Honourable President of the Republic, His Excellency, Mr. Cyril Matamela Ramaphosa;

The Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee of Science, Technology, and Innovation, Ms. Tsakane Shiviti;

Deputy Minister of Science, Technology, and Innovation, Ms. Nomalungelo Gina;

Acting Director-General of the Department of Science, Technology, Ms. Gugu Zwane;

CEO of the CSIR, Dr. Thulani Dlamini;

Senior Executives and Officials of the DSTI and CSIR;

Heads of our Science and Academic institutions;

Distinguished guests;

Representatives from the media houses:

Ladies and gentlemen:

Honourable President, on behalf of South Africa’s public system science system, I wish to thank you once again for accepting our invitation to visit one of the South Africa’s most premier public science and technology institutions - the CSIR.

Mr. President, as you know, the core mandate of the Ministry, and Department of Science, Technology and Innovation (DSTI), is to promote and support South Africa’s national development agenda, as expressed in the National Development Plan (NDP) and the strategic policy priorities set by the 7th Administration.

The DSTI plays this role through the National System of Innovation (NSI) whose central task is to develop and optimally direct the tools science, technology and innovation (STI) to enable multiple objectives– transformative economic development, raising the productive capacity of enterprises, lowering the cost of business and improving quality of life, building a capable, ethical and developmental state and fostering the resilience of our nation in the face of new external threats.

In short, STI is, and should be, a major catalyst sparking societal change. Mr. President, today, perhaps more than at any other time in human history, STI has become the decisive and differential factor of production and source of human development.

No nation can hope to succeed economically and socially without embracing and harnessing this potential. And no nation can hope to achieve its core development goals if it fails to make meaningful investments in its science, technology, and innovation capabilities.

We are of course deeply aware of the vital role accorded by nation-states to STI in the context of the current crises and realignment within the global geo-economic and political system.

STI is seen as a tool for hegemony and dominance; to protect unfair privileges; to gain new advantages over competitors in the global production, trading and supply chain system that define the post-Cold war global economy.

Mr. President, from our own history, including the history of the CSIR, we know that STI can be used as sources of great good or great harm – it is a choice made by every nation-state. Our Government is firmly committed to its uses for advancing democracy, inclusive development and peaceful coexistence of nations.

Broadly speaking, I see four (4) over-arching contributions made by STI through our NSI to society. STI, firstly, is a catalyst for inclusive, transformative socio-economic development; secondly, STI provide the tools for building social resilience and human security in our communities – as we saw during the COVID-19 crisis and now with climate instability; thirdly, STI are also economic goods and services in its own right – that can be traded and add significant value to our nation’s gross domestic product; and finally, STI is an invaluable means of diplomacy to extend solidarity, cooperation and goodwill.

The CSIR’s as a strategic national asset

In this context, the role of the CSIR, as a major strategic asset for the future we seek to bring about in our economy and society. It is, without doubt, one of the crown jewels of South Africa’s public science system.

The CSIR possesses one of the single largest collections of the country’s top-tier scientists and researchers specialising in a number of cutting-edge domains which align to the strategic priorities set out by the 7th Administration – inclusive growth and job creation, reducing poverty and cost of living, and building a capable, ethical developmental state.

In the aftermath of the adoption of the White Paper on Science and Technology of 1996, the CSIR has been at the forefront of producing groundbreaking research and a number of transformative innovations in such critical areas as defence, energy, health, construction, mining, manufacturing, and digitisation.

The CSIR’s response to national priorities

Mr. President, I have been pleased with the CSIR’S efforts over the years since the 1996 White Paper, and more recently, with the Decadal Plan of 2020-2030, to align its own priorities with those of the DSTI and government, broadly. CSIR has played this remarkable role across multiple domains and in support of the three (3) strategic priorities of Government.

In the sphere of health innovation, for example, at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, CSIR managed to rapidly ramp up capabilities to urgently produce digital designs and local ventilators in under three months at a time when the nation was facing an unprecedented existential threat.

