{"id":134322,"date":"2019-04-10T22:47:43","date_gmt":"2019-04-10T20:47:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/south-africas-new-science-policy-holds-promise-but-there-are-gaps-the-conversation\/"},"modified":"2019-04-10T22:47:43","modified_gmt":"2019-04-10T20:47:43","slug":"south-africas-new-science-policy-holds-promise-but-there-are-gaps-the-conversation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/south-africas-new-science-policy-holds-promise-but-there-are-gaps-the-conversation\/","title":{"rendered":"South Africa’s new science policy holds promise, but there are gaps | The Conversation"},"content":{"rendered":"

South Africa’s new science policy holds promise, but there are gaps<\/a>: <\/p>\n

A well implemented science policy can transform a country's economy.<\/span> Bakhtiar Zein\/Shutterstock<\/span><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

South Africa has adopted a new policy to drive science, technology and innovation. The last White Paper on the subject was issued in 1996 and had not been changed since then. The new White Paper on Science, Technology and Innovation is designed to overcome some of the failures of the first one.<\/p>\n

These included inadequate or non-existent collaboration between the relevant stakeholders like government, the private sector and research institutes and the public. Another issue was inadequate monitoring and evaluation of how the White Paper was implemented, whether the targets it set were met and what impact the policy had on the economy and the country\u2019s innovation systems.<\/p>\n

The new policy aims to address these and other gaps. It promises to enhance the culture of innovation in society and the government, improve policy coherence and budget coordination, develop local innovation systems and expand the research system.<\/p>\n

Overall, the policy is a solid, well crafted document. It compares favourably with similar policies found elsewhere on the African continent: in fact, I would argue that only Rwanda\u2019s policy is on a par with South Africa\u2019s. <\/p>\n

South Africa\u2019s new policy is good, but there are gaps. The White Paper doesn\u2019t outline how science, innovation and technology can improve ordinary people\u2019s lives. Nor does it spell out what will be done to ensure that legislation is created using evidence-based research and science. And, given the ongoing debate around the importance of decolonising science at South Africa\u2019s universities, it seems strange that the policy doesn\u2019t address this issue.<\/p>\n

The African landscape<\/h2>\n

Not all African countries have national science, innovation and technology policies. The United Nations\u2019 Environmental and Science Organisation has worked with selected countries to develop these. Such policies are important because they help to improve science management at the national level and shed light on policy options for the governance of science systems.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, many African countries\u2019 policies don\u2019t come with implementation plans. They also tend to focus on more traditional scientific fields such as basic physics, chemistry and agriculture, which are not relevant to modern economies. They do not talk about emerging scientific fields like the bio-economy or artificial intelligence.<\/p>\n

Rwanda\u2019s policy is the best example for other African countries. It was drafted in consultation with experts from around the world and is accompanied by an implementation plan. It also comes with a good action plan and a proper monitoring and evaluation framework. And it is relevant to the country\u2019s overall development agenda, as well as being forward thinking and taking the current global discourse on science, technology and innovation into account.<\/p>\n

Gaps in the policy<\/h2>\n

South Africa\u2019s new policy is solid, but some important issues have been overlooked.<\/p>\n

We know that scientific research and knowledge can yield innovations that benefit the public. These innovations can boost a country\u2019s economy and improve people\u2019s lives, including their health. This means that science advice \u2013 researchers and scientists working closely with legislators to inform policy \u2013 is extremely important. South Africa has generally done well in this area. But the policy does not spell out clearly what will be done to improve and build on this in the next ten to 20 years.<\/p>\n

In addition, South Africa faces huge social issues. These include crime, poverty and inequality, and food insecurity. The White Paper does not mention how science, technology and innovation is going to be used to tackle these issues and improve people\u2019s lives.<\/p>\n

The policy also doesn\u2019t outline concrete steps to ensure the government spends well on research and development. <\/p>\n

Finally, the White Paper ignores an important element of South Africa\u2019s history. In South Africa, as in most other African countries, the science system is in many ways a colonial product. For instance, botanical gardens and science museums were generally built during the colonial era.<\/p>\n

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Read more: How the colonial past of botanical gardens can be put to good use <\/strong> <\/em> <\/p>\n

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In the past few years there has been much debate in the science, technology and innovation sector about decolonisation of science and what this might look like. The White Paper is silent on these issues, which is an unfortunate oversight. This might have added value to the debate and offered a clear road map for dealing with this issue.<\/p>\n

Bringing policy to life<\/h2>\n

Now that the White Paper has been adopted, it will be important to ensure that it is properly implemented and monitored. This will help stakeholders to trust that the policy is not just another document.<\/p>\n

It will also be important to keep the discussion going. The national debate on science, technology and innovation should include everyone from industries to researchers to government \u2013 and, of course, ordinary South Africans. And the government should focus on \u201cdecentralising science\u201d, improving innovation and scientific information sharing at the grass roots level. All of this will ensure that what\u2019s set out in the policy document is taken seriously and properly implemented.<\/p>\n

\"The <\/p>\n

Harris Andoh is affiliated with CSIR- Science and Technology Policy Research Institute(STEPRI) P. O. Box CT. 519 ,Cantonments – Accra. & Tshwane University of Technology Pretoria Main Campus, Pretoria, South Africa.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

Source:<\/strong> The Conversation \u2013 Articles (AFRICA)<\/a><\/small>
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Read more on The Conversation<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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South Africa’s new science policy holds promise, but there are gaps: A well implemented science policy can transform a country's economy. Bakhtiar Zein\/Shutterstock South Africa has adopted a new policy to drive science, technology and innovation. The last White Paper on the subject was issued in 1996 and had not been changed since then. The […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4584],"tags":[4635,8890,13459,5396,8737,7034,2011,3576,5324],"class_list":{"0":"post-134322","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-africa-news-2","7":"tag-africas","8":"tag-conversation","9":"tag-gaps","10":"tag-holds","11":"tag-policy","12":"tag-promise","13":"tag-science","14":"tag-south","15":"tag-there","16":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/134322","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=134322"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/134322\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=134322"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=134322"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=134322"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}