Read the full Annual Report in PDF format - CSIR

Infrastructure and associated operations are a prerequisite for economic
growth and social development. The built environment is a complex system
with numerous elements and a number of external factors infl uencing it. Factors
such as migration and urbanisation – by 2013, 70% of the country’s people
will be living in cities – contribute to overloaded infrastructure, which in turn
demands an increase in service delivery.
In line with the South African government’s increased focus on the built
environment, the CSIR is putting forward its multidisciplinary capabilities to
develop innovations and solutions that will improve the built environment in a
sustainable manner. To do this, the organisation will focus on:
• Logistics and infrastructure operations
• Transport infrastructure
• Sustainable human settlements
• Information and communications technology, and sensors
• The built environment as a complex system.
Read about the CSIR’s health infrastructure research aimed at reducing the
risk of patient-to-patient cross-infection and patient-to-caregiver infection relating
to drug-resistant TB. The link between infrastructure and economic welfare
is evident in the article on how precise data on waves, tides, currents and
winds are needed in the context of safe ports, and how this local skills set has
become in demand internationally. A third article summarises other important
R&D projects relating to infrastructure – specifi cally pothole repair; bridge
management; immovable asset management; improved road design method;
and longer-life roads.
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