B. Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf) Events

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This community contains non-peer reviewed slide sets (PDF format) and audio/video recordings (MP4 format) from events and presentations during those events, and in which ASSAf participated or where ASSAf was represented. The content of the collections listed have not been peer-reviewed, but it is believed that it can contribute to the academic discourse, and be used in the advancement of science and discussions/decisions around science.

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    The uptake of science, technology and innovation by sector departments
    (Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf); Department of Science and Innovation (DSI), 2022) Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf); Department of Science and Innovation (DSI)
    The Department of Science and Innovation (DSI), the Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf) and Quantitative Evidence Research hosted a seminar titled “The Uptake of Science, Technology and Innovation by Sector Departments” on 20 July 2022, virtually, as part of the Innovation for Inclusive Development (IID) seminar series. The IID seminar series is one of the instruments designed to inform and influence the uptake of demonstrated innovation and technologies by other sector departments. The DSI has undertaken twelve (12) IID seminars in partnership with ASSAf, however, the integration of these technologies by various government departments in their policies and programmers is unknown. The partners went on to commission Quantitative Evidence Research to conduct a policy research study to ascertain whether departments are responsive to STI and open to innovation uptake. The report is available at https://research.assaf.org.za/handle/20.500.11911/249 The objective of the seminar was to provide a platform to share recommendations from the study based on policy document analysis and a survey of twelve (12) sector Departments; to create awareness in order to encourage sector Departments, both national and provincial, to adapt STIs in their policies and programmes; and also to encourage other sector Departments to participate in the next phase of the study.
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    SA Launch IYBSSD 2022
    (Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf), 2022-08) Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf); Department of Science and Innovation (DSI); National Research Foundation (NRF)
    This roundtable discussion formed part of the launch of the SA International Year of Basic Sciences for Sustainable Development (IYBSSD 2022). More information can be accessed at https://iybssd.africa/. Programme: 1. Moderator: Prof Himla Soodyall, Executive Officer, Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf); 2. Opening remarks: Mr Imraan Patel, Deputy Director-General: Research Development Support, SA Department of Science and Innovation (DSI) to accelerate innovation to achieve the SDGs/ Dr Sudesh Sivarasu, Co-chair: South African Young Academy of Science (SAYAS); Using science to inspire the next generation of scientists (focus on equity)/ Dr Beverley Damonse, Group Executive: Science Engagement and Corporate Relations, National Research Foundation (NRF); Public engagement of science/ Dr Nnditshedzeni Eric Maluta, HoD and Coordinator: Vuwana Science Resource Centre, University of Venda.
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    The uptake of science, technology and innovation by sector departments
    (Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf) & Department of Science and Innovation (DSI), 2022) Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf); Department of Science and Innovation (DSI)
    Webinar presented on 20 July 2022. Science, Technology and Innovation (STI) is an important construct in South Africa’s policy discourse as illustrated in key national planning frameworks, such as the National Development Plan (NDP) and the 2019 White Paper on Science, Technology and Innovation. The White Paper focuses on the use of STI to accelerate inclusive socio-economic growth, transformation and to respond to the global technological advancement, such as 4th industrial revolution (4IR). Furthermore, the White Paper seeks to ensure that all departments working in areas that affect STI are open to innovation uptake and that there is policy coherence across the national innovation system (NSI). The Department of Science and Innovation (DSI) is committed to ensuring that STI is integrated into the planning of relevant government departments and STI programmes. The Innovation for Inclusive Development (IID) seminar series is one of the instruments designed to inform and influence the uptake of demonstrated innovation and technologies by other sector departments. The DSI has undertaken twelve (12) IID seminars thus far in partnership with the Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf) since inception in 2018, however, the integration of these technologies by various government departments in their policies and programmers is unknown. It is on this basis that the DSI and ASSAf commissioned Quantitative Evidence Research to conduct a policy research study to ascertain whether departments are responsive to STI and open to innovation uptake. The objective of the event is to share the preliminary report and recommendations based on policy document analysis and a survey of twelve (12) sector Departments. It is envisaged that the event will create awareness to encourage sector Departments, both national and provincial, to adapt STIs in their policies and programmes and also to participate in the next phase of the study. National and Provincial Government departments, policy and decision-makers and the public are encouraged to participate in the webinar. The IID seminar series is a project initiative of the DSI Programme 5, designed to provide a platform for open and collective thinking between the science policy and community of practice to generate evidence-based knowledge on Science and Technology (S&T) innovations to advance local economic development and also provide insights to support evidence-based policy and decision making to enhance service delivery.
