Over the past ten years global ICT firm Huawei Technologies has invested more than $35 billion in research and development (R&D). Last year, the Chinese firm's R&D spend amounted to $6.6 billion.
To date, Huawei has established 16 research centres worldwide, located in Asia, India, Europe and the Americas. Distinctively missing on its research centre map are African nations.
Joe Kelly, Huawei's head of international media affairs says Huawei continuously reviews the location of its R&D centres.
"We look for the availability of a skilled workforce, proximity of local research institutions and an appreciation and respect for Intellectual Property when making these decisions, as well as meeting the needs of our customers," Kelly explains.
"The R&D centres are the lifeblood of our business and our growth and play a similar role in the growth and efficiency of our customer' lives and businesses," he adds.
According to Huawei, the R&D centres aim to drive new developments in the ICT industry, train engineers in new technologies as well as customer and partner staff. Its R&D team is currently made up of 76 000 engineers who receive continuous training in new technologies.
"The core focus of our engineers is on meeting the needs of our customers, of finding solutions to barriers our customers experience and in ensuring that our technology creates tangible value for customers, whether they are consumers, enterprises or carriers," says Kelly.
SA takes action
In South Africa, government recognises the role of R&D in addressing the country's development challenges and has taken an active role in R&D investment.
So far, government has established R&D tax incentives, direct government grants for R&D, R&D partnerships, and support for technology localisation.
According to a survey by the Department of Science and Technology (DST), SA's investment in R&D grew to R22.2 billion in the 2011/12 financial year, an increase of R2 billion from the previous year.
The survey also notes government has become the country's biggest funder of R&D, directly investing R9.5 billion in 2011/12. Government says it is targeting an R&D spending figure of 1.5% of GDP by 2019.
DST minister Naledi Pandor recently noted that her department has an ICT research and development and innovation strategy, and a roadmap that is being implemented by the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research's Meraka Institute.
"With the increased investment in R&D by both private and public sectors, opportunities exist for bold interventions that will enable South Africa to secure a greater share of global markets in both R&D and manufacturing," said Pandor.
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