The South African Innovation Ecosystem Policy Hub (SAIEPH) has been launched to help South Africa’s innovation community work together more effectively. The aim is to strengthen South Africa’s innovation ecosystem and improve how policy decisions are made.

As the Policy Hub enters its pilot phase, which will run until 2028, it will build a clearer picture of South Africa’s innovation environment, help turn evidence and research into practical policy and action, and bring together stakeholders from across the globe.

The SAIEPH was also created in part to co-inspire and boost research and development (R&D) to help close these gaps, among other objectives.

The programme is a partnership between Department of Science, Technology and Innovation (DSTI), the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), charity trust Allan & Gill Gray Philanthropies and entrepreneurial ecosystem education organisation Allan Gray Centre for Africa Entrepreneurship (AGCAE) at Stellenbosch University.

“South Africa has strong universities, research institutions, businesses and entrepreneurs, but these strengths do not always connect. Information is often fragmented and policy interventions are largely designed in isolation, which limits ecosystem synergies and innovation spillovers,” says CSIR programme manager Michelle Harding.

“Universities and research institutions are critical. Without top-end research infrastructure, it is not possible to innovate. This allows our people to leapfrog in terms of the kinds of science that they are practising,” says AGCAE board member Dr Clifford Nxomani.

“Innovation requires R&D funding. South Africa invests only 0.66% of its GDP into R&D. Other countries spend 2% on average with the most innovative spending between 3% to 5%,” adds AGCAE founding director Dr Phumlani Nkontwana.

“We live in a time when top students in Africa are unable to enter the US and Europe. We, here in South Africa, should welcome them. If we stop internal competition and embrace Africa, I believe we’ll innovate and transform the world,” says Stellenbosch University Pro-Vice Chancellor and Centre for Epidemic Response and Innovation director Professor Tulio de Oliveira.

“The ambition is long term. It is going to take time to develop the ecosystem that we are chasing but, by moving in the same direction for the long term, we can drive change.

“If we are willing to plant trees under whose shade we may not sit, we will become unstoppable,” says Allan & Gill Gray Philanthropies CEO Anthony Farr.