Minister Blade Nzimande on transformation of national system of innovation

This past week was profoundly significant for South Africa’s public science system.

On Friday, 14 March, the Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation, Prof. Blade Nzimande officially closed the Inaugural Summit on the Transformation of South Africa’s National System of Innovation (NSI).

This Summit was held from 13-14 March 2025 at the Birchwood Conference Centre, under the theme:

“Placing Science, Technology and Innovation at the Centre of Government, Education, Industry and Society”

This Summit was the first of its kind for South Africa’s public science system and was a response to a number of pressures and expectations on the NSI to bring fresh ideas, new energies and transformative innovations to enable our nation to respond to a multiplicity of social, economic and ecological challenges facing the country and the world.

Minister Nzimande highlighted in particular the unprecedented threats and opportunities posed by disruptive technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI) on our economy and society.

The Summit was also a response to a resolution of Parliament that was sponsored by the Portfolio Committee on Science, Technology and Innovation that requested Minister Nzimande to take decisive action to ensure that South Africa’s National System of Innovation is reflective of the ethnic, gender, class and spatial diversity of our country and its power to fuel new forms of knowledge and innovation.

More broadly, the Summit also sought to respond to the 2023 United Nations resolution proclaiming the period 2024-2033 as the International Decade of Sciences for Sustainable Development (IDSSD) and directed UNESCO to play a leading role in promoting scientific literacy, open and basic sciences, human rights and harnessing the power of national systems of innovation to better serve society.

The delegates were tasked to address two fundamental questions, namely:

• Why has the post-apartheid NSI transformation not yielded all of its desired outcomes?
• How do we deepen and accelerate the transformation of NSI and knowledge to better serve government, education, society, economy, and the planet?

In his closing address, Minister Nzimande expressed his confidence by stating that “From the reports to plenary, I got the sense that the Working Groups did an excellent job in responding to these questions” and was “struck by the ingenuity, insight, and radically transformative talents of the leadership of our NSI”.

He commended the generative and pioneering ideas by the delegates and expressed his confidence that the Summit will help greatly to set a roadmap for the next decade and beyond.

The Minister further added that “These recommendations will contribute to the development of additional policy and institutional mechanisms aimed at transforming our National System of Innovation and making it more agile and responsive to our national priorities such as poverty, inequality, unemployment and of course the production of the necessary scientific skills for our country.”

Minister Nzimande also emphasised the importance of the Summit’s declaration and the input by the delegates that “will bring us closer to our goal of a National System of Innovation that is transformed, agile and also responsive to our country’s grand challenges.”

The Summit’s Declaration made a number of pioneering recommendations, including the call for a Transformation Charter for South Africa’s public science sector.

The Summit was also addressed by Ms. Tsakane Shiviti, Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Science, Technology, and Innovation, Mr. Panyaza Lesufi, Premier of Gauteng and Mr. Nkosindiphile Xhakaza, the Mayor of Ekurhuleni, all of whom pledged their support for the Department’s programmes.

The Summit attracted over 300 participants, including those who joined remotely, and was characterised by vibrant presentations and discussions on the critical themes pertinent to the crucial transformation challenges of South Africa’s National System of Innovation.

The participants were drawn from science councils, higher education institutions, government departments, the business sector, organised labour, and youth formations.

For enquiries:
Veli Mbele
Cell: 064 615 0644
Email: Veli.Mbele@dsti.gov.za

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