Council for Scientific and Industrial Research

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Council for Scientific and Industrial Research
AbbreviationCSIR
Formation1945 [1]
TypeResearch and development organisation
Location
Region served
South Africa
President and CEO
Thulani Dlamini [2]
Website www.csir.co.za OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg

The Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) is South Africa's central and premier scientific research and development organisation. It was established by an act of parliament in 1945 and is situated on its own campus in the city of Pretoria. [3] It is the largest research and development (R&D) organisation in Africa and accounts for about 10% of the entire African R&D budget. It has a staff of approximately 3,000 technical and scientific researchers, often working in multi-disciplinary teams.

Contents

CSIR contract research and development

Overview

The CSIR contract R&D portfolio aims to enable clear understanding of national imperatives and the needs of industry to optimise the impact of the CSIR's R&D outputs. It leverages public, private and international partnerships in support of cutting-edge science, engineering and technology (SET).The organisation has clients in both the private sector (micro, small, medium and large enterprises; formal and informal), as well as in the public sector (national, provincial and local government). The organisation also deals with public enterprises and institutions, national safety and security establishments, and development structures. Regionally and abroad, the CSIR fosters partnerships and a network of clients and partner organisations as part of a global sphere of influence on matters of technology. The CSIR liaises closely with tertiary education institutions. With a strong emphasis on relevant and developmental work, it also has strong roots in various communities, and collaborates with a wide range of donors and funding agencies. The CSIR aims to contribute to the national programme of development, perform relevant knowledge generating research and transferring technology and skilled human capital, and strengthen the science and technology base. The Frascati Manual defines R&D as creative work undertaken systematically to increase the stock of knowledge, including knowledge of humanity, culture and society, and the use of this knowledge to devise new applications. At the CSIR, the research, development and innovation (RDI) chain encompasses, what we term, types A, B and C research:

The CSIR operates with two kinds of R&D income, each with its own purpose. The Parliamentary Grant is used for strengthening the CSIR's S&T base - knowledge, people and infrastructure. Secondly, Contract R&D income is derived from performing contract research for clients in the public and private sectors, locally and abroad, on specific programmes, initiatives and projects. All R&D work contributes to the National System of Innovation (NSI).

Presidents and Chief Executive Officers

CSIR Presidents & CEOs
PeriodSurnameName(s)Date of BirthDate of Death
President
1945-1950Schonland Basil Ferdinand Jamieson2 February 189624 November 1972
1950-1952du ToitPetrus Johann16 March 188813 November 1967
1952-1971NaudeStefan Meiring31 December 190427 April 1985
1971-1980BrinkChristiaan van der Merwe5 May 1915
1980-1990GarbersChristoph Friedrich21 August 1929
1990-1995ClarkJames Brian27 January 1949
1995-2000 Garrett Geoff
2002-2008SibisiSibusiso
CEO
2008-2017SibisiSibusiso
2017–presentDlaminiThulani

Research areas

The CSIR's main areas of research

[4]

SERA

In 1999 a strategic alliance was formed between the University of Pretoria and the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research. [5] This alliance, which is known as the Southern Education and Research Alliance (SERA), collaborates locally and internationally with universities, NGO's, companies and multinational bodies in various research areas. [6]

Aircraft

Controversy

In July 2016 the amaBhungane Centre for Investigative Journalism published an article that alleges that South Africa's Science and Technology Minister Naledi Pandor and Director-General Phil Mjwara were attempting to put undue pressure the CSIR, at the behest of The corrupt ANC treasurer-general Zweli Mkhize, to favour the Chinese multinational Huawei Technologies in the purchase of a new R116-million (equivalent to around US$8 million) super computer for the institute. This followed the publication of the council's long time CEO, Sibusiso Sibisi's, open letter of resignation stating that irregularities and political pressure on the awarding of contracts to suppliers was of great concern. [7]

In a well-known case of biopiracy, bioprospectors from South Africa's Council for Scientific and Industrial Research realized that Hoodia was marketable (after a marketing campaign falsely claiming that it was an appetite suppressant for weight loss) and patented its use as an appetite suppressant without recognizing the San people's traditional claims to the knowledge of the plant and its uses. [8] The patent was later sold to Unilever, which marketed hoodia products as diet supplements. [9] [10] [11] In 2003, the South African San Council made an agreement with CSIR in which they would receive from 6 to 8% of the revenue from the sale of Ho. gordonii products, money which would be deposited in a fund to purchase land for the San people who had been dispossessed from their lands by migrating tribes. [12]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bioprospecting</span> Exploration of nature for material with commercial potential

Bioprospecting is the exploration of natural sources for small molecules, macromolecules and biochemical and genetic information that could be developed into commercially valuable products for the agricultural, aquaculture, bioremediation, cosmetics, nanotechnology, or pharmaceutical industries. In the pharmaceutical industry, for example, almost one third of all small-molecule drugs approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) between 1981 and 2014 were either natural products or compounds derived from natural products.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Science policy</span> Form of policy

Science policy is concerned with the allocation of resources for the conduct of science towards the goal of best serving the public interest. Topics include the funding of science, the careers of scientists, and the translation of scientific discoveries into technological innovation to promote commercial product development, competitiveness, economic growth and economic development. Science policy focuses on knowledge production and role of knowledge networks, collaborations