2016 South African Science Technology and Innovation Indicators Report

There has been notable progress in the expansion and transformation of research capacity

The National Advisory Council on Innovation (Naci) has released the 2016 Science Technology and Innovation (STI) Indicators Report, which provides data about the performance of the country’s system of innovation.

The 2016 STI indicators report is based on the analysis of the National System of Innovation (NSI) performance between 1996 and 2015. Coincidentally, government is leading a process of reviewing the current 1996 White Paper on Science and Technology and developing the new White Paper on STI, so the 2016 STI indicators report can provide necessary input into the current policy development process.

The STI Indicators Report is released annually by Naci, an entity of the department of science and technology. The 2016 report identifies areas of progress, but also points to the lack of progress in certain areas of the NSI.

Firstly, the NSI human capital pipeline remains constrained. The percentage of matric learners who passed mathematics and physical science with at least 50% remains low. The proportion of matric female learners passing mathematics and physics with at least 60% has been declining from 2008 to 2016. Unsurprisingly then, the undergraduate percentage of science, engineering and technology (SET) enrolment has remained stagnant between 2005 (29.4%) and 2015 (29.7%). Despite this, at postgraduate level, the proportion of SET enrolment as a percentage of total student enrolments increased between 2005 and 2015.

Second, there has been notable progress in the expansion and transformation of research capacity. The percentage of female researchers (full time equivalent) increased from 2001/02 (38.4%) to 2014/15 (44.1%). The proportion of female academic staff with doctoral degrees increased between 2005 (30.4%) and 2014 (39.1%) and the proportion of black (African, coloured and Indian) female academic staff also increased, albeit slightly.

Third, the international benchmarking of mobile cellular subscriptions indicates that South Africa is doing well in diffusing ICT access through mobile cellular devices per 100 people. This is an important step if South Africa is to seize the opportunities and benefits of digitisation and the “Fourth Industrial Revolution” or new production revolution.

Fourth, the research and development (R&D) intensity, or business expenditure on R&D in the agricultural sector, increased from 0.29% in 2003/04 to 0.66% in 2014/15. This is welcomed, given the declining R&D intensity in manufacturing and other key industrial sectors, and the importance of strengthening research and innovation related to food security.

Fifth, there has been notable progress in knowledge generation. South Africa’s world share of publications increased from 0.39% in 1996 to 0.69% in 2015.

The performance of the innovation system for the country during the period 1996 to 2015 is summarised in Table 1. It shows that there are visible improvements overall with regard to future and current SET capacity. A similar trend is observed for current R&D and innovation capacity, although there is stagnation with regard to the country’s share of publications in the engineering and technology research field. The number of internet users per 100 people is increasing, although this is lagging behind the number of mobile cellular subscriptions per 100 people (142 during 2011-2015).