There is a tussle under way within government. In one camp, supported by social development minister Zola Skweyiya, are those who wish to bolster and extend the social grant system; in the other, supported by finance minister Trevor Manuel, are those who believe the longer-term route to solving SA's social ills is to invest heavily in education, science and research & development.President Thabo Mbeki, writing in his weekly ANC newsletter last month, lent his voice to the latter cause and called for greater effort to be put into developing SA's science, technology and innovation (ST&I) system.
Without such an effort, he said, the country could not realise its objectives of achieving a better life for all.
Mbeki has asked the department of science & technology to draw up a 10-year strategy for ST&I in SA, whereupon funding will be reviewed and, we hope, increased.
SA invests about 0,91% of GDP in research & development. It should reach the 1% target next year. The goal, it has been suggested, should be closer to 2%.
Depending on the outcome of the policy tussle, this may yet be Mbeki's swan song.
On that note, it is time to say that this is the last issue of Innovations. This supplement has been running for almost four years. I'd love to say that we helped put innovation on the national agenda, but we can't claim that credit. There is a committed group of people within government, business and SA's tertiary institutions determined that ST&I should be tools for developing and bolstering our economy.
Innovations simply supported their efforts, and the FM will continue to do so.
Editor
