Providing research and development in niche areas at a more competitive rate than elsewhere in the world is emerging as a competitive advantage for South Africa.

At a media briefing on Friday deputy minister of science and technology Derek Hanekom said that astronomy is an obvious example as a huge effort is underway to position the subcontinent in all relevant areas of the spectrum, from radio, to optical to gamma ray.

"A world class gamma ray observatory has been built in the Gamsberg in Namibia; the Southern African Large Telescope is to be completed in Sutherland in December this year and a bid has been put in for the ‘mother’ of all radio telescopes, the Square Kilometre Array (SKA)," said Hanekom.

This could be located in either Namaqualand, near Nababeep; the Kalahari, outside Upington; or Prieska, in the Karoo.

Science and Technology minister Mosibudi Mangena said that between now and 2006 five countries will be preparing and submitting their bids to host the SKA.

"It is hoped that by 2010 building of the SKA will begin," he said.

The location of the SKA here will mean that a significant portion of the $1-billion cost of the instrument will go to South African high technology and construction firms.

"Together with the other projects it will strengthen the region’s contribution to skills development and knowledge generation in these fields, and act as a centre for capacity building and public understanding of science," said Hanekom.

In a more applied area, the Medical Research Council has won a bid to host the European Developing Countries Clinical Trials Partnership Programme in South Africa, a major initiative by the European Union (EU) to combat poverty-related communicable diseases.

"This is a 400 million Euro programme and a significant proportion of these funds is likely to flow into our medical research programmes," said Hanekom. The EU is setting up an African branch office, which will be launched in July.

"The key in these very large global ventures is knowing your own strengths and how to match them with the world’s needs," said Hanekom. As mentioned in President Thabo Mbeki’s state of the nation address on May 21, research and development (R&D) spending is to be increased.

R&D spending is 0,76% of GDP at present; the intermediate target is 1% of GDP, a target that many developing countries have committed to.

The OECD average stands at about 2,3%, more than twice South Africa’s target.

On July 29, 2004, the department of science and technology with its partner the National Research Foundation will be launching the final six Centres of Excellence, which are aimed at stimulating sustainable excellence in research and building capacity in highly qualified human resources.

Funding for the centres programme has been budgeted at R15-million a year from 2003/4 to 2005/6, with plans to increase this amount as the programme develops.

Hanekom said that the three big new drivers of the modern knowledge economy - information and communication technology, biotechnology and, still in the future, nanotechnology, are being kept in mind in developing a research and development policy. It is for this reason that there are plans to fine tune control of research councils and other state owned laboratories to establish a more effective innovation system and to ensure greater co-ordination in research and development.