SA on right R&D track

By Leon Engelbrecht for Department of Science and Technology
Johannesburg, 02 Jun 2008

SA is on track to spend at least 1% of gross domestic product (GDP) on research and development (R&D) by year-end, says science and technology minister Mosibudi Mangena.

He says a country's R&D expenditure, measured as a percentage of GDP, is a good indication of that state's economic competitiveness. SA's national R&D spend is currently 0.9% of GDP, with half of this coming from the private sector.

Mangena's department this year has R3.7 billion to spend on R&D and a further R195 million for strengthening the scientific capacity of higher education institutions. Mangena says this will increase the number of research seats at SA's universities by 30% and provide "mentorship to postgraduate students".

"This investment in human capital development is in line with the department's national R&D strategy, which, among others, puts enormous value on human capital, and canvasses for the spirit and practice of innovation to be treated as a national asset," adds Mangena.

The minister is concerned that the number of school-leavers, who have science as a grade 12 subject remains low. "If we continue to lose our best young minds, our National System of Innovation will be rendered completely ineffectual, and our infrastructure, environment and economy will suffer," he warns. Most ICT skills training require at least a basic knowledge of maths and science.

Part of the answer lies in a "Youth into Science" strategy that "places emphasis on interventions aimed at popularising mathematics and science-related careers at high school level".

Electric cars

Meanwhile, Mangena's deputy, Derek Hanekom, has announced the department is funding a battery-operated passenger and utility vehicle. "The project... involves a range of stakeholders, including South African universities and industry," Hanekom told MPs on Friday.

Hanekom says the public will see the prototype by year-end or early in the new year.

"Given our economy's vulnerability to volatile oil prices, and growing concerns about the pollution resulting from fossil-fuel transport, the timing of this development could not have been better," Hanekom said.

The vehicle will have solar panels to recharge on the go and will have a range of between 100km and 400km between recharging, depending on speed. But critics say it will require access to mains electricity to properly reload batteries between trips - at a time the country faces an electricity supply crisis. It will also significantly increase the power bills of these vehicles' owners and their employers - if they are allowed to recharge the vehicles at work.

Alternative fuel experts say a better solution may be electric vehicles powered by hydrogen fuel cells, which burn hydrogen and oxygen to produce electricity and pure water. Such fuel cells are being tested on Airbus skyliners to power onboard ICT.

It is not yet clear who will build the vehicles or what they might cost.