In a bid to tackle threats posed by disruptive technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI) on the national economy, the Minister of Science, Technology, and Innovation, Prof. Blade Nzimande, has inaugurated the National System of Innovation (NSI) initiative to enhance inclusivity, agility, and responsiveness.
Nzimande made this affirmation at the Inaugural Summit on the Transformation of South Africa’s NSI, titled “Placing Science, Technology and Innovation at the Centre of Government, Education, Industry and Society” to reinforce the urgent need for new ideas and innovative transformations to tackle the many complex social, economic, and ecological problems confronting the country.
The inauguration came shortly after the resolution in Parliament by the Portfolio Committee on Science, Technology, and Innovation calling for decisive action to ensure that the NSI reflects ethnicity, gender, class, and space diversity in new knowledge creation and innovation.
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The minister highlighted that any progress made on transforming the NSI should be in line with national development goals so that it becomes inclusive, forward-thinking, and equipped to drive innovation in key sectors, tackling poverty, inequality, and unemployment, and developing scientific skills.
“These recommendations will contribute to the development of additional policy and institutional mechanisms aimed at transforming our National System of Innovation and making it more agile and responsive to our national priorities such as poverty, inequality, unemployment and of course the production of the necessary scientific skills for our country.” He said.
He further commended the working groups for all their work, noting that insights would greatly influence future policies.