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    The District Development Model as a platform for inclusive innovation and innovative districts
    (Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf) & Department of Science and Innovation (DSI), 2022) Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf); Department of Science and Innovation (DSI)
    Date presented: 13 May 2022. The Department of Science and Innovation (DSI) and the Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf) presented another episode in the INNOVATION FOR INCLUSIVE DEVELOPMENT (IID) SEMINAR SERIES (IID) on “The District Development Model as a Platform for Innovation for Inclusivity”. Background: The President of the Republic of South Africa introduced the District Development Model (DDM) which was subsequently approved by Cabinet on 21 August 2019 to express and actualise the intergovernmental relations framework as stipulated in the Constitution of South Africa, 1996. The model also present a new way of strengthening and synchronising planning by all spheres of government and enhancing the involvement of citizens, business and civil society to support the municipal districts and metros. The Department of Cooperative Governance (DCoG) has been mandated to manage the DDM across government departments and to ensure a programmatic outcome-based intergovernmental relations and initiatives across all spheres of government in support of the model. The DDM provides an approach through which national and provincial departments allocate budget that are geo-referenced to a particular district municipality and it’s an approach that the 6th administration has adopted in order to foster a whole of government response to the development needs in a particular geographical area. The DDM approach seeks to solve the challenge of silos in governments development programmes to maximise the impact, coordination and alignment of the resources to improve service delivery. DSI views the model as an ideal opportunity where national, provincial and local government can play a role in creating conditions and environments for entrepreneurial and innovative districts through inclusive innovation and where the DDM discourse and the district development programmes are inclusive. The model therefore provides a space for the implementation of the DSI’s Decadal Plan to support economic construction and recovery through innovation. The focus areas of the Decadal Plan to be implemented in the district will need to support existing sectors of the economy such as mining, tourism, agriculture etc. as well as initiatives to support new sources of growth such as the circular economy. These interventions will be implemented collectively through the DSI’s packaging model for DDM interventions. The implementation of the DDM initiatives in the districts will facilitate transformative innovation and inclusivity in district municipalities. The DDM approach will be implemented in close alignment with the activities that are initiated and directed towards women, youth, SMME’s and cooperatives. DSI and ASSAf hosted this seminar to: Showcase the DSI’s approach to the District Development Model and how it intends to position the model as a platform to drive innovation to solve development challenges, improve the delivery of services and create employment; Discuss how innovation can be used to create innovative districts, looking at both local and international experience; Ascertain various philosophical approaches and practices adopted by Government departments to implement the DDM as an instrument to improve responsiveness and collaboration on government interventions; Engage and solicit views and perspectives from other stakeholders including academia, industry, civil society and municipalities on the DDM in general and the DSI’s approach to DDM. The outcome of the seminar forms part of the DSI’s DDM interventions that will enable the Department to ascertain focus areas of the Decadal Plan to be implemented in the district. Government departments, municipal and local government policy and decision-makers, academia, civil society, research institutions and private sector partners supporting innovation and innovative programmes in municipalities participated in the webinar. The IID seminar series is a project initiative of the DSI Programme 5, designed to provide a platform for open and collective thinking between the science policy and community of practice to generate evidence-based knowledge on Science and Technology (S&T) innovations to advance local economic development and also provide insights to support evidence-based policy and decision making to enhance service delivery.
