographic Advantage Act, which aims to preserve our geographic advantage, our climate and our clear skies, for astronomy research infrastructure. We've begun to explore the commercial potential of publicly funded research. Our new legislative framework on intellectual property will support academic and public research institutions in identifying intellectual property with likely commercial potential and we hope to forge partnerships between them and the private sector.
We will, of course, pursue these objectives with careful attention to the experience of other systems that have shown that freedom to investigate and explore gives the most enduring and effective results. Public institutions will be encouraged to include innovation in their strategic plans and our universities with the potential for business-linked research will be supported to pursue knowledge-based partnerships. We are considering how we could develop new partnerships with universities that will allow them to contribute more vigorously to advancing innovation and technology.
Many countries in the world have begun to turn to something that we had become wise to several years ago through the leadership of Dr Wally Serote, and that is the development and support of indigenous knowledge systems. Our branch for community partnerships for science and innovation has begun to develop very promising partnerships for promoting research and innovation on indigenous knowledge systems.
We believe that in the area of indigenous pharmaceuticals there are untapped opportunities for economic growth, skills and job creation, and our Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, CSIR, has begun to lead health research, which has led to the development of a herbal extract for the treatment of mild asthma, colds, influenza and sinus problems. The results have pointed to the mode of action through which this traditional remedy acts, and it is the first scientific evidence that validates the traditional use of the plant form which the extract is made from for treating asthma - these are very interesting results about the efficacy of indigenous health knowledge.
Our science councils are also making enormous contributions to the fulfilment of our objectives, particularly those aimed at alleviating the plight of the poor. The Council for Scientific and Industrial Research is hosting research projects that intend to develop construction technologies for affordable, sustainable, high quality housing for middle to low-income earners. We, in fact, have a very interesting project right here in the Western Cape in which the CSIR is participating in the building of houses using this new technology.
We are better positioned, we believe, to weather the current economic recession than many other countries, owing to our commitment to large-scale infrastructure development. This offers opportunities for real technology investment. We have a unique window of opportunity to capture a greater share of the spending for infrastructure to improve science, technology and innovation and allow South African companies to progress down the value chain to become globally competitive suppliers.
We've also designed a technology localisation strategy that will provide tailor-made technology assistance packages to companies that are potential suppliers to original equipment manufacturers or to their first-tier suppliers. We may, in fact, support South African companies to secure the benefits of this massive R787 billion infrastructure investment programme. The first areas of focus in this localisation strategy are the foundry industry, as part of the Eskom and Transnet infrastructure programmes, and the electronics industry in relation to the mass roll-out of set-top boxes that will be required as we move to digital broadcasting. We also will be implementing the National Space Strategy approved by Cabinet in December 2008. We are also promoting and supporting the use of cutting edge technologies to address key local information communication and technology challenges.
For many years, our department has been making strides in developing the ability to become a competitive leader in the innovation technology arena, and I'm very pleased to present to hon members the budget for the Department of Science and Technology.
Finally, let me also say, we are interested in supporting education through the use of technology. We have developed an innovation that will assist young people in our schools, in a very cheap way, to access information through Wikipedia and other internet-based applications in order to have information that supports their study and their research.
Chairperson, I hope you and the hon members will support my proposal that we as South Africa and this Parliament, in particular, must make a very robust effort to locate science, technology and innovation at the centre of development in South Africa. Thank you, Chairperson, the Director-General and officials in the department, plus the Deputy Minister for their support and understanding, and I move this Budget. Thank you. [Applause.]