Centres of Excellence (CoEs) are physical or virtual centres of research which concentrate existing capacity and resources to enable researchers to collaborate across disciplines and institutions on long-term projects that are locally relevant and internationally competitive in order to enhance the pursuit of research excellence and capacity development. CoEs have become a common research funding instrument, having already been established in several countries including Australia, Canada, and the USA. In 2004, following consultations with experts from various countries, the Department of Science and Technology (DST) and the National Research Foundation (NRF) developed a CoE Programme Framework document, or guide, for the establishment of CoEs. The DST and the NRF signed a memorandum of agreement (MoA) through which the NRF was appointed to perform the operational management of the CoE programme for “…a maximum of ten (10) years, until the winding up of [the] CoE programme, or as otherwise agreed between parties…”. The DST-NRF CoE Programme was launched in 2004 focusing primarily on South Africa. At the same time, the NRF actively pursued collaboration through bi-lateral and multi-lateral initiatives aimed at developing and linking into similar CoEs across the African continent as well as with similar initiatives linked to capacity building through north-south collaborative ventures.

In the first round open call for proposals, seven CoEs were established in 2004. In 2009 an additional CoE was established based on a closed call process, and in 2010 the process to establish another CoE based on a top-down, targeted and closed call process was initiated. In 2009 the five-year review of the first seven established DST-NRF CoEs and the first review of the CoE programme were conducted. A number of issues, both positive and negative, were identified and recommendations made. The lessons learned since 2004; outcomes of the 2009 review of the CoEs and the programme; and the prospects of establishing a number of new CoEs have made it imperative that the framework document and guide for the establishment and management of the DST-NRF CoEs, and the associated handbook to assist with operations of CoEs, be revised. The revision of the two documents was finalised in March and approved in April 2012 and can be accessed online.

The five key performance areas of CoEs are: Research/knowledge production; Education and training; Information brokerage; Networking: Service rendering.