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    The Launch of the National Rollout of the Municipal Innovation Maturity Index (MIMI) (A tool to measure innovation in municipalities)
    (Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf) & Department of Science and Innovation (DSI), 2021) Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf); Department of Science and Innovation (DSI)
    The MIMI project was initiated by the DSI in partnership with the South African Local Government Association (SALGA), the HSRC and UKZN. The purpose of this initiative was to develop an innovative tool capable of assessing and measuring the innovation landscape in municipalities, thus enabling municipalities to adopt innovative practices to improve service delivery. The outcome of the implementation testing, based on the participation of 22 municipalities, demonstrated the value and the capacity of MIMI to produce innovation maturity scores for municipalities. The digital assessment tool looked at how a municipality, as an organisation, responds to science, technology and innovation (STI) linked to service delivery, and the innovation capabilities and readiness of the municipality and the officials themselves. The tool is also designed to recommend areas of improvements in adopting innovative practices and nurturing an innovation mindset for impactful municipal service delivery. The plan going forward is to conduct learning forums to train municipal officials on how to use the MIMI digital platform, inform them about the nationwide implementation rollout plan and support municipal officials to engage in interactive and shared learnings to allow them to move to higher innovation maturity levels. The virtual launch featured a keynote address by the DSI Director-General, Dr Phil Mjwara; Prof Mehmet Akif Demircioglu from the National University of Singapore gave an international perspective on innovation measurements in the public sector; and messages of support were received from MIMI partners, delivered by Prof Mosa Moshabela, Deputy Vice-Chancellor (DVC) of Research at the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN) and Prof Leickness Simbayi, Acting CEO of the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC). It attracted over 200 attendees from municipalities, government, business and private sector stakeholders, academics, policymakers and the international audience. @ASSAf_Official; @dsigovza; #MIMI_Launch; #IID
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    The Presidential Employment Stimulus: Research Opportunities
    (Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf) & Department of Science and Innovation (DSI), 2021) Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf); Department of Science and Innovation (DSI)
    The Panel discussion titled “The Presidential Employment Stimulus: Research Opportunities”, was hosted on 10 December 2020 by the Department of Science and Innovation (DSI) and the Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf) at the Science Forum South Africa (SFSA) 2020. The Presidential Employment Stimulus was launched in parliament on 15 October as part of government’s Economic Recovery Strategy. It directly funds 800,000 employment opportunities that are being implemented within the current financial year, but it is anticipated that it will also become a medium-term programme. The stimulus includes public employment programmes, job retention programmes and direct support to livelihoods. The single largest programme is run by the Department of Basic Education, which, in the last fortnight, recruited 300,000 young people as school assistants, to assist schools to deal with the setbacks faced as a result of the pandemic. The stimulus supports employment in the environmental sector and over 75,000 subsistence producers are receiving production grants through an input voucher scheme. There is a once-off grant to assist over 100,000 registered and unregistered Early Childhood Development Practitioners back on their feet, as well as a significant stimulus to the creative sector. The session set out to provide an introduction to the Presidential Employment Stimulus Programme (PESP), a key programme within government’s economic recovery plan led by Dr Kate Philip. The key objective was to get input from the research community on how the work that they are already doing and future work could contribute to the M&E efforts and be augmented in such a way that the PESP could become a medium-term programme. The DSI plans to hold further engagements in 2021 to mobilise the wider research community to provide evidence-based research in order to shape the research agenda that would support the M&E work and identify short-term issues that need to be factored into the department’s work plans, under the guidance of Dr Philip.
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    Building Profitable and Sustainable Community Owned Connectivity Networks
    (Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf) & Department of Science and Innovation (DSI), 2020) Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf); Department of Science and Innovation (DSI)
    The IID seminar titled “Building Profitable and Sustainable Community Owned Connectivity Networks”, was hosted on 31 August 2020 on Zoom Webinar. The 2019 White Paper on science, technology and innovation (STI) recognise the pivotal enabling role of information and communication technologies (ICTs) in realising an inclusive and prosperous information society and knowledge economy. One of the Department of Science and Innovation (DSI)’s key role is to catalyse the digital ecosystem and develop scalable models for community owned connectivity networks to replicate in other areas. Rural areas provide challenging environment to implement communication infrastructure for data and Internet based services, including high cost of network implementation and lack of customer base, low-income streams, highly scattered and low population density. The DSI has thus partnered with the University of Western Cape (UWC), the Mankosi Village community, with support from the Technology Innovation Agency (TIA) to scaleup the Zenzeleni Community Owned Connectivity Networks (COCN). The Zenzeleni COCN has been in existence since 2012 and provides timely, reliable and affordable Wi-Fi connectivity to the remote rural areas of Mankosi and Zithulele in Mthatha. The webinar, facilitated by Ms Ellen Fischat from Story Room aimed to look at how rural and township wireless connectivity models, including Zenzeleni COCN can be scaled-up to increase the number of people connected in the rural settings, more so in light of the COVID-19 crisis. It is evident from the proceedings the need for community networks to provide access to connectivity and also more importantly, what connectivity enables. Subsequent discussions would need to focus on the users and owners of these community networks to understand how their lives have improved through the deployment of the technology. This will shed light of the financial feasibility and benefit. Department of Science and Innovation (DSI), South Africa.
