Science and technology policies and structures in Southern Africa : a discussion of the concept of national system of innovation with reference to Malawi, Namibia and South Africa

[摘要] ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The interface between science and technology and the society has led to the notion of scienceas a social contract, in which scientists, politicians and the general public are called upon toacknowledge the urgency of using all fields of science and technology to address human needs.Science and technology is used as an instrument of change for a better quality of life andsustainable development for the present and future generations. The object of science andtechnology policies is to achieve specific development objectives. It is thus imperative to adoptscience and technology policies that support the national development strategies. It is alsoimportant to set up science and technology structures to facilitate the proper functioning of thescience and technology system.Competitiveness constitutes one of the most important challenges facing Southern Africa today.With globalization and the expansion of world trade competition, it has become more difficultfor Southern African enterprise to keep up with the pace of technological developments. In thelight of these challenges, most countries are driving towards the adoption of a national systemof innovation (NSI) to encourage the interaction of policies, research and development, humanresource development and industrial development.The study is induced by major science and technology set backs, which are common acrosscountries in Southern Africa namely, poor co-ordination mechanisms, poor science andtechnology infrastructure and a lack of funding.The study provides background information on the theoretical framework of the concept ofNSI. For the research method, a qualitative research design was followed with content analysisof existing documents. Published documents were used to provide information on the threecountries, which were used as case studies namely Malawi, Namibia and South Africa. Themain focus of the case studies is on the following: an outline of the policy goals of each of thethree countries, the concept of the NSI as it is expressed by each of the countries and thescience and technology structures in the three countries.The study identified poor co-ordination of science and technology activities as the key problemof all three countries. The structures differ slightly and in particular, the placement of themanagement of science and technology determines the efficiency of the system. The SouthAfrican NSI is well established as its network is strengthened by the National Advisory Councilfor Innovation and the National Research and Development Strategy. Next is Namibia whichhas a system in place, while Malawi is still at the initial stages of setting up its NS!.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University