The National Research and Development Strategy (NRDS) and the Ten Year Innovation Plan (TYIP) are the key drivers of the NSI. The TYIP, particularly, was put in place to guide the country towards a knowledge- based economy through human capital development, knowledge generation and exploitation, knowledge infrastructure and enablers to convert knowledge into socio-economic outcomes. The grand challenges outlined in the TYIP comprise the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industry, space science, energy security and global change. The idea is to have a multidisciplinary thinking amongst South African researchers to deal with these challenges in an innovative way that would bring socio- economic changes in this country as it is envisaged in both the National Development Plan (NDP) and the National Growth Path (NGP).