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SADC Protocol on Science, Technology, and Innovation

SADC Protocol on Science, Technology, and Innovation. Thomas Auf der Heyde Briefing to Portfolio Committee 21 July 2010. History of SADC Protocol on STI. 2006: SADC Declaration on Science, Technology and Innovation (STI) drafted by SADC senior officials and adopted by Ministers in Pretoria

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SADC Protocol on Science, Technology, and Innovation

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  1. SADC Protocol on Science, Technology, and Innovation Thomas Auf der Heyde Briefing to Portfolio Committee 21 July 2010

  2. History of SADC Protocol on STI • 2006: SADC Declaration on Science, Technology and Innovation (STI) drafted by SADC senior officials and adopted by Ministers in Pretoria • 2007: SADC senior officials drafted SADC Protocol on Science, Technology and Innovation in Durban • 2007: Ministers approved SADC Protocol in Pretoria • 2008: SADC Protocol on STI approved by the SADC Heads of States and Government during the SADC Summit in Johannesburg

  3. Status of ratification • Cab Memo drafted • Presented to ARC and ICTS meetings • Presented to Cabinet • Tabled at Parliament for presentation and consideration • To be presented at Portfolio Committee meeting

  4. Key objectives of the Protocol • Provide a base for development of institutional mechanisms for regional cooperation and coordination of STI • Ensure proper coordination of resources for regional STI programmes as identified in the RISDP and CPA • Promote development and harmonisation of STI policies in the region • Maximise public and private investment in R&D in the region

  5. Regional STI interventions • SADC Policy Training • SADC SET WEEK • SADC Women in Science • SADC STI Strategy • SADC IPR • SADC IKS • SADC Climate Change • SADC Blue Gene

  6. SADC policy training • Build capacity on S&T policy for Senior Officials in SADC • Ongoing discussions with UNESCO for a possible training programme in September 2010 • Manchester University Business School identified as possible service provider • Australian Government donated R1.5m to the project • South Africa will provide additional seed funding of R1.5m

  7. SADC SET week • Aim of the programme is popularization of science and technology in the SADC Region • SADC SET Week was launched in Mauritius in 2009 • South Africa and Mauritius will develop a draft framework for future SADC SET Week programmes to be hosted annually

  8. SADC Women-in-Science • First SADC Women-in-Science workshop (Durban, April 2010) discussed establishment of a regional platform (aligned to SADC Gender Protocol and Policy) • Baseline report on SADC WiS in the region was developed prior to the workshop • Outcome of the workshop was establishment of a Working Group (DRC, SA, Namibia, Zimbabwe & Mozambique) to develop the WiS Plan of Action to implement workshop recommendations

  9. SADC STI Strategy • Ministers mandated Senior Officials to develop a SADC Strategy on STI • Working Group was established comprising of SA, DRC, Namibia, Tanzania and Lesotho • Working Group meetings hosted by different countries (South Africa, Namibia and Tanzania) • Draft strategy will be presented at the next SADC Ministerial Meeting in DRC July 2010

  10. SADC Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) • First SADC IPR Workshop hosted in SA in August 2009 • Following this workshop, Japan has shown interest to support IP training in SADC

  11. SADC Indigenous Knowledge Systems (IKS) • Meetings in Zambia (2007), Seychelles (2009), Namibia (2010) • Projects: BSc (IKS), Databank, IKS Policy development • There is a lot of interest at a bilateral level for IKS cooperation

  12. SADC Climate change • SADC Climate change – workshop will take place in Namibia on 10-11 August 2010 • Initiative agreed on during the SADC senior officials meeting in 2009 • Expected outcome of the workshop is a draft SADC STI plan on climate change • R1.5m support leveraged from Australian Government to support the regional workshops

  13. SADC Blue Gene • Concept of Blue Gene Initiative (supercomputing) presented at the SADC Senior Officials’ meeting in 2009 • Supercomputer donated by IBM to SA (CSIR) to host the supercomputer for Africa • Member States agreed to host workshop and share how SADC can benefit from this initiative • Workshop is planned for October/ November 2010

  14. Summary • Ratification of SADC Protocol is a technical requirement • Considerable progress being made in developing regional interventions; SADC the leading REC • Interest in key development partners to support regional initiatives BUT • SADC STI Desk weak and under-resourced • Development partners reluctant to support STI Desk

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