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South African Innovation Landscape and Framework Conditions for SA

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South African Innovation Landscape and Framework Conditions for SA THE SOUTH AFRICAN INNOVATION LANDSCAPE AND FRAMEWORK CONDITIONS TO SUPPORT COLLABORATION BETWEEN SOUTH AFRICA AND THE EUROPEAN UNION WP: 3.1 & 3.2 Deliverable 3.1 23 October 2015 The ESASTAP Plus project is funded by the European Union Seventh Framework Programme under grant agreement n° 312015. PREFACE ESASTAP Plus – Strengthening Technology, Research and Innovation Cooperation between Europe and South Africa. The European Union and South Africa have long been committed to strategic cooperation in science and technology, dating back to their 1996 Cooperation Agreement, which facilitated cooperation under the Framework Programmes. On the other hand, South Africa has concluded several bilateral cooperation agreements with EU Member States, and is aiming to create a robust national system of innovation to enable its transition to a knowledge economy, achieving sustained growth and development. Moreover, the Innovation Union Flagship Initiative provides a new innovation policy context for the EU with an emphasis on addressing global societal challenges, increasing European competitiveness and attracting research talents and investments to Europe. South Africa and the EU, thus, share similar objectives and there is rich potential for cooperation in innovation to complement their substantial trade, innovation and development cooperation. ESASTAP Plus will support the deepening of scientific and technological cooperation with a special focus on innovation. This will be achieved by supporting South Africa’s participation in Horizon 2020, but also by promoting reciprocal European participation in South African programmes. Specific input will be provided to enrich the bilateral policy dialogue, notably to identify priority areas for mutually beneficial cooperation. A major focus will be to target coordination of Member States and Associated Countries' research policies and programmes vis- ΰ-vis South Africa, encouraging the development of new joint initiatives implemented by several countries. Synergy between different EU cooperation initiatives will also be encouraged, e.g. between development cooperation and research programmes. ESASTAP Plus targets four key objectives in order to enhance South African – EU cooperation in science, technology and innovation, namely to: (1) Enrich the science, technology and innovation policy dialogue; (2) Promote strategic cooperation under the main instruments, chiefly Horizon 2020; 2 (3) Better coordinate and exploit synergy between EU and national programmes; and (4) Expand cooperation to specifically address innovation partnerships. The objectives of ESASTAP Plus are aligned with the International Cooperation Communication's vision, released recently, for developing mutually beneficial partnerships with strategic partners. ESASTAP Plus is funded by the European Commission's Directorate-General for Research and Innovation, under the 7th Framework Programme and will last for three years. ESASTAP Plus is coordinated by the PRAXI Network, a specific unit of FORTH (Foundation of Research and Technology Hellas) in Greece which was created from a strategic alliance of the Research and the Industrial world in Greece. PRAXI is one of the main NCP organisations in Greece, is the coordinator of the Greek Enterprise Europe Network consortium, and runs the liaison office for FORTH. The partners responsible for implementation and execution of ESASTAP Plus activities include: - Department of Science and Technology (DST), South Africa - the national government authority responsible for science, technology and innovation policy in South Africa (SA). - Agency for the Promotion of the European Research (APRE), Italy - a non-profit research organisation, created upon the joint initiative of the Italian Ministry of Research and the European Union in 1989, grouping together more than 100 member organisations, including both public and private research centres, industries, industrial associations, chambers of commerce, science parks and 40 universities, with the main objective to promote the participation on national and European RTD programmes. - Project Management Agency – part of the German Aerospace Center (PT-DLR), Germany - is a research funding organisation supporting the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) and the Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology (BMWi), along with other Federal Ministries, in the implementation of programme-related project funding. - L’Institut de recherche pour le développement (IRD), France - is a French public research institute addressing international development issues. It reports to the French Ministries of Research and of Foreign and European Affairs. - KiNNO Consultants Ltd, Greece - provides services and resources to significantly enhance technology based innovations in SMEs and research organisations. - Euresearch, Switzerland - a private association mandated by the Swiss State Secretary for Education, Research and Innovation (SERI) to inform and advise Swiss research 3 organizations and businesses on accessing European Union funded R&D projects and to facilitate technology and innovation co-operation with partners in Europe and beyond. - Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf), South Africa - the official national science academy recognised by the South African government through the passage of the ASSAf Act, Act No. 67 of 2001, which came into operation in May 2002. ASSAf aspires to be the apex organisation for science and scholarship in South Africa, recognised and connected both nationally and internationally. - Southern African Research and Innovation Management Association (SARIMA), South Africa - a stakeholder organisation that provides a platform for the promotion and facilitation of best practice in research and innovation management in Southern Africa. This report aims to map the innovation landscape in South Africa, as well as identify existing support for international cooperation, in particular with Europe. The report offers a robust analysis of the South African National System of Innovation (NSI) and relates its main characteristics against the European NSI. The landscape mapping exercise takes into account other similar exercises that have recently been completed or that are still ongoing, such as the South African R&D and Innovation surveys. Furthermore, it seeks to identify key organisations with an innovation mandate (e.g. Technology Innovation Agency and the National Advisory Council on Innovation, etc.) as well as those that provide support to the NSI. Another important element of the report is the political and legislative analysis. In addition, the report examines related cooperation instruments, and identifies best practices and success stories of South African - European cooperation in innovation programmes and activities. The report includes ongoing and past collaborations and initiatives between European Union Member States and SA. Lastly, the report aims at setting the ground to foster cooperation on framework conditions, by analysing the strengths and weaknesses of national research and innovation systems in Europe and South Africa. More specifically, Section 5.3 “Framework Conditions – A comparative Analysis” offers an overview of the Framework Conditions for innovation. Through the aforementioned analysis, this report endeavours to offer insight into the South African environment for innovation. In addition, the report takes a leap forward to identify those specific conditions that favour innovation cooperation between Europe and South Africa. The outcomes of the report offer a valuable source of information which allows for political discussion and orientation. 4 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The European Union (EU) and the Republic of South Africa (SA) have long been committed to strategic cooperation in science and technology, dating back to their 1996 Cooperation Agreement, which facilitated cooperation under the Framework Programmes. South Africa has also concluded several bilateral cooperation agreements with EU Member States and is aiming to create a robust National System of Innovation (NSI) to enable its transition to a knowledge economy, achieving sustained growth and development. The experience made in the EU concerning international cooperation in Research and Innovation (R&I) is a tangible example of how collaborative international R&I frameworks can promote coordinated efforts opening up opportunities for new strategies via dedicated bilateral programmes. South Africa and the EU, thus, share similar objectives and there is rich potential for cooperation in innovation to complement their substantial trade, innovation and development cooperation. In the context of the South African NSI and international cooperation, EU-, National-, and Regional Innovation policy and programmes are increasingly being considered as an appealing framework to explore opportunities for collaboration, new partnerships and instruments for coordination. This is particularly relevant considering the current scenario of economic crisis where scarce resources and fragmentation of actions poses serious challenges. This Report aims to discuss and make recommendations in relation to Innovation Framework Conditions in SA-EU. This requires investigating framework conditions in a comparative and forward looking perspective: complementarities, barriers, market potentials, IPR, trade and innovation including new perspectives which might better support Innovation policy and programmes in the context of international cooperation. Within this context the
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