In addition, CSIR also quickly responded to a request by the Department of Health for additional testing capacity and converted its testing laboratories to support sample testing runs. The CSIR also licensed its Intellectual Property (IP) to Cape Bio, a company licensed to use the IP and owned by a young black South Africa, to manufacture Covid-19 polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test kits.

Climate change in particular is a domain in which CSIR has displayed tremendous agility in supporting the State. As you know Mr. President, during the last major floods in KZN, we faced serious challenges, including loss of lives, destruction of human settlements and critical infrastructure. CSIR, working closely with the South African National Space Agency (SANSA) rallied to support COGTA with satellite data to guide national flood relief interventions.

Mr. President, as you know, one of our chief challenges is the revitalisation and rapid growth of our industrial and mining sectors. In the mining sector, its focus has been using cutting-edge technologies developed in South Africa to improve the quality of mining, safety of labour, and limiting environmental damage.

CSIR is deeply involved with Mandela Mining Precinct, with strong private sector investment through the Minerals Council. Later today, we hope to showcase the important work being done, for years now, by the CSIR in the defence industry building on existing capabilities to develop new fields of expertise.

One aspect, which I know you have taken the lead on Mr. President, is how South Africa positions itself to compete in the arena of AI, automation, and the use of data to support our national strategic priorities. Whilst I should point out that the broader NSI has numerous competencies in the digital field (which will require a separate engagement) for purposes of this occasion, I wish to highlight the role being played by the CSIR in one sub-domain – that of cyber-security.

CSIR established a new digital Observatory, the Foundational Digital Capabilities’ Research, Cyber Security and National Policy Data Observatory. The creation of this capability is in response to the concern about the vulnerability of the nation’s assets as South Africa, like all other nations, are being integrated further and deeper into the global digital-enabled economy.

Given the enormous risks faced government and other institutions such as banks, we think the CSIR’s Cybersecurity Centre can significantly help our country not only to build the necessary risk mitigation capacity, but also that it will provide us with the technological advantage to put us ahead of the curve.

As you will see today Mr. President, the CSIR has a unique place in the South African NSI in the fact that it operates across multiple domains of innovation, and can therefore plug into various facets of our national economy – especially those sectors which have the best prospects of future growth, job absorption and inclusivity.

Mr. President, I have cited these numerous examples to demonstrate the central point – that CSIR is a strategic national asset key to the defence of the security of our nation, health of our economy, resilience of our communities and long-term prosperity prospects of our nation in a changing world.

What I hope we can focus on in the term of this Administration is to build on this robust technological base to deepen and expand the industrial and social footprint of the CSIR.

As new trade war threats risk hitting some of our vital industries hard, it is imperative that we diversify market access for South African goods. It will also be crucial to use homegrown innovative capabilities in areas where we have a clear advantage – such as critical minerals, renewable energy, green hydrogen, and our biological heritage – to produce new generations of exportable goods to new markets.

At the same time, we will also have to raise the impact of our technological innovations to build the resilience of vulnerable communities in the face of both climate change and new pandemics.

I see a crucial role for an expanded CSIR in tackling these epic challenges ahead. With more support from, and participation by, the Private Sector, we can help the CSIR to enlarge its impact and footprint.

The central mantra which I have assigned to the DSTI and therefore the CSIR, is for us to work hard over the next five years to Placing Science, Technology, and Innovation at the centre of Government, Education, Industry and Society.

I believe we are well on our way on this central task, and I hope to work with you Mr. President, at the next STI Presidential Plenary and STI Inter-Ministerial Committee (IMC) to set an energetic agenda to mobilise wider societal, particularly Private Sector support, and better use of our bilateral and multilateral partnerships, to drive an expanded mission of the NSI, including the CSIR, in the renewal of our economy and society.

With that said, and on behalf of the entire NSI community, I wish to thank you Mr. President for your time and for your continued leadership and consistent support for the advancement of science, technology and innovation.

It is now my honour and privilege to invite His Excellency, Mr Cyril Matamela Ramaphosa to come and address this occasion.

Issued by the Department of Science, Technology and Innovation