14/1/2

NATIONAL ASSEMBLY

WRITTEN REPLY

QUESTION NO. 1407

DATE OF PUBLICATION IN THE INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER: 13 MAY 2016; QUESTION PAPER 14 - 2016

“1407 Mr DC Ross (DA) to ask the Minister of Science and Technology:

Whether (a) her department and (b) entities reporting to her are running development programmes for (i) small businesses (ii)) co-operatives; if not, why not; if so, in each case, (aa) what are the relevant details, (bb) what amount has been budgeted and (cc) how many jobs will be created through specified development programmes in the 2016-17 financial year?”

NW1075E

REPLY:

1. (a) The Department of Science and Technology (DST) prefers to utilise the

entities in the innovation and science system to execute specific interventions.

In this instance the DST does not have its own development programme for

SMMEs:

(i) No

(ii) No

(aa)

(bb)

(cc)

1. (b) Entities responses are provided in the table below:

Entity (i) (ii) (aa) (bb) (cc)Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf)

No N

o

The running of

development

programmes does not

fall within the

mandate of ASSAf.

N/A N/A

Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC)

No N

o

The running of

development

programmes does not

fall within the

mandate of HSRC.

N/A N/A

National Research Foundation (NRF)

Ye

s

N

o

Square Kilometre

Array (SKA) South

Africa, a business unit

of the NRF and NMC

Civils have partnered

with Absa in an

Enterprise and Supply

chain Development

(ESD) initiative to

develop small and

medium enterprises

(SMEs) in the

Northern Cape. This

programme will

enable qualifying

SMEs to obtain

funding from Absa so

that they can provide

services and goods to

NMC Civils in the

80km road project.

Approximatel

y R34,5

million

There are

potentially

34

Companies

in Northern

Cape to

benefit from

this initiative

assuming

they meet

the criteria.

South African National Ye N The satellite To date the Small

Space Agency (SANSA)

s o development

programme that is

currently being

pursued by SANSA,

under the support of

the Department of

Science and

Technology, has an

industry development

and localisation

initiative in it. As part

of the satellite

development

programme all

contracts established

include an element of

industry development

and localization. To

this end, there are

four small businesses

currently being sub-

contracted as part of

the broader satellite

development

programme.

satellite

programme

has invested

R 5 944 687

with the said

four small

businesses.

businesses

account for

indirect

jobs. 46

direct

technical

jobs and 7

support staff

at Denel

Spaceteq.

Skills

developmen

t for 7

students

with a target

of over 20

students by

the end of

the

programme.

Council for Scientific and Industrial Research

See Annexure A

Technology Innovation Agency

Annexure A

COUNCIL FOR SCIENTIFIC INDUSTRIAL AND RESEACH (CSIR)

1. (b)(i) Yes

(ii) No

Development Programme 1(aa) The Bio-manufacturing Industry Development Centre (BIDC). The

BIDC supports SMMEs through the prototyping and scale-up phases of

product development, assists them to do market acceptance testing and

to launch products in the market. The companies remain the sole owners

of their innovations and retain absolute control over their future in terms of

value add and partnerships. The BIDC helps to lower the cost and

barriers that inhibit innovative enterprises from translating their inventions

into market-ready products.

The BIDC’s support for SMMEs is through the development of bio-based

manufacturing processes and products. Enterprises that are incubated at

the BIDC have access to ready-to-use bio-manufacturing facilities,

support in research and development laboratories as well as access to

experts in the fields of agro-processing and bio-processing product

development and scale-up.

Currently the BIDC is supporting 19 enterprises of which 16 are owned by

black entrepreneurs, including 10 black women-owned enterprises. To

date, 33 products with applications in the cosmetics, nutrition and

biotechnology industries have been developed and transferred to the

enterprises. The programme has resulted in 105 permanent jobs being

created, the majority of which are within the enterprises and their value

chains, while an additional 165 temporary jobs have also been created.

At least 54 interns have received training in the BIDC vocational learning

programme in order to provide the bio-manufacturing sector with a skilled

workforce.

(bb) R12, 5 million.

(cc) 75 permanent jobs and six interns.

Development Programme 2(aa) Ultrasonic Broken Rail Detector (UBRD) System. The UBRD system

was co-developed by CSIR and Armscor's Institute for Maritime

Technology using public funds from CSIR, Transnet Freight Rail (TFR)

and DST. This world-first technology system helps prevent derailment of

heavy freight trains by detecting broken railway lines in real-time and

alerting the TFR control centre. The system currently protects 860 km of

the Sishen-Saldanha iron ore export line and is installed on critical

sections (bridges & tunnels) of the coal export line. The system will soon

be licensed to a South African company for local manufacturing and

international business development.

(bb) R1.75 million.

(cc) Approximately 40 to 70 jobs are projected to be created. The number of

jobs created will depend on the success of international sales and could

be in high technology manufacturing, marketing, sales and distribution.

