Emerging technology innovation in South Africa in the context of the 4th industrial revolution

Abstract

Background: In 2008 South Africa launched a ten-year innovation plan to transform the country’s economy from a resource-based to a knowledge-based economy that is powered by emerging technological innovations. Years have gone by and the country has not achieved its goal. Instead, the country’s economy has continued shedding jobs, with poverty and inequality increasing while economic growth declines. Aim: To understand the determinants for emerging technological innovation in South Africa by identifying the relationship that innovation funding, the National System of Innovation (NSI), human capital and innovation policies have with the emerging technology innovation performance of South Africa as a country. Setting: The study was conducted on institutions that form part of the NSI in Gauteng province. The range of institutions covered included the Innovation Hub, private sector companies, public research organisations and higher education institutions. A wide spectrum of professionals from the stated institutions was invited to participate in the study. Methods: We examined how independent variables related to innovation funding, the NSI, human capital and innovation policies relate to emerging technologies innovation performance. The Kruskal-Wallis test and Spearman’s correlation analysis were used to detect associations or relationships between these independent variables and innovation performance. Results: The results indicated that the country’s emerging technologies innovation performance cannot be determined by a single factor but is the outcome of a combination of factors which, when working together, produce a certain innovation performance in the country. The results also confirmed a strong correlation between collaboration and investment in innovation activities or infrastructure. In addition, collaboration also emerged as the highest benefit that innovation policy provides. This confirms findings of previous studies which showed that failure to connect to the right networks has a negative effect on accessing finance and other forms of support for innovation activities and that the 2 interactions between actors in the NSI allow the flow of funds and knowledge between actors as influenced and governed by various policies and instruments put in place by the government Conclusion: It is concluded that innovation funding, the NSI, human capital or innovation policies alone do not determine the innovation performance of the country, but certain combinations of these factors do. Future research should determine the sets of combinations that are required for a country to achieve elevated levels of innovation performance.