NRF Annual Report 2018

PART D: ANNUAL FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
Types of goods and/or services by segment
These reportable segments as well as the goods and/or services for each segment are set out below:
Reportable segment
Research and Innovation
Support and Advancement
(RISA)
iThemba Laboratory for
Accelerator Based Sciences
(iThemba LABS)
South African Astronomical
Observatory (SAAO)
Hartebeesthoek Radio
Astronomy Observatory
(HartRAO)
South African Institute for
Aquatic Biodiversity (SAIAB)
South African Agency for
Science and Technology
Advancement (SAASTA)
National Zoological Gardens
of South Africa (NZG)
South African Environmental
Observatory Network
(SAEON)
South African Square
Kilometre Array (SKA)
Goods and/or services
The business unit provides for the promotion and support of research and research capacity development in
all fields of knowledge and technology, through investing in knowledge, people and infrastructure; developing
research capacity, and advancing equity and equality, to unlock the full creative potential of researchers;
assisting with the development of institutional capacity; and, facilitating strategic national and international
partnerships and knowledge networks.
The facility provides advanced, viable, multidisciplinary facilities for training, research and services in the fields
of sub-atomic nuclear science and applied radiation medicine.
SAAO is the national centre for optical and infrared astronomy in South Africa. Its primary function is to
conduct fundamental research in astronomy and astrophysics. SAAO operates SALT, located at its site near
Sutherland, on behalf of an international consortium and promotes astronomy and astrophysics in Southern
Africa.
HartRAO focuses its research agenda on stellar evolution, pulars, and masers. The Space Geodesy
research uses space-based techniques to study the earth and make a contribution to both astronomy and
the earth system sciences. The facility is also used by university students for carrying out research, and it
also undertakes science awareness programmes for schools and the general public. HartRAO has been
incorporated into the newly established South African Radio Astronomy Observatory (SARAO).
SAIAB serves as a research hub for aquatic biodiversity in southern Africa by housing and developing the
National Fish Collection and associated resource collections as research tools and resources of aquatic
biodiversity data. It also generates knowledge on aquatic biodiversity through interactive and collaborative
scientific research, and disseminates scientific knowledge at all levels.
SAASTA is positioned as a science engagement agency in advancing the public awareness, appreciation and
understanding of science, engineering and technology in South Africa, as well as the integration of science
awareness activities across the entity.
The NZG is a national facility and an active participant for research in terrestrial biodiversity. The NZG will be
officially transferred to the custodianship of the South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI) from 1 April
2018.
SAEON is a research unit that establishes and maintains nodes (environmental observatories, field stations
or sites) linked by an information management network to serve as research and education platforms for
long-term studies of ecosystems that will provide for incremental advances in our understanding of ecosystems
and our ability to detect, predict and react to environmental change. An application has been submitted to the
Minister of Science and Technology to declare SAEON as a national facility.
The SKA project is an international effort to build the world’s largest radio telescope, with about a square
kilometre of collecting area. Deploying thousands of radio telescopes, in three unique configurations, it
will enable astronomers to monitor the sky in unprecedented detail and survey the entire sky thousands of
times faster than any system currently in existence. All existing and future radio astronomy activities are now
incorporated into a single radio astronomy observatory called the South African Radio Astronomy Observatory
(SARAO), which includes MeerKAT, KAT-7, AVN, HartRAO and international radio astronomy experiments in
the SKA site.
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