16 JUL 2020 By Linda Nordling

Treasury’s ultimatum to science department: Slash your budgets or we’ll cut them for you

Thousands of postgraduate and PhD grants. Hundreds of research grants. The National Science Week. Research chairs and centres of excellence. These are some of the victims of South Africa’s pandemic budget cuts unveiled in a marathon parliamentary committee session on 15 July. 

The cuts total 16 per cent of the 2020/21 budget of the Department of Science and Innovation. They are “tradeoffs” between the need to save money and the need to sustain South Africa’s innovation system, said Phil Mjwara, DSI director-general, during the live-streamed virtual briefing.

Mjwara said that earlier this year, as the negative effects of the coronavirus on the country’s budget became evident, Treasury came to the department with an ultimatum: Either the DSI would help it identify areas to cut this year, or the Treasury would cut the budget for the department. “We think we’ve done the best [we could],” Mjwara said. 

One of the department’s ‘wins’ was to convince Treasury to count the R340 million (US$20.5m) that it had already repriorised toward Covid-19 research in this financial year towards its overall savings target, Mjwara added. This meant that instead of a 20 per cent cut to its budget, which is what Treasury had at first demanded, the DSI ended up with the 16 per cent cut outlined in June’s emergency budget. 

More than a dozen science officials and administrators from South Africa’s top research funders participated in the briefing. They outlined how the cuts would affect the detailed budgets of the DSI as well as the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research and the National Research Foundation. 

Read more at: https://www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-africa-south-2020-7-this-is-the-butcher-s-bill-for-south-africa-s-science-cuts/

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https://www.csir.co.za/nextgen-enterprises-and-institutions

NEXTGEN ENTERPRISES AND INSTITUTIONS

The CSIR enables the transition of South Africa’s institutions into a digitalised era to support effective service delivery; improve government transparency and accountability, as well as facilitate industrial and societal advancement.

The CSIR’s Next Generation Enterprises and Institutions cluster focuses on:

The development of advanced systems and architectures for a collaborative and efficient government through digitalisation and automation of government services to facilitate eGovernment. Research, development and Innovation (RD&I) in this area focuses on transforming government business into digital business. Core to this endeavour is identity assurance and information integrity, which is the need for strong determination, protection and authentication of individual and device identities as they access these services.

Building systems and tools to support decision-making in a complex world. The RD&I capabilities developed in mathematical modelling in response to design complexity, aim to assist government and enterprises with model-based decision support. Other RD&I efforts include the development of systems and tools to support evidence-based decision-making in institutions.

Developing next-generation technologies and supporting the formulation of regulation to support industrial growth in South Africa. In support of the reindustrialisation of South Africa, the RD&I focus is on the development of next-generation SMART systems that combine technical intelligence and cognitive functions. This intelligence is aimed at improving the competitiveness of industries and creation of new industries. RD&I investments are further geared towards enhancing the state’s institutional capacity and competence to respond to the changing policy environment and to design effective regulatory interventions.

Contributing to the development of a human capital base in the area of transformative technologies. The CSIR is facilitating increased investments in human capital development programmes in data science, artificial intelligence, distributed ledger technologies and Internet of Things.

Strengthening and supporting the national research capabilities through hosting of critical research infrastructure and programmes. Higher education, as well as research and innovation institutions have the means to efficiently collaborate with public and private sector players in high-impact industries, both locally and internationally through hosting research infrastructure.

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