Universities are becoming major players in the national system of innovation

摘要

Based on data from South Africa’s research and development (R&D) surveys, the country’s R&D expenditurehas grown in real terms by 52% over the period 2001 to 2012. This growth has been driven by governmentfunding, which rose from 34% of the total funding in 2003 to 45% by 2012. Much of the additional fundinghas been granted to universities, with government support of R&D in this sector rising 450% in nominalterms, or 250% in real terms, over the same period. This funding focus, indicative of a growing role foruniversities as R&D performers within the national system of innovation, follows a pattern set earlier inmany developed countries and reflects a revision in the state’s steering of knowledge creation. The R&DSurvey also revealed a decline in the average cost of research, as expressed by expenditure per full-timeequivalent researcher. This finding suggests that the researcher labour market is being better supplied andthe constraints identified by earlier reviews are slowly being overcome. Both trends are highly positive forthe research system. However, the 34% decline in business R&D expenditure since its peak in 2008 is amatter of concern and needs to be addressed. In particular, the level of state-industry embeddedness mustbe increased to encourage private investment and to overcome South Africa’s present growth constraints inrespect of developing competitive medium- to high-technology sectors.