A Foresight Project for the Southernmost BRICS Country

In 2018 the Department of Science and Technology of the Republic of South Africa commissioned a national Foreisght study to the ISSEK Foresight Centre. Preliminary findings will be discussed at a workshop in Pretoria on October 18-19. Ozcan Saritas, leading reseracher at the Foresight Centre and deputy head of the Research Laboratory for Science and Technology Studies, will take part in this event.

Within the framework of the national foresight project, the ISSEK experts analyse the effectiveness of the national innovation system of South Africa, examine its strengths, weaknesses and competitive advantages. Following the results, recommendations will be developed on updating the priorities of the country's scientific and technological development, as defined in the National Research and Development Strategy and the Ten-Year Plan for the Development of Innovations.

ISSEK maintains a long-term cooperation with the Department of Science and Technology of the Republic of South Africa, in particular, representatives of this department have repeatedly spoken at the HSE Annual International Academic Conference ‘Foresight and STI Policy’. The ISSEK experts have experience of comparative analysis of national innovation systems of the BRICS countries in the framework of participation in the international scientific collaboration (GLOBELICS network). The results of this work are reflected in the series of monographs BRICS National Systems of Innovation, published by Routledge in 2013–2014.