Institute for Technological Innovation (ITI)http://hdl.handle.net/2263/32082024-03-28T12:48:57Z2024-03-28T12:48:57ZAn assessment of the economic impact of South Africa’s public universitiesBawa, Ahmed C.Pouris, Anastassioshttp://hdl.handle.net/2263/931822023-11-07T22:48:48Z2023-09-01T00:00:00ZAn assessment of the economic impact of South Africa’s public universities
Bawa, Ahmed C.; Pouris, Anastassios
With the understanding that universities play multiple social purposes, we aimed to provide an estimation of
the economic impact of the public universities in South Africa. Using models described in the literature, we
estimated economic benefits from four university activities – university exports, research at universities,
the production of graduates and universities as business entities. Comparative analysis shows that, as
an economic sector, Higher Education contributes more to South Africa’s gross value added than other
economic sectors such as Wood and Wood Products, Textiles, Clothing and Leather Goods, or Paper and
Paper Products. It is comparable to sectors such as Gold Mining, and Beverages and Tobacco. Taking into
account a number of assumptions, which are explained in the text, for 2018 the total economic impact
was estimated at about ZAR513 billion. Governmental expenditure on higher education in that year was
ZAR66 billion. These figures produce a cost–benefit ratio for the sector of 1 : 7.7, considering only these
four university activities.
SIGNIFICANCE :
The South African public higher education institutions form a very significant economic sector within the
national economy. In terms of the gross value added, it is very similar in size to the gold mining industry.
Taking into account four activities of universities, this sector contributes about ZAR500 billion annually to the
economy, which is likely to be an underestimate of the actual contribution. This finding opens the way for
policymakers to understand the importance of the sector as an area of investment. Recognising the potential
limitations of the use of the modelling developed for other economies, our study indicates the importance of
further work to indigenise the economic modelling for local conditions.
DATA AVAILABILITY: On request from author(s).
2023-09-01T00:00:00ZAnalysis of patents and citations for selected areas of the bioeconomy in South AfricaBambo, Thabang LazarusPouris, Anastassioshttp://hdl.handle.net/2263/931422023-11-01T22:47:47Z2023-01-01T00:00:00ZAnalysis of patents and citations for selected areas of the bioeconomy in South Africa
Bambo, Thabang Lazarus; Pouris, Anastassios
The South African bioeconomy strategy did not clearly articulate the measurement framework to monitor the implementation of the strategy. This paper provides an analysis of bioeconomy patents, the most prolific organizations and citations at the EPO and USPTO for South Africa, BRICS, Egypt and Nigeria during the Ten-Year Innovation Plan 2008–2018. The terms ‘biotechnology’, ‘medical technology’, ‘pharmaceuticals’ and ‘selected environment-related technologies’ were used to search for patents. The OECD patents by technology, the EPO PATSTAT and the USPTO PatFT databases were used to map patents and citations. The results show that South Africa ranked last in the BRICS group but produced a higher number of patents than Egypt and Nigeria. The number of patents generally decreased for the selected countries except for China. The total citations for the selected countries was generally inconsistent. The important innovators for South Africa in the bioeconomy are mainly universities and public research institutions. A new fiscal approach to encourage knowledge application in bioeconomy in South Africa is required. Incentives from government that encourage collaboration between research institutions and industry to direct research with industry application are required. The study contributes to the development of metrics to monitor the bioeconomy in South Africa.
This paper is based on Bambo, Thabang. 2021. “Science, Technology and Innovation Indicators for the Bioeconomy in South Africa: A Scientometric Assessment.” PhD diss., University of Pretoria, South Africa. (http://hdl.handle.net/2263/83627)
2023-01-01T00:00:00ZInternational patent applications and innovation in South AfricaSchmoch, UlrichPouris, Anastassioshttp://hdl.handle.net/2263/877732023-11-07T10:29:26Z2021-12-17T00:00:00ZInternational patent applications and innovation in South Africa
Schmoch, Ulrich; Pouris, Anastassios
BACKGROUND: Experts recommend support to patents for stimulating innovation. Also, the South African government supports patents, in particular, international patents. In this paper it is examined how this strategy can be designed to successfully trigger economic progress AIM: The present South African activities in patents are investigated in this paper and areas identified where an intensification of patenting looks promising for economic progress SETTING: The patent activities since 1985 are analysed and compared to the annual export-import balance from 2009 to 2018, in order to identify starting points for improving economic structures. The data are linked to current suggestions to the National Advisory Council on Innovation (NACI) for future technologies METHODS: The analysis of patents is performed, using the international patent database PATSTAT, as well as the analysis of the export-import balance at the WITS database of the World Bank RESULTS: The patent analysis reveals a low level of South African domestic patents, with a focus on less complex goods and a stagnation period of 35 years. The data on the export - import balance show negative figures for consumer goods and even more so for capital goods CONCLUSION: Economic progress can be accelerated by stimulating patent and economic activities to produce more complex consumer and capital goods. However, it may be necessary to focus on certain areas at the beginning in order to achieve a sufficient critical mass of competence and international competitiveness. In any case, the support of patents is only successful when it is closely linked to a strategy regarding technology.
2021-12-17T00:00:00ZBibliometric analysis of bioeconomy research in South AfricaBambo, Thabang LazarusPouris, Anastassioshttp://hdl.handle.net/2263/780912022-04-08T22:46:44Z2020-10-01T00:00:00ZBibliometric analysis of bioeconomy research in South Africa
Bambo, Thabang Lazarus; Pouris, Anastassios
This document provides an analysis of bioeconomy research in South Africa and it discusses sources of growth in the country’s bioeconomy literature in general. We performed bibliometric analysis as indexed in the Web of Science (WoS) for number of South African authored publications and citations in bioeconomy, and compared them with Brazil, Russia, India and China (BRICS) and selected countries for the period 2008 to 2018. The WoS is used for research dealing with the scientific dynamic of a particular topic in most widely diffused journals and for citation analysis. The results highlight South Africa ranked last in the BRICS group in terms of number of bioeconomy publications produced in the selected period, and has a world share of 0.8%, which is higher than the national research average of 0.5%. The citations growth for South Africa bioeconomy publication increased by 6.8%, higher than Brazil, Russia and world citations during the period under review. The University of Cape Town is a leader in bioeconomy publications in South Africa followed by University of Stellenbosch and the University of KwaZulu Natal, with majority of the publications on environmental sciences ecology. South Africa collaborates the most with institutions from the United States of America in bioeconomy research, and the percent of international collaboration is similar with that of national scientific publications. However, South Africa experienced a decline in bioeconomy industry collaboration publications during this period.
2020-10-01T00:00:00Z