Development Programme 3(aa) Umbiflow. Umbiflow is a medical ultrasound system that operates off a

standard computer, and conducts an assessment of the blood flow

between mother and child whilst in the womb. It uses this information to

assess if the fetus is likely to be receiving insufficient nutrition for growth

and allows medical staff to intervene. The intention is to reduce the high

still birth rate experienced in developing nations and, by permitting the

measurement to be done at clinic level, to reduce unnecessary referral of

mothers to higher levels of care. The system is currently in a clinical trial

in Gauteng, Tshwane district and will be licensed to an SMME in the

medical sector during 2016-17.

(bb) R7 million.

(cc) approximately five to eight permanent jobs are projected to be created.

Development Programme 4(aa) Micro-Enterprise Media Engine (MEME) Platform. This is an ultra-low

cost scalable mobile Internet Television platform that enables media

production SMMEs to own the means of global (export) distribution while

retaining the Intellectual Property rights to their content. The platform

was developed at the CSIR. It is globally competitive in its ability to

distribute live television with integrated social media interaction to even

the remotest rural areas of emerging economies on mobile devices

without any break-up of the stream (no video buffering). The technique is

patented in China, Russia, Nigeria, East and Southern Africa, USA and

UK. The intention is create the opportunity to build a new emerging

economy-to-emerging economy (E2E) mobile television industry that will

draw the media talent of South African youth exiting film schools into a

growing local media SMME space by widening the audience reach and

negating the cost of traditional television broadcasting infrastructure

requirements (satellite, etc.). It is currently licensed to five SMMEs to

pilot for one (1) year before it will be opened to the entire South African

media industry in 2017. It is further being integrated into the curriculum of

a local film school.

(bb) R11.1 million. (EU-General Budget Support).

(cc) Four film school students, four full-time media employees, seven full-time

technology employees plus approximately 25 jobs/workers across the five

pilot SMMEs, during the pilot period.

Development Programme 5(aa) Establishment of a cashmere fibre industry in the Eastern Cape

(EC). The CSIR has developed a cashmere processing know-how to

produce yarns and would like to commercialize the results of their

research. The venture involves training farmers on how to harvest

cashmere fibre, and the establishment of a production facility that will

process the harvested cashmere fibre in readiness for manufacture of

garments. With the assistance of the Jobs Fund funding, the initial

objective of the project was to establish a cashmere fibre industry in the

country, in particular the Eastern Cape. The key objectives of the project,

as supported by the Jobs Fund include:

To empower traditional goat farmers by generating income from

under coat down fibre that grows on traditional goats during winter;

Train the goat owners on how to harvest the cashmere fibre;

Establish the production facilities (cleaning and processing of

cashmere fibre), thus creating permanent jobs;

Establish a market for the cashmere fibre; and

Establishment of the foundation for full economic beneficiation of

indigenous goats found in the province.

(bb) R7 million was allocated from October 2013 until March 2016.

R400 000.00 allocated for the 2016-17 financial year.

(cc) Four jobs are projected.

Development Programme 6(aa) Enterprise Creation for Development (ECD). A CSIR implementation

business area with a development mandate, which assists both the public

and private sectors to implement enterprise development activities. These

activities include opportunity identification, opportunity assessment and

packaging, enterprise support programmes, and capacity building for

local economic development (LED). Industry sectors targeted include

manufacturing, agro-processing, green economy, ICT and built

environment. ECD focuses on the application of technology to address

underdevelopment. In the previous year, ECD was involved in the

development and support of 10 pilot projects and 12 enterprises.

Feasibility studies for four incubator programmes were undertaken.

ECD was involved in conducting feasibility studies and developing

business plans for 2 industrial parks, eight (8) agri-parks, and one

(1) agro-processing hub. In addition, the business area was involved

in the establishment of a Business Processing Outsourcing Park.

In terms of technology transfer, 21 mature technologies and four (4)

new technologies were transferred.

(bb) ECD activities are funded by national, provincial and local government,

international agencies, private corporate social investment initiatives, and

foundations, on a project-by-project basis.

(cc) The number of jobs that will be created or retained by enterprises as a

result of the CSIR’s intervention during the 2016-17, is unknown at this

stage.

Development Programme 7(aa) Technology Localisation Programme (TLP) (implemented by the

Technology Localisation Implementation Unit {TLIU}). The TLP is aimed

at increasing South Africa’s domestic productive capacity. The

programme provides funding and technology support to enable more local

firms to supply goods to state-owned entities (SOEs). The support

assists individual firms and targeted sectors to get access to technology

resulting in increased capability, competitiveness and new processes or

products.

(bb) R105 million invested since 2011.

(cc) the impact of the programme since its inception is as follows:

147 firms have benefited from the Technology Assistance Packages

(TAPs) with 20 of them landing contracts to the value of R162m.

