The Edge Series book – Innovation Nation 1900 -2004 – Department: Science and Technology

CONTENTS

2 Message from President Thabo Mbeki

3 Message from Minister Ben Ngubane

5 Author’s preface

POINTERS

11 1 PROLOGUE: From youth science to factory fellowship. Innovation gains ground in schools, laboratories, think-tanks and businesses as people share ideas freely.

ORIGINS

29 2 SPACES: From sand to stars. CyberTracker connects indigenous San science with satellites, spaceships and the SALT telescope.

41 a GROUNDS: Getting at the land’s gold. Mining engineering, from African origins at Mapungubwe to the bid to reach 5km deep today – the Everest of shaftsinking.

53 4 SEEDS: Growing wealth. Harvesting the riches of and land and sea to overcome poverty and export products to the world.

CONFLICTS

67 5 POWERS Military and security technology. The military-industrial complex of minority rule leads to later developments in crime control and surveillance.

79 6 SYSTEMS: Scitech, politics and finance. From discrimination to affirmation: research and development moves ahead in the interests of all.

91 7 BORDERS: Warriors become teammates. Change managers apply unique methods to resolve conflict and conserve wildlife in peace parks.

CURRENTS

105 8 PATHWAYS: Roads to better health. Hi-tech heart surgery continues to break new ground while community health care challenges the pattern of privilege.

117 9 CHEMISTRIE5: Catalyst of change. The strategic fuel industry emerges from the past with new technologies, and plays its part in social transformation.

129 10 FRAMEWORKS: Building infrastructures. From heavy engineering to road and rail transport, from wastewater treatment to rainfall harvesting, inventors deliver solutions.

HORIZONS

147 11 ATOMS: Particles for peace. South Africa initiates new trends in nuclear technology after scrapping its six secretly manufactured nuclear bombs.

159 12 ENERGIES: Power for renewal. Major energy technologies, past and present carry the subcontinent into the new millennium.

171 13 SIGNALS: Talking to the world. The people plug into the world as novel telecommunications services converge on digital platforms.

FUTURES

193 14 FRONTIERS: At the micro edge of life. Bionformatics uses the Internet and local molecular biology contributes to the search for an Aids vaccine.

193 15 VALUES: Off the technical beat. Artists, media and marketers open channels of communication with innovative tools and imagery.

205 16 DIGITS: Into the Info Age. Brilliant IT innovators reach out globally as social planners seek to bridge the gap between the information-rich and-poor.

OUTLOOK

221 17 EPILOGUE: Freedom of inquiry triumphs. The new South Africa is open for business as science, engineering and technology draw on the dynamism of the people.

235 Innovations

234 General Index

242 Abbreviations

243 The Team

244 Acknowledgements

CONTENTS

3 Executive summary

6 Preface

9 1 NETTING A STRATEGY

10 Chapter 1 Introduction

19 Chapter 2 Strategy

27 2 CHURN OF IDEAS

28 Chapter 3 Leadership

36 Chapter 4 Teamwork

44 Chapter 5 Expertise

52 Chapter 6 Routines

61 3 LEVERAGE

62 Chapter 7 Enablement

71 Chapter 8 Ideas to cash

81 4 KEEPING GOING

82 Chapter 9 Sustainability

91 5 DIRECTIONS

92 Chapter 10 At the edge

101 Index

104 Team credits

list of diagrams

12 Matrix innovation

13 Value stream innovation

17 Ecology of business

17 Sustaining the ecology of business

20 Getting better at getting better

22 Vision and feedback drive the system

30 Generations of Innovation theory

37 Gap analysis makes the information difference

40 Empowering the team

41 Hierarchy and task-centred groups

46 Knowledge convergence in cross-functional teams

47 Risk and reward rise with level of complexity

48 Useful tools for mapping innovation cultures

54 Routines become problem-solving activities

56 Roadmaps transform knowledge-driven firms

64 Filter matrix, value circle

77 Knowledge exchange as a factor in production

95 Creating the competitive edge

99 The evolution of innovation

CONTENTS

Message from the sponsor

Message from President Mbeki

Message from Minister Mangena

I ANOTHER COUNTRY

1 Prologue

II INNOVATION NATION

2. Creating change……How the country is transforming to create wealth from innovation

3 Building anew……..Large constructions and bold ventures carry local enterprises into the wider world

4 Empowerment……..Blacks and women go after their rightful share in business and government

5 Beating insecurity…..Ingenuity and technology are the weapons in a war on crime

III PIONEERING LIVES

6 Hi-Tech healers…….Medical science benefits from the National Biotechnology Strategy

7 Tending communities…The healthcare system broadens its base to include all the people

8 Healthy partnerships.. local scientists are at the forefront of the attack on emergent viruses

IV IDEAS INTO ACTION

9 Business as unusual….Practical business sense and creativity combine for innovative results

10 Money at work…….Changes in banking and finance create momentum for development

11 Seeking peace……..Defence industries transform to play their part in national renewal

12 Way out things…….Science and business explore the frontiers of space technology

V THE BIG PICTURE

13 Reaching out………People come first as the state reshapes itself to deliver real benefits

14 Powering change……Energy sector outshines the world with technologies for a new century

15 Wet work………..Semi-arid South Africa taps its imagination to meet water needs

16 Mixing it…………The chemistry of ideas produces a spate of world-beating solutions

17 Making it………..Industry forges a new future with major projects and shrewd entrepreneurship

18 Motoring along…….Government’s enabling policies help the auto industry to excel in global terms

VI EARTH MATTERS……….

19 Secrets of the soil…..Large- and small-scale agriculture apply technology to improve yields

20 Digging deep…….A Millennium mining revolution is under way as the industry reinvents itself

21 Land and people……Innovative finance and farming tackle the legacy of land dispossession

VII CROSSING DIVIDES

22 Local goes global……Pride in performance is the basis for innovative marketing strategies

23 Sparking novelty……Infotech bridges the digital divide and lends enterprises a cutting edge

24 Finding meaning…..Artists, thinkers and inventors shape a Renaissance in the south of Africa

25 Designing for Africa….Designers create the future from the technologies of the present

26 Learning lessons……Entrepreneurs grow and gain from the school of hard knocks

VIII LEADING AFRICA

27 Epilogue

Timeline

Farewell to Dr Ben Ngubane

Index

Selected abbreviations

About the team

Further credits

Using material from the EDGE books