Research management in Southern African higher learning institutions.

Introduction

Contemporary Southern Africa is characterized by a lack of innovation system at the national level and a corresponding lack of research management in the national university. A consequence of this is that the region is not as yet positioned to harness science and technology for its economic development. This deficiency is the major factor contributing to the continuous lack of economic growth in the region despite the prevalence of natural resources such as minerals and other natural advantages like extensive coastlines. By contrast, the developed world has moved beyond science and technology development to innovation. The result of this is that these countries are increasing their national wealth through expanding their share of the global market for goods and services which derive from science and technology based innovation. The developed countries have come a long way with technology-based development. They have satisfied the first pre-condition for technology transfer, which is to establish a strong science system. Next, technology development and technology transfer systems which are based on national economic needs and the global market are firmly in place. For technology development to occur, at least two things must come together: (1) social and physical infrastructure or human resources and (2) the machines. The developed world has all of that. However, a major requirement is the presence of a political will that should manifest itself through an overarching framework of a national research and an innovation strategy that largely works to implement the national science and technology (S&T) policy. Again, this exists in the developed world. The technology transfer system does have underlying dynamics which need to be understood if expectations from investment must be realistic. These underlying dynamics include the likely size of returns, time taken to generate a positive return, and the variability of outcome. Through successful harnessing of these, the developed world continues to increase its economic strength.

Using the innovation success achieved in the western world, especially by universities, I attempt to point out where gaps exist in some countries of Southern Africa and how the sub-continent can arrange itself through research management to meet development challenges of the time. I have adopted a national perspective for argument in view of the fact that research management brings together the science system, the technological set up and the government, especially for funding innovation. Political will is necessary in order for the nation to mobilize adequate funding that is required to set up and implement a functional innovation system which would be the engine of economic growth. I go to some length to explain the need for research and innovation management, which I argue is necessary to minimize risk, simply because technology development and technology transfer are both risky and expensive activities, especially within the context of developing countries generally, but more so over Southern Africa. I posit that effective research and innovation management are needed to enhance the value of science and technology in the Southern African culture. I further posit that this goal of enhancement is extremely important if science and technology are to assist Southern African communities to experience substantive growth within the global economy. However, there is currently concerted effort within some African countries to attempt entry into the global market through indigenous technology and also through efforts to lay a foundation for innovation based national development via strategic funding arrangements, as shown later. To some extent, this move has been initiated through the Southern African Development Community (SADC) when in 2000, the Community encouraged its member states to create a Ministry of Science and Technology as the first major step towards increasing the growth and management of technology-based innovation. However, the fact that the SADC secretariat does not have a desk officer for its Science and Technology portfolio, when it has an officer for every other portfolio, seems to underscore the Community's lack of sufficient appreciation of the role of S&T in the economic development of the Community. Only in 2004 did SADC produce its first Strategic Plan for Science and Technology. Clearly, this portfolio would move very slowly due to a lack of a desk officer.

Research and Innovation Management in Southern Africa

The positive linkage between research and development (R&D) on the one hand and economic development on the other is no longer an issue for debate. What remains less appreciated is the critical role played by research management in facilitating economic growth through a nationally structured technology development, transfer and an innovation system. For example, while it is acknowledged that there exists a linkage between technology development, technology transfer, innovation and wealth creation, little do we realize that it is not merely R&D but well directed R&D that leads to new products and services. R&D must be well directed because of the high risk of failure involved in the commercialization of research. In order to minimize that loss the risk needs to be managed. That is what research and innovation management attempts to achieve through maximising value from research and innovation activities and ensuring strategic alignment at a departmental, organisational and national level. Ideally, there should be complementarity between the entire research process in the tertiary institutions such as the universities, the government and private sector operations. That brings about the innovation system at the national level. Walwyn (2004, p.5) stated, "Research and innovation management introduces processes for the identification and management of research risk, and it assists in the selection of the most attractive investment options from a multitude of possibilities." Optimal investment in S&T for innovation is especially essential in the less developed countries where there is an acute shortage of resources necessary for expanding the national economies through innovation.

Economic development does not occur in a vacuum. The economies of developed countries such as Japan and the United States are backed by strong technological initiatives and successful innovation. The innovation as well as the technological development of these countries is based on a strong science system, which is defined by the different research councils, while the innovation is largely based on the successful linkages between the outputs of technology or R&D institutes and the market. Such economies tend to be well diversified through a well coordinated national innovation system. Knowledge management, especially through skilful use of the Information Technology and the cyberspace in general, is central to the structure and functioning of these economies. In them there is continuous gathering and processing of all types of information which is necessary for meeting economic demands across the whole world. The economies use the information to re-position themselves as necessary in order to take advantage of changes in opportunities. For example, Heher (2004, p. 12) states, "In 2002, universities in the USA and Canada earned US$1.2b from the commercialization of research. In addition, universities that participated in the survey conducted by the Association of University Technology Managers (AUTM) over a 10 year period reported 4,300 new companies formed and over 300,000 jobs created. Heher makes two more important observations. First, he notes that the indirect economic impact is estimated to be an order of magnitude higher. Secondly, he states in the same publication (Heher 2004, p. 12) that "The success of university technology transfer is considered one of the key drivers of the sustained growth in the USA economy in the past 20 years." In this case, technology transfer by these universities is able to re-direct R&D to produce new products and services that are essential to continue the innovation process. Indeed without continuous innovation, economies cannot expect to survive in a global and increasingly competitive business environment. Other countries have responded to this success by taking steps to put in place support programmes for technology transfer and commercialization, as I shall demonstrate for India later.