Select Page

South Africa, Namibia collaborate on science and innovation statistics

South Africa, Namibia collaborate on science and innovation statistics

South Africa’s Human Sciences Research Council’s Centre for Science, Technology and Innovation Indicators (CeSTII) and Namibia’s National Commission on Research Science and Technology (NCRST) concluded an agreement to collaborate on the production of national scientific and innovation statistics.  The formalities were conducted by Dr Glenda Kruss, the Executive Director of CeSTII and Mr Piepmeyer, the Manager: Policies & Council Services at the Commission.

The agreement was signed on Wednesday on the sdidelines of the 2017 annual conference of the Southern African Research and Innovation Management Association (SARIMA) from 22-25 May 2017. This MoU, the Commission said, will advance the ongoing collaboration between the two agencies in the areas of learning exchanges, joint research projects and joint publications.

“Science, technology and innovation indicators enable a country to measure, monitor and evaluate its scientific and innovation capabilities” CeSTII Executive Director Dr Glenda Kruss said at the conference in Windhoek. “These agreements matter because they contribute to solutions to persistent development challenges, among others, water and food security, healthcare and education” she said.

Dr Eino Mvula Eino Mvula, Chief Executive Officer of the Commission welcomed the finalisation of this MoU between the two science agencies saying that “collaborations such as these are crucial to sharing the outcomes of work done in areas of mutual interest which could assist to identify best practice and lessons learnt.”

“When looking at international case studies and analysis of best practice in economic development, we see that innovation plays a significant role in this journey. We are therefore keen to understand what Namibia is doing well in this area and share lessons learnt so that our countries can benefit from our collective experiences,” concluded Dr Kruss.

Partnerships, Dr Emvula said, “can also yield significant outcomes and contribute to how we leapfrog the learning and experience curves in the area of technology transfers, innovation and R&D.”

While in Namibia, the Council’s CeSTII also shared work in progress and disseminated findings from its most recent national surveys, including its R&D Survey 2014/15 and the first national survey on intellectual property and technology transfer.

The results from these surveys were released in April this year and show that despite economic challenges, South African R&D increased in 2014/15.

About The Author

Freeman Ya Ngulu

Freeman Ngulu is an investigtor, an author and a keen entrepreneur. His speciality is data journalism for which he loves to dig deep into topics often ignored by mainstream reporting. He tweets @hobameteorite.