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Economic Growth and International Competitiveness
Rationale
In his State of the Nation Address (6 February 2004), President Mbeki stated that "(South Africa) must continue to focus on the growth, development and modernisation of the First Economy, to generate the resources without which it will not be possible to confront the challenges of the Second Economy. This is going to require further and significant infrastructure investments, skills development, scientific and technological research, development and expansion of the knowledge economy..."
South Africa must develop a competitive, sustainable, fast-growing economy that creates national prosperity. The extent to which this challenge is addressed will depend on a dynamic and multi-disciplinary knowledge base capable of integrating technology, management and labour. The keys to building a competitive industrial base are knowledge, innovation and productivity.
Technological change is one of the most important sources of change in the economy. The capacity for science and technology in South Africa is not been adequately translated into innovative and dynamic business organisation or enterprise. The economy remains largely dependent on natural resources, primary processing and manufacturing and, for the most part, on imported technologies. A sound scientific and technological base, from which wealth-creating technological innovations and applications can develop, is essential to economic growth in a competitive international environment. This knowledge base should address the full spectrum of economic accumulation, from mobilising resources, to effective production to knowledge-based marketing, sales, services and distribution of manufactured products . This is particularly important in the knowledge era, as boundaries disappear between knowledge and its various applications.
South Africa needs to improve its international competitiveness. With the increasing impact of globalisation on business, the scope for competition is no longer limited by national boundaries or by the definition of a particular industrial sector. This implies, among other things, that it has become imperative to develop and maintain knowledge and skills as assets that can lead to the development and successful commercialisation of a wide variety of products and services that meet the demands of international markets In his State of the Nation Address, President Mbeki also highlighted the need to penetrate global markets more deeply, increase savings levels, expand black economic empowerment and grow small and medium enterprises in order to address present and future economic challeneges.
Competitiveness at the level of the enterprise is of utmost importance. In the industrial economy, access to cheap raw materials, access to cheap unskilled labour, access to proprietary production technology and privileged access to markets were driving competitiveness. New drivers that are related to customer value have emerged in the knowledge era. These include the ownership of designs and brands, the excellence of marketing skills and a focus on consumer demands. Smart production processes are vital. Management of technology, innovation and information have also emerged as key requirements for success in the 21st century enterprise.
Economic growth and international competitiveness are increasingly dependent on the generation and transfer of knowledge and technology. Research underpins economic growth and competitiveness by advancing knowledge and skills that sustain innovation and help solve problems for industry and business.
Aims
The primary aims of this focus area are to:
- Establish and grow research with the potential to impact on economic growth and competitiveness
- Support pre-competitive research innovation and development relevant to industry in areas of national importance, such as wealth creation, job creation, enhancement of foreign direct investment, and ultimately economic growth
- Promote links with relevant stakeholders in key sectors of industry and business
- Develop innovative technologies and technology-based solutions to strengthen the competitiveness of sectors and enterprises
- Strongly promote entrepreneurship, business creation, commercialisation of research, business development and protection of intellectual property
- Encourage researchers in science and technology to link up with the human and social sciences in multidisciplinary research endeavours
- Raise awareness of the value of public investment in knowledge generation
- Develop research capacity through basic and applied research initiatives undertaken by researchers as individuals or in teams
Research Themes
The main areas for consideration within this focus area have been grouped into two clusters:
- Technologies for Competitiveness, and
- Management for Competitiveness.
1. Technologies for Competitiveness
The sectors and processes of production that will drive the economy need to be supported through the generation and transfer of knowledge. The emphasis is on how to make sectors more competitive through technology - focusing on sectors with a demonstrated ability or potential to make the country competitive. Sectors to be addressed include:
- Agro-processing, commercial farming and fisheries
- Business, financial and related services
- Manufacturing and materials
- Mineral Resources, metallurgy and minerals processing
- Energy
- Forestry
- Tourism
- Biotechnology
- Transport.
Possible issues within each of the above sectors include:
- Processes of production (including basic technologies, control, distribution, incorporation of information and communication technology, logistics of production)
- Simulation and modelling
- Critical and emerging technologies (A Centre of Excellence approach may be followed)
- Clean production, technical management of emissions and other environmental considerations
- Pollution and waste management/minimisation
- Market relevance of skills and research results.
2. Management for Competitiveness
This theme is further sub-divided into three sub-themes, as below.
2.1 Environment for economic growth
The focus here is on the issues affecting economic growth, development and business and industrial competitiveness, such as:
- SMMEs as a route to growth
- Infrastructure and services (including transportation, telecommunications, construction)
- Markets and market-specific studies
- The role of government and the regulatory and legislative environment
- Institutional framework for growth
- Entrepreneurship
- Impact of social processes (e.g. crime, flight of capital, HIV)
- Privatisation
- Micro-economics issues
- Economic impact of environmental issues.
2.2 Management of the enterprise
The organisation and internal management of enterprises and industry has a profound effect on economic growth and competitiveness. Issues that could be examined in this sub-theme include:
- Management of organisations of the future
- Technology and research management
- Knowledge management and intellectual property issues
- Optimal use of resources of the enterprise
- Logistics
- Value-chain management
- E-business
- Brand development
- Business systems
- Technology transfer
- Environment in which the business operates (for example, legal issues, relationship to profitability)
- Case research, understanding business success and failure and drivers for competitiveness and reflecting the South African perspective.
2.3 Human resources
Human resource requirements in the knowledge era are changing the organisation of production, the skills needed from workers and the relationships within enterprises. Issues that could to be examined in this sub-theme include:
- Skills requirements and skills availability in various sectors
- Quality of labour training systems and skills transfer processes
- Occupational health and safety
- Knowledge workers
- Unemployment and employment creation
- In-company and higher education sector training systems
Contact
Lebusa Monyooe
Manager: Focus Areas
email: lebusa@nrf.ac.za
Tel:+27 12 4814230
Fax:+27 12 4814005
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