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    The Smart City Initiatives in South Africa and Paving a Way to Support Cities to Address Frontier Issues Using New and Emerging Technologies
    (Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf) & Department of Science and Innovation (DSI), 2020) Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf); Department of Science and Innovation (DSI)
    This was the 3rd of three Innovation for Inclusive Development (IID) seminars hosted on 3 September 2019, St George’s Hotel, Pretoria by the Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf) in partnership with the Department of Science and Innovation (DSI) and the South African Local Government Association (SALGA). The intent of the seminar was to solicit input from various stakeholders to define characteristics of a smart city in the South African context, how the concept aligns with the 2019 White Paper on Science, Technology and Innovation (STI) and where cities are in terms of their smart city strategies and/or projects. The outcome of the seminar brought a common understanding that the country needs a national framework on smart cities and that the framework should meet basic needs in a manner that advances inclusive economic growth in an environmentally sustainable manner. The following aspects were considered to achieve this: a clear definition of a smart city from a South African context, addressing all the existing challenges and not emulate first world smart city models; smart cities should link to the global market but provide solutions to local problems and not compete with first world countries; the national framework and policies for smart cities should clearly define roles and responsibilities of key stakeholders, be flexible and amendable in line with the 4IR; incorporate building blocks of smart cities, including: STEM education, citizen rights, enablers (such as power, water and internet connectivity), urban versus rural, shared goals and vision. The proceedings will form part of DSI’s ongoing consultations on the concept of smart cities.
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    Stakeholders Awareness Workshop on the 2019 White Paper on Science, Technology and Innovation (STI)
    (Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf) & Department of Science and Innovation (DSI), 2019) Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf); Department of Science and Innovation (DSI)
    This was the 2nd of three Innovation for Inclusive Development (IID) seminars held on 02 July 2019, at Future Africa Conference Centre, University of Pretoria, Gauteng by the Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf) in partnership with the Department of Science and Innovation (DSI). The workshop provided an opportunity for stakeholders to reflect on the policy intents of the 2019 White Paper on Science, Technology and Innovation (STI). The White Paper sets a long-term policy direction for the South African Government to ensure the growing role for the STI, which is aligned to developmental challenges of the country. The paper is based on the extensive review of the National System of Innovation (NSI) and focuses on using STI to accelerate inclusive economic growth and to assist South Africa to benefit from global development such as rapid technological advancements, geo-political and demographic shifts. The new White Paper seeks to ensure that South Africa benefits from the potential of STI to advance the objectives of the National Development Plan (NDP) by instilling a culture of valuing STI, expansion and transformation of research systems, institutional landscape and human resource base of the STI, increased funding and funding efficiencies etc. The outcomes of the workshop will feed into the DSI’s Decadal Plan to direct the implementation plan for the 2019 White Paper on STI. Further engagements will be conducted with stakeholders in preparation for the drafting of the Decadal Plan.
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    Protection of Intellectual Property for Grassroots Innovation
    (Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf) & Department of Science and Innovation (DSI), 2019) Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf); Department of Science and Innovation (DSI)
    The seminar was hosted on 21 May 2019, at Protea Hotel Fire & Ice, Menlyn, Pretoria by the Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf) in partnership with the Department of Science and Innovation (DSI). The seminar was centred around the Grassroots Innovation Programme (GIP), which is designed to identify and support innovators and inventors who do not have a formal education or access to formal innovation facilities. The GIP intents to provide grassroots innovators with technical skills development, access to technical expertise and intellectual property (IP) protection, among other things. The seminar set-out to provide a platform to raise awareness on policies that govern IP for grassroots innovation and to further discuss the importance of IPR, reinforcing national policy dialogues and processes around the interface between Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs) and grassroots innovation, both in South Africa and Globally, with particular interest on India. The seminar also showcased two innovators who shared their journeys, highlighting opportunities and challenges they experienced. One of the take-home messages was that supporting grassroots innovation is complex and it requires partnership with government and it’s agencies, private sector, academia, NGO’s and innovators themselves. The 2019 White Paper on Science, Technology and Innovation (STI) requires a system which is responsive, inclusive and supports all forms of innovation, including effective grassroots innovation programme for the country.
©The Author/Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf)