BRICS putting heads together to meet the Fourth Industrial Revolution
IN A time when economic difficulties have gripped the world, scientific transformations and next-level technology built to benefit society will allow anyone and everyone the ability to become an innovator and entrepreneur.
Discussing science, technology and innovation (STI) at the sixth Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa STI ministerial meeting in Durban, South Africa is looking towards more collaborative programmes that will see BRICS countries share their ideas on development at grass-roots level.
Minister of Science and Technology Mmamoloko Kubayi-Ngubane said Brazil and India had succeeded in their grass-roots development programmes and would be sharing their models with South Africa to allow for innovation and technology to reach people living in rural areas.
“Some of the countries here are doing very well at grass-roots innovation like India and Brazil,” she said.
“This is innovation done by young people in the communities and these young people who are not really scientists are coming up with ideas that can be mainstreamed into the work that we do and into government programmes.
“We want to expand on what India and Brazil have done and this platform gives us the opportunity to learn from our partners so we don’t make the mistakes they made in achieving their goals,” she said.
Kubayi-Ngubane hosted her counterparts for the BRICS STI ministerial meeting at the Elangeni and Maharani conference centre on Tuesday under the theme “Leveraging Science, Technology and Innovation through Inclusive Growth and Development”.
The Department of Science and Technology also hosted the BRICS Young Scientist Forum last week.
The BRICS Ministerial STI meeting is the highest decision-making body within the BRICS on STI and spent the two days reviewing its work within the strategic area of co-operation.
One of South Africa’s objectives for the BRICS included a discussion on a virtual research centre, the Fourth Industrial Revolution and the promotion of women in science.
“We, as South Africa and the host, are happy that we have been able to do quite a lot of work between ourselves and our partners and we see our partnership growing and making a difference in the field of science, technology and innovation,” she said.
Kubayi-Ngubane said that without the BRICS platform, they would not be able to share ideas, programmes and research work.
“We can call upon researchers from all countries that belong to BRICS and learn from each other. For example, if one country is doing well in vaccination research or biotechnology, we can share that research and implement the programmes in our country. Once we learn how others do it, it gives us the opportunity to try it knowing it has been tested.”
South Africa assumed the BRICS rotational presidency on January 1 this year and will host the 10th BRICS summit this month.
In line with the established tradition of previous BRICS summits, South Africa is hosting a wide range of BRICS activities leading up to and following the summit.
The ministerial meeting adopted the Durban STI Declaration, the BRICS STI Action Plan 2018 to 2019 and the results of the second call for proposals under the BRICS STI Framework Programme.
Part of the ministerial meeting included a site visit to South Africa’s Biorefinery Industry Development Facility (BIDF) in Durban. The facility is South Africa’s first to extract maximum value from biomass waste.
Brazilian Vice-Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation Alvaro Toubes Prata said things were moving fast in the science and technology fields and people should prepare themselves for the changes.
Prata said one of the challenges they faced was trying to empower and prepare people for the Fourth Industrial Revolution – the digital revolution.
“We face challenges in trying to empower our people and prepare our people.
“Our challenge is how to prepare our scientists and researchers, our communities and society in general but with policies, incentives and direction, everyone can move toward the Fourth Industrial Revolution in an easy transition,” he said.
Kubayi-Ngubane said the theme “Leveraging Science, Technology and Innovation through Inclusive Growth and Development” was selected by President Cyril Ramaphosa and pushed people towards adjusting to the coming of the Fourth Industrial Revolution.
She said that with the excitement of digital innovation, the Fourth Industrial Revolution also instilled fear among the general public that their jobs would be lost to computers.
“From various BRICS countries, what will come out of this meeting of ministers is how we are going to position ourselves to respond to the Fourth Industrial Revolution and ensure our people have nothing to fear and are easily transitioned,” Kubayi-Ngubane said.
Brazil will take over as chairperson of the BRICS in the next rotational cycle.
Prata said Brazil was “very excited” to be taking over as chairperson of the BRICS union and would be depending heavily on South Africa for direction as it would be passing the baton.
“We are very excited and are going to rely on South Africa. We work in close co-operation and South Africa will be helping Brazil while we chair.
“That is the richness of BRICS in that each of us is bringing things from our own cultures and countries and share it all with each other. We are definitely stronger as a group,” Prata said.