According to the Department of Science and Technology’s (DST's) White Paper on Science, Technology and Innovation (2019), South Africa is in need of an enabling innovation environment1. Innovation performance has stagnated since 1996, pointing to unharnessed potential and opportunities to grow a strong and inclusive economy2.
To achieve such an innovative environment, the White Paper envisions increased partnering between business and academia, to increase human capabilities and expand research enterprises3. To achieve this vision, the White Paper proposes increased partnerships between business, government, academia and civil society to address South Africa’s socio-economic development challenges4.
For these partnerships to have a meaningful impact, specific challenges, such as insufficient skills and funding, as well as constraints in the business environment for innovation, needs to be addressed4.
The White Paper recognises that privately funded institutions are increasingly becoming sites of research and innovation activities5. However, the need arises for long-term investment in these institutions to develop the knowledge, skills and resources required to address South African developmental needs5. This long-term investment includes harmonising policy instruments to support businesses6 as well as increasing support for and collaboration with the business sector7. A special note is made with regards to the intent to strengthen the mining R&D hub and other instruments to support the private sector7. This includes the focus on substantially enhanced mining and equipment technologies8 as well as more automated mining, enabled by sensors on humans, equipment and the mining environment8.
To make all of the above possible, society will need to value science, appreciate the impact of innovation on development, and anticipate and plan for change4.
As indicated by the White Paper, innovation is hindered if there is a disconnect between Universities and Industry/Business. The White Paper states that learning by doing, using and interacting, and observing what others are doing are important activities that drive innovation9. However, employment advertisements are scarce to non-existent for people with no experience (fresh out of university) because inexperienced resources are not productive and thus very expensive. There is therefore a large gap in South Africa for on-the-job training.
The White Paper also encourages inter-university collaboration to intentionally promote transdisciplinary research by reducing institutional barriers to transdisciplinary research and interdisciplinary research teams10. Structures are needed to encourage ongoing projects in such a way as to bring researchers from several institutions, representing multiple approaches, together in a transdisciplinary research environment10. IPGIP will therefore endeavour to be involved with all engineering universities.
The White Paper also indicates there is a need for long-term investment in young individuals to develop knowledge, skills and resources to address South Africa’s developmental needs5.
One question becomes evident: Why have the above-mentioned needs not been addressed before?
South Africa is currently experiencing a disconnect between industry, and academia. This challenge is also highlighted in the DST’s White Paper as an important requirement for innovation. Integration between industry and academia often requires extra work for universities (lecturers do not do on-the-job training) and extra work for the industry (industry does not do academic training).
This points to insufficient skills and funding in both sectors, which is also identified by the White Paper as a key development area. Besides identified challenges such as access to funding and inadequate infrastructure, SMEs often struggle to innovate, perform R&D, access knowledge and absorb new technology11.
The White Paper highlights the country’s supervisory capacity constraints12. This can be overcome by improving the research system’s output of human capabilities13 and outsourcing supervisory roles to businesses.
IPGIP is rooted in a passion for both industry and academia. Members of the partnership can help develop the students as they have a tailored skillset which includes over 130 years’ experience in industry and academia, software in 48 countries, over 500 successful industry projects, over 400 international peer-reviewed publications, 40 Research & Development awards, including the NRF President’s Award and the British Association for the Advancement of Science Medal, over 400 Masters and PhD engineering university degrees delivered, editorial board member and editor of international science journals, initiator of various industrial associations and author of books on entrepreneurship, writing and research skills, and patent holder of local and international patents, to name a few.
Interdisciplinary research teams14 focus on developmental areas highlighted in the DST’s White Paper, such as modelling and simulation expertise 15, modernising existing industries16, and environmental sustainability17. Within the mining sector, safety, real-time monitoring of the physical environment, production rate and overall process statistics18 are key focus areas.
Prof. EH Mathews (Jnr) is the leader of this R&D initiative. He intends to retire from all other posts he holds before the middle of 2021. He also wants to leave a legacy of R&D and academia integrated with industry in the RSA4.
IPGIP was developed to address the challenges mentioned in Section 1. A further impetus to launch this Academia/Industry partnership was to honour Mr EH Mathews (Snr) (EHM) who died on 20 June 2020 at the age of 88. EHM (Snr) left behind a family of engineers. Six of his sons and grandsons are engineers.
IPGIP was officially registered on 16 January 2021. This date would have been EHM’s 89th birthday.
IPGIP will follow the following guidelines towards facilitating Industry/Academia integration, in-line with the DST’s White Paper:
IPGIP aims to achieve the following outcomes, aimed at addressing the challenges highlighted in the DST’s White Paper:
There are several reasons why there are not 100s of these initiatives across the world. The IPGIP outcomes do not come without challenges. The bill always comes due, and IPGIP has identified the following challenges associated with industry/academic integration:
Furthermore, it is very hard work to combine industry and academia. One needs to be very passionate about business and academia. It is, however, not efficient from a business point of view, but very efficient for the university and the country.
IPGIP is willing to add value to the South African economy with an initiative for R&D development via industry/academia partnership, in-line with the DST’s White Paper on Science, Technology and Innovation.