Government is a key part of this scenario and will need to work hard at creating the environment that is supportive of innovation and technology commercialisation and makes this part of the national culture. The commitment of the Department of Science and Technology to the creation of such an environment is evident in the recent establishment of the Technology Innovation Agency, the National Intellectual Property Management Office, and the Centres of Competence Framework. Together these are intended to provide the organisational infrastructure that supports the identification and protection of South African originated intellectual property, and that promotes the crucial partnerships that will increase opportunities to commercialise local R&D outcomes.
Innovation and technology commercialisation is not a simple matter. It takes place at various levels and is dependent on a number of factors that lie at the confluence of budgetary and monetary policies, economic and trade policies, education, labour market and social policies, as well as within the prevailing culture within a country. These factors require proactive coordination in order to ensure synergy and harmonisation as the absence of innovation will slow down and indeed even hold back national economic growth, global competitiveness and sustainability over time.
It is therefore important that we foster strong and sustainable partnerships between government and industry as a vehicle to facilitate innovation and technology commercialisation. This is precisely why programmes such as the TT100 Awards programme is so valuable. It identifies South African role models, whose innovation, tenacity and passionate belief in people, has enabled them to take their organisations to a new level of competitiveness. These role models provide the inspiration for the next generation of innovators and technology developers.
10 EDGE | November 2011
My Department has identified the building of strong and robust relationships with industry as one of the fundamental instruments needed to facilitate innovation and technology commercialisation within South Africa. We have also identified these relationships as a critical feature of any future science and technology policy and sustained job creation initiatives. It is within this context that the relationships within the TT100 ecosystem are of vital im-portance and will require ongoing expansion and renewal. My Department has ensured that the TT100 awards programme continues to receive support for its endeavours and has identified mechanisms to ensure that there is greater synergy between the work of the awards programme and the NSI at large.
It is therefore important that we foster strong and sustainable partnerships between government and industry as a vehicle to facilitate innovation and technology commercialisation.
As we enter into the 20th year of the Technology Top 100 awards programme allow me to reflect on some of the initiatives that are currently either at an advanced stage of conceptualisation or are already at roll out phase, and which were born out of the relationship between my Department and the TT100 awards programme.
In recognition of the fact that youth employment is an important factor in building stable societies and in promoting and sustaining economic growth, the TT100 awards programme together with my Department, have developed a programme in which we assist young unemployed graduates to work in Technology Top 100 companies. This programme affords these graduates an opportunity of being exposed to the real world of applied science and technology. The response from the TT 100 companies
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