by Phumla Mkize
South Africa is in the top three of leading countries in Africa in terms of research productivity, but only converts 1% its research outputs into products or services. This disappointing statistic was the backdrop of some of the deliberations on the second day of the Annual Future of Work Dialogue hosted by the Tshwane University of Technology’s Institute for the Future of Work.
Dr Moloko Mathipa-Mdakane, an Information Scientist for the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research.
The Dialogue, held from 1 to 2 October in Menlyn, Pretoria, brought together academia, industry, the government and civil society to talk around the theme, “The Intersection of Policy and Technology: Opportunities for Inclusive Growth”. The first day focused on the role of artificial intelligence in sustainable development, while the second day looked at building capacity for South African global development.
Universities and research councils were challenged to move research from labs to the global market, turn innovation into action, and to become catalysts for collaboration to drive inclusive economic growth.
Talks acknowledged the fact that, despite the challenges, South Africa punches above its weight in terms of research performance given the low levels of investment in research and the low capacity in terms of the number of researchers.
Deliberations also considered the misalignment between university programmes, research priorities and the needs of industry.
Discussions further recognised the outdated curriculum and technology at Technical and Vocational Training and Education level, a key sector that should be agile in the development of the skills required by local industry and entrepreneurs.
Speaker after speaker highlighted the untapped potential that is Africa’s young population – and most importantly what needs to be done to get them to be productive contributors to the economy.
The message that universities must create knowledge that works in the form of goods and services, jobs and entrepreneur creation came out strong.
In terms of ensuring that the country benefits from research outputs, Dr Moloko Mathipa-Mdakane, an Information Scientist for the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), said a wider application of the “hub model” which is being used by the Council is needed. The model recognises that not every innovator has flair for both innovation and entrepreneurship.
To bridge this gap, she said the hub model, brings together researchers, innovators and entrepreneurs in a collaborative ecosystem to take ideas to the market.
This way, she said: “You have an in-between that brings together innovators and entrepreneurs just by acknowledging that people can be either innovators or entrepreneurs, but need to work together.”
She added that universities need to train students differently, which means the traditional way of students being trained only by academics is not aligned with the future of work.
“In countries such as China, you have researchers that are allowed to run their own start-ups and are able to come back to the university and teach students. [With this] You are saying because your work is innovative; go ahead and sell it, but because you are really good at it, come back to the university and teach other people to also achieve that as well,” she said, adding that the higher education sector in South Africa needs to rethink how it incentivise researchers.
Prof Pius Owolawi, the Assistant Dean for Industry Liaison, Special Projects and Work Integrated Learning at TUT challenged academics to produce knowledge that contributes to economic development. He also threw down the gauntlet at universities, saying the higher education sector’s policy that puts an emphasis on publications must evolve.
“Don’t pay me money because I publish. Pay me 20% because I publish and 80% because I produce a product,” he said, adding that if research output translates in a product or service; it creates employment and builds skills capacity.
Taking it a step further, he charged that the high unemployment should not be traced to industry, but what is being taught in class.
Prof Pius Owolawi, the Assistant Dean for Industry Liaison, Special Projects and Work Integrated Learning at TUT.
“Upskilling, reskilling and adaptive skilling must come in. A professor must go for professional examination every year if he would like to get the output. The input of the professor is the output of the graduate. If the professor is not adaptive; the graduate cannot be adaptive,” he said.
Anita Nel, the Chief Director for Innovation and Commercialisation at Stellenbosch University.
Anita Nel, the Chief Director for Innovation and Commercialisation at Stellenbosch University, highlighted the different time priorities between universities and industry as an obstacle for commercialising research.
“If industry comes with a problem the professor gets excited that a problem can be translated into a Master’s degree. In that case, he will have an answer for industry in two years’ time. If it’s a complex problem … a PhD will give the answer between three to five years. That’s not what industry wants. Time is money for industry; time is good for universities,” she said.
She also lamented the industry’s low support for researchers when a dire need arises, making an example with the Covid-19 pandemic. She said while two of the Covid strains were identified by South African researchers, the country did not have the ability to produce vaccines.
“We have everything we need, but we do not bring it all together,” she said.