Tag: BARRIERS TO INNOVATION

Innovation indicators

Results | SA Business Innovation Survey, 2014-2016

8 July 2020 – South African Minister of Higher Education, Science and Technology, Dr Blade Nzimande, today released the results of the 2014-2016 Business Innovation Survey.

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Produced by the HSRC’s Centre for Science, Technology and Innovation Indicators (CeSTII) for the Department of Science and Innovation (DSI), the Survey delivers national data on the formal business sector’s innovation performance in the three-year reference period.

“In our current COVID-19 context, these results help us to reflect on the distinctive nature of innovation in South Africa, and point toward spaces for policy intervention so that we can encourage more firms in all economic sectors to innovate,” says Executive Head of CeSTII, Dr Glenda Kruss.

“To respond to the current economic, ecological and health challenges, we need to understand what kinds of innovation firms are able to implement, and whether the kinds of benefits that result from these forms of innovation can contribute to firms’ business strategies and to inclusive and sustainable growth.”

Alongside the annual R&D Survey, the HSRC has performed national innovation surveys since CeSTII was established in the early 2000s. 

“South African innovation surveys follow the widely adopted OECD Oslo Manual methodology to enable international comparisons, and are conducted using a random sample of businesses stratified by size-class and across across the industrial and services sectors,” according to Dr Moses Sithole, CeSTII Research Director and the Survey’s technical lead.

“Data is then weighted to reflect innovation performance across the national population of businesses in those sectors, allowing for a unique snapshot of innovation performance in the formal economy.”

Adds Kruss: “The survey provides critical data on the kinds of barriers that prevent more firms from innovating, whether relating to cost, market, knowledge or institutional factors.”

“We tend to promote ‘islands of excellence’, the small number of firms that innovate at the technology frontier in ways that are new to the world. Most firms however, utilize incremental innovations that marginally modify their existing products and processes, or that are new to the firm and local market. So, it is essential to design policy support mechanisms that can mitigate the constraints on these incremental forms of innovation more widely across the business sector.”

Watch media briefing

South African Minister of Higher Education, Science and Technology, Dr Blade Nzimande, addresses media on  on 8 July 2020 on measures implemented by the National System of Innovation and Higher Education in response to the COVID-19 epidemic. 
Impacts of innovation, Innovation indicators, The meaning of innovation

Event | Tweets and slides from Industry Associations Innovation Day 2018

On 25 May 2018, about 60 industry association leaders, government officials, researchers and entrepreneurs gathered at Gauteng’s Riversands Incubation Hub. On the agenda? Innovation, government and Industry 4.0. This post shares the final programme and speaker list, presentations and Tweets from @HSRC_CeSTII.

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Image credit: Department of Science and Technology

Programme and speakers

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Slides

How much R&D and innovation on in South Africa, and how we know this – Dr Glenda Kruss &Dr Moses Sithole, Centre for Science, Technology and Innovation Indicators, Human Sciences Research Council

How industry/businesses can leverage CSIR platforms for innovation – Kobus Roux, Council for Scientific and Industrial Research

[Image credit: HSRC/CeSTII]
[Image credit: HSRC/CeSTII]
[Image credit: HSRC/CeSTII]

Tweets

Innovation indicators

Analysis | Barriers to innovation: Evidence from South African manufacturing companies 2010–2012

“Studies on barriers to innovation typically focus on the impact of obstacles on the propensity to innovate as well as the factors affecting perceptions of the importance of these barriers,” Moses et al (2018) argue in a new HSRC Policy Brief. Drawing from the South African Business Innovation Survey 2010–2012 dataset, the brief documents factors affecting how companies perceive the importance of a range of barriers to innovation.

The Business Innovation Survey 2010–2012 data allows for an evaluation of various factors that influence a company’s perceptions of different barriers to innovation.

The results presented in this brief do not represent the population of all the business enterprises in South Africa, but only a sample of 128 manufacturing enterprises.

Download HSRC Policy Brief (March 2018) ‘Barriers to innovation: Evidence from South African manufacturing companies 2010–2012’

Policy Brief Authors

  • C Moses (BSc, BSc Honours, MSc), Chief Researcher, Centre for Science, Technology and Innovation Indicators, Human Sciences Research Council | cmoses@hsrc.ac.za
  • Dr MM Sithole (BSc, CDE, PGD, MSc, PhD), Chief Research Specialist; Centre for Science, Technology and Innovation Indicators, Human Sciences Research Council | msithole@hsrc.ac.za
  • P Mudavanhu (BSc, BCom Honours, MCom), Senior Researcher, Centre for Science, Technology and Innovation Indicators, Human Sciences Research Council
  • N Nkobole-Mhlongo (BSc, BSc Honours, MSc), Junior Lecturer, University of South Africa
  • T Kupamupindi (BSc, BSc Honours, MPhil), Senior Demographer, International Centre for Aids Care and Treatment Programs, Columbia University