(3rd Post) SOUTH Africa’s spending on research and development (R&D) is slipping, leaving it to trail most of its Brics partners, and raising questions about the effectiveness of state incentives to advance private sector investment. The latest national survey shows South Africa spent just 0.87% of gross domestic product (GDP) on R&D in 2009-10, down from 0.92% in 2008-09 and 0.93% in 2007-08. It means South Africa has yet to meet its original target of spending 1% of GDP by 2008, and casts doubt on the likelihood of its meeting the Department of Science and Technology’s ambitious new target of 2% by 2018. By contrast, Brazil has recorded a growing R&D intensity from 1.1%% of GDP in 2007 to 1.17% in 2009, while Russia increased from 1.12% in 2007 to 1.25% in 2009. China has already achieved the 1% target, while figures from India show the government spent 0.88% of GDP on R&D in 2008. Science and Technology Minister Derek Hanekom acknowledged the downward trend but said, We are pretty confident that we are about to turn the corner. The main thing that dropped is private sector spending. Things are tight (and) the uptake of instruments like the tax rebate has been fairly low, although we have introduced measures to make it more user friendly, Mr Hanekom told Business Day. A very big percentage of R&D was done by the big companies such as Sasol and Eskom and the closure of the PBMR (Pebble Bed Modular Reactor) gave it a big knock, and we are still recovering from it, he said. The latest survey, conducted by the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) on behalf of the Department of Science and Technology, shows the business sector contributed R11.1bn, or 53.2% of South Africa’s R20.96bn expenditure on R&D in 2009-10, a 9.7% decline on the previous year’s R12.3bn. The state spent R4.5bn, higher education R5.1bn and the non profit sector R189m. The acting deputy executive director for the HSRC’s Centre for Science, Technology and Innovation Indicators, William Blankley, said the downward trend was worrying, but was to be expected in the global economic climate. Business is not feeling that confident, and companies have to feel positive to invest in the future, he said. The survey also highlighted South Africa’s struggle to attract international funding for R&D, which increased only marginally during 2009-10, to R2.54bn, up from R2.4bn the year before. South Africa had its heyday of global investment and attention post-1994. Other countries and regions are proving attractive for international investments including R&D, especially in Asia and other developing regions. He said the total number of researchers in South Africa had hovered at about the 19,000 mark for the past three surveys. The number of women actively involved in R&D has risen since 2001, from 36% to 42% of all researchers.
Posted on: Wed, 10 Dec 2014 06:38:42 +0000
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