Hon House Chairperson, hon Minister Blade Nzimande, Deputy Minister Buti Manamela, hon members, officials, guests and fellow South Africans. Tracing the history of human development and civilisation is a complex task, complex because the literary sources
from which our knowledge of that history is derived from are themselves complex and replete with problems of ideology and authorship. However there is consensus among all the best scholars that the invention of steam power revolutionarised production in the 18th Century, fundamentally altering the structure of society and how people lived and worked and bringing about a transition from reliance on Agriculture and farming to mechanization and industrial production which brought about rapid economic development in those societies.
This was the First Industrial revolution. Like the First Industrial Revolution's steam powered factories, the Second Industrial Revolution was characterised by the application of science to mass production and manufacturing and the Third Industrial Revolution brought about digital revolution of mainframe computing, personal computers and the internet in the 1950's. So we are finding ourselves today in a wave of yet another Industrial Revolution, this one driven by robotics, genetic sequencing and editing, artificial intelligence, 3D printing, just to mention but a few.
Klaus Schwab, the German Engineer, economist and founder of the World Economic Forum, WEF, who has come to be associated with this term through his 2015 book, The Fourth Industrial Revolution,
cautions us that all previous industrial revolutions have had both positive and negative impacts on different stakeholders, nations have become wealthier and technologies have helped pulled entire societies out of poverty, but the inability to fairly distribute the benefits of 4IR has resulted in global challenges, among them high unemployment, social and income inequality. True to its orientation and character as the developmental state, the ANC led democratic government must at all times, acting in concert with other progressive governments internationally, intervene in a manner that ensures that the working class, the poor and the marginalised in our society are not left behind as we transition to the Fourth Industrial Revolution.
We are satisfied that sufficient measures and initiatives have been put in place by government to help the country to transition. Some of the initiatives include: The Presidential Commission on 4IR, The Inter- ministerial Committee as well as the World Economic Forum's Affiliate Centre for 4IR hosted by the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, CSIR.
It is in this context that we have decided as the portfolio committee that the first topic to focus on, in a series of colloquiums that we will be hosting quarterly in this 6"' democratic
Parliament, will be on the question of The Fourth Industrial Revolution.
Science, Technology and Innovation is fundamental in realising the socio- economic ambitions articulated in the National Development Plan, NDP. Countries that have effectively alleviated poverty by growing their economies have done so by investing significantly in developing strong Science, Technology and Innovation, STI, environments and capabilities. This is a point succinctly captured by the National Development Plan in recognising and characterizing STI as crucial for development of the country.
For the country's National System of Innovation, NSI, to be expanded and aligned with the sectors that will realise our nation's growth objectives, we must insist that, consistent with vision articulated in the NDP, South Africa must invest at least 1,5 % of our gross domestic product, GDP, on research and development by 2019. We are currently at O,8 % of GDP. It is against this background hon Minister that the portfolio committee is calling for more allocation from the national fiscus towards science and technology in order to meet the 1,5 % by 2019 as envisioned by the NDP. We are also calling on the private sector to raise their research and development allocations in their companies.
The significance of science in our lives is aptly captured by an Indian statesman, APJ Abdul Kalan, who remarked "Science is a beautiful gift to humanity, we should not distort it" Indeed science is one of the greatest blessings of our time. We owe all our progress to it. It has brought everyone closer and also made life comfortable. Today we can go round the globe in a matter of hours. We can also talk to our loved ones across the globe by just pushing buttons. We must therefore heed the wise counsel of Abdul Kalan and nurture this greatest gift to humanity in order to secure the future. In March this year, Cabinet approved a new White Paper on Science, Technology and Innovation which replaces the 1996 White Paper which first proposed the concept of National System of Innovation. This concept of NSI advocates that Science strategies should not only focus on conducting science and producing new knowledge, but that this new knowledge should be used to support and promote the achievement of National priorities.
Over twenty years later, reviews of the NSI showed that despite significant progress made, serious challenges still remain. Hence the development of the new White Paper. We welcome the call by the White Paper for the establishment of the annual STI plenary to be chaired by the Presidency, involving business, civil society, the academia and government as well as the Ministerial STI structure to
be chaired by the Minister. We think that by elevating the STI plenary to be chaired by the Presidency represents a bold policy stance which, if implemented, will help locate SIT among the key national priorities requiring the attention of the highest office in the land.
I think it is befitting and appropriate that as we celebrate the 23 years since the adoption of the 1996 White Paper on Science and Technology culminating into the new White Paper, we should pause and reflect to celebrate the significant milestones registered in the field of science, technology and innovation, some of which includes: The construction of the Square Kilometre Array, SKA, radio telescope project in the Northern Cape, which is an international science and engineering partnership to build the world's largest and most sensitive radio telescope. When fully constructed, the SKA will be, the largest scientific facility built by humankind. By collecting and processing unprecedented volumes of data, it will tackle some of the fundamental scientific questions of our time, ranging from the birth of the universe to the origins of life.
We are looking forward as the portfolio committee to the ratification process of the SKA Observatory Convention, a Treaty signed in Rome in March 2019. Another important milestone to be
celebrated by the country is Project Aeroswift - which involves the development of the next generation 3D printer or what is called Additive Manufacturing Machine which has the potential to create a new manufacturing segment in South Africa. We are informed that a number of demonstration components have already been completed, some of which are already employed in a flying aircraft. Recently, researchers at the University of Pretoria's Faculty of Health Sciences, led by Prof Tshifularo, have conducted two successful middle ear transplants using 3D printed bones. This transplant has been the first of its kind, showcasing an effective means of replacing the ossicles which comprise the middle ear.
In conclusion, one of the fundamental propositions that dialectics teaches us is that everything is in a constant process of change, motion and development. The world we are living in is fundamentally different from the world we were born in and therefore, using science and innovation, we must always adapt to the rapidly changing material conditions. As Abdul Kalan poetically professed: "Science is a beautiful gift to humanity, we should not distort it" I thanks you.