250 students have benefited from internship opportunities offered

through this programme with 45% getting permanent jobs.

TAPs resulted in the local production of twenty items which were

previously imported.

187 jobs were created due to the implementation of Technology

Assistance Packages (TAPs).

Development Programme 8(aa) The Photonics Prototyping Facility (PPF). The Photonics Prototyping

Facility (PPF), hosted at the CSIR National Laser Centre, provides the

necessary infrastructure, skills and networks needed to facilitate the

development of prototypes that are well-aligned to market-needs for the

realisation of Photonics-based products and devices. It will also develop

expertise (amongst PPF staff, students and interns) in the area of

prototyping, product development and stakeholder engagement.

Ultimately this will lead to new Photonics products that will be used to

improve the competitiveness of the existing industry and for new and

emerging industries to be formed resulting in job creation.

(bb) To-date the following funds have been secured:

R 11.4 million (DST- High End Infrastructure (HEI))

R 9 million (DST- Industrial Innovation Partnership Fund (IIPF))

R 13.4 million (CSIR)

(cc) One permanent, full-time position for an operations manager and

approximately four positions for interns. As the programme gains

traction, additional jobs will be created by interns being placed in industry,

employment of new interns and the creation of new jobs in existing

industries or SMMEs via new product offerings.

Development Programme 9(aa) Defence Transformative Enterprise Development (DEFTED)

Programme. The Department of Defence (DOD) runs the DEFTED

programme through the CSIR. The aim of the project is to address the

defence industry transformation challenges through the development of

black industrialists in the defence industry. The DEFTED program will

support the defence sector black industrialists and entrepreneurs with

technical Human Capital Development (HCD), Technology Development

(TD) and Enterprise Development (ED).

(bb) R50.4 million has been budgeted for the 2016-17 financial year.

(cc) 30 jobs.

TECHNOLOGY INNOVATION AGENCY (TIA)

1. (b)(i) Yes.

(ii) No.

Development Programme 1(aa) AgriViro (Pty) Ltd. Development of novel biological control technologies

for the control of pests in economically important horticultural crops.

(bb) R1, 175,729.00

(cc) five.

Development Programme 2(aa) NemaBio (Pty) Ltd. Development of entomophathogenic nematodes as

biological control agents for the control of pest in horticultural crops.

(bb) R86,5429.00

(cc) one.

Development Programme 3(aa) Beonics (Pty) Ltd. Development of poultry feed additive and

nutraceutical as an antibiotic replacement alternative from honry propolis

(bb) R 4,620,000.00

(cc) 0 - Project at a technology development stage.

Development Programme 4(aa) Enzyme Technologies (Pty) Ltd. Enzyme technologies is implementing

a project to extract bromelain enzyme from waste pineapple stumps, for

animal health pharmaceutical application. It is in our Bio-pharmaceutical

& pharmaceutical focus area/ programme

(bb) R 2,887,560.00

(cc) 0 - Project at a technology development stage.

Development Programme 5(aa) GR Active. TIA funds the University of Pretoria to develop an extraction

process for a bioactive that will be produced from a plant that is

indigenous to South Africa. The bioactive will be produced in a

manufacturing facility that will be established in Mamelodi, Tshwane. It is

anticipated that a Cooperative will be established by the Mamelodi based

Mothong Trust, which will be responsible for production. Mothong Trust is

part of the GR Active consortium. The project is in the Complementary

Medicine & IKS Focus Area/ programme. IKS stands for Indigenous

Knowledge Systems.

(bb) R 6,935,515.00

(cc) one.

Development Programme 6(aa) BioDx (Pty) Ltd. BioDx (Pty) Ltd has developed a process for production

of an environmentally sustainable biocide for industrial as well as

cosmetics application. The project is at commercialization stage and is

focussed on demonstrating the technology at client facilities for potential

uptake. It is in the complementary medicine & IKS focus area/

programme.

(bb) R 1,269,896.00

(cc) seven.

Development Programme 7(aa) CPT Pharma (Pty) Ltd. CPT Pharma (Pty) Ltd is currently establishing a

pilot plant for development and improvement of generic processes for 4

active pharmaceutical ingredients for human health and animal health

applications. It is in Bio-Pharmaceuticals & Pharmaceuticals focus area/

programme.

(bb) R 1,086,000.00

(cc) one.

Development Programme 8(aa) Afriplex (Pty) Ltd. Afriplex is developing a complementary medicine for

the treatment of prostate cancer. The complementary medicine is

extracted from a plant that is indigenous to South Africa and has been

used for generations by local communities. The project is in the

Complementary Medicine & IKS focus area/ programme.

(bb) R 2,455,393.00

(cc) 0 - Project at a technology development stage.

