DA's Plan for Growth and Jobs - Democratic Alliance

In order to capitalise on this shift in R&D investment towards emerging economies, and notlose out to our international competitors, South Africa needs to position itself as an attractiveplace to conduct cutting-edge research.According to a recent OECD report on the attractiveness of different locations for R&Dinvestment, factors that prospective investors take into account include: the size of themarket; the availability of high-quality resources such as scientific infrastructure and thesupply of skilled labour; agglomeration effects arising from proximity to other companies; anda stable policy environment. How have other governments sought to facilitate high-valueR&D growth?A good example of international best practice is the US State of Georgia, which has beenparticularly innovative in its approach to leveraging university-based science and technology(S&T) innovation to spur economic growth. This involved establishing a state-wide researchalliance between Georgia’s six research universities and the state to build a technologydriveneconomy in the region.Public-private partnerships were developed between the R&D ‘triple helix’: universities,government and business. A key component of Georgia’s approach concerned the creationof a Georgia Research Alliance Venture Fund that provides commercialisation grants toassist researchers turn their work into marketable products.This combined with changes to legislation that incentivise cooperation between industriesand university-based research units (by allowing the institution to retain title to governmentfundedwork, thus enabling them to benefit financially from their inventions and innovations)has contributed to Georgia becoming major centre for R&D investment in the United States.With a number of good universities, and a selection of top-flight research institutes,specifically in high-value industries such as pharmaceuticals and science and technologyresearch – where we are ranked 30 th in the world by the World Economic Forum - SouthAfrica has the intellectual assets to become a world-class centre for R&D. However, smartpolicy reforms will be needed at a national level if we are to harness these assets to boostour country’s overall competitiveness and drive growth.As the case of Georgia shows, these policy changes need to: (i) Put in place the rightfinancial incentives; (ii) introduce a facilitative regulatory framework (iii) establish asupportive institutional environment and (iv) encourage entrepreneurial thinking amongresearchers.SHORT-TERM POLICY PROPOSALSPolicy outcome: Easier and simpler to do businessEntrepreneurship competitionEnter into partnership with companies, NGOs and local business schools and trainingcentres to establish an annual ‘My Future Starts Now’ entrepreneurship competition for 18 to30 year olds that will pay a cash prize each year to an individual or group of individualsresponsible to developing a winning business plan. The exact amount would differ from yearto year, depending on partner contributions, and recipients would be ineligible to apply morethan once.66 | P a g e