Development Programme 9(aa) Altis Biologics (Pty) Ltd. Altis is developing a product that is extracted

from porcine bone for the treatment of bone fractures. Although the

active ingredient is a biological product, the product is classified as a

medical device due to delivery mechanism. The project is therefore in the

Medical Devices & Diagnostics focus area/ programme. The project is in

the Complementary Medicine & IKS focus area/ programme.

(bb) R 2,455,393.00

(cc) 0 - Project at a technology development stage.

Development Programme 10(aa) Settec. System for monitoring early settling of solids in slurry pipes.

(bb) R 316,178.75

(cc) one.

Development Programme 11(aa) Green Iron Technology. Processing of waste iron ore for application in steel

industry.

(bb) R 900,000.00

(cc) Four.

Development Programme 12(aa) Zargun. Zargun Separation of Zirconium isotopes for the nuclear sector.

(bb) R 6,301,739.00

(cc) Three.

Development Programme 13(aa) CMTI Consulting. Development of ultra low bed mining equipment.

(bb) R 5,989,734.33

(cc) Four.

Development Programme 14(aa) Arc Aqua. Development of the core technology improvement of the

software for remote reporting, high voltage power supply system, turbine

generator and development of additional applications to the core

technology, industrial overhead, end of hose and integrated unit.

(bb) R 2,900,000.00

(cc) 0 - Project at a technology development stage.

Development Programme 15(aa) Rubber Nano. To develop a production ready "ZR6" additive for use in

the OEM tyre manufacturing industry.

(bb) R 660,000.00

(cc) 0 - Project at a technology development stage.

Development Programme 16(aa) Fibrelux. Fibrelux is a wool diameter measuring device for the wool

farming industry.

(bb) R 560,000.00

(cc) 10.

Development Programme 17(aa) Welcore. Weldcore is a novel sampling technique developed by NMMU.

This technique allows for the removal of representative core sample in

situ from safety critical structures as well as repair of the weld site using

an innovative welding technique FTSW.

(bb) R 11,000,000.00

(cc) 10.

Development Programme 18(aa) mLab Mobile Apps Support. The programme has been developed to

stimulate the emergence of mobile apps based innovation business.

Often these businesses that are created by young people with tertiary

education qualifications but are not in employment, education or training

systems. It is a feeder platform for significant innovation projects that can

be funded through the TIA technology development fund.

(bb) R 2,500,000.00

(cc) 30.

Development Programme 19(aa) Balancell (Pty) Ltd. Balancell is a technology business specialising in

battery management electronics for medium to large scale batteries of all

chemistries. Its battery management systems provide insight into the

stored energy of a battery pack and improve its reliability and efficiency.

(bb) R 2,000,000.00

(cc) 0 - Project at a technology development stage.

Development Programme 20(aa) Impact Free Water (Pty) Ltd. The project use Wave Energy Reverse

Osmosis technology for desalination of seawater to produce bottled

drinking water and electricity.

(bb) R 500,000.00

(cc) 0 - Project at a technology development stage.

Development Programme 21(aa) DST has established the Technology Station Programme (TSP) aiming at

offering technology based support to SMME. The programme is managed

by TIA and hosted by Universities of technologies. The technology

Stations provide access to specialist knowledge and equipment. There

are currently 18 stations with national footprint and are sector focused as

follows:

Manufacturing Cluster

TUT: Electronics & Electrical Engineering, including ICT

VUT: Product Prototyping, materials, processing technologies

NMMU: Mechanical System Technologies & Automotive

components;

DUT: Fibrous Reinforced & Molded Plastics

CUT: Rapid Prototyping & Product Development

CPUT: Adaptronics

UJ: Light Metals Casting & Foundry technology

TUT: TDM (IAT) Transfer, Training & Adv Manufacturing

SUN: TDM (IAT) design, analysis & Adv Manufacturing

WSU (IAT): Design, Tooling, Dies, Mould making

Agro-Processing, Chemical, Other Cluster

CPUT: Agro Food Processing

UL: Agrifood Processing

TUT: Chemistry & Chemical engineering

NMMU: Petrochemicals, Bio-downstream chemicals

MUT: Chemistry & Chemical Engineering

UJ: Process, Energy, Environments

VUT: Panel-beating, spray-painting

CPUT: Clothing and Textile Technologies

(bb) In the financial year 2016/17

TIA budget allocation R34,511 million

Additional grant from DST R37,739 million Additional grant from DST to scale up the TSP R33 million

(cc) The impact of the programme for the financial year 2015/16 is as follows:

A total of 103 interns participated in the interns Programme

A total of 10 interns have received employment

2154 SMMEs received technology based support from the programme

27 knowledge innovation products supported through the stations

support activities, and 58 product/prototype developed

20 full functional prototypes completed and 33 youth funded projects

currently at various TS for support with products designs, CAD/CAM

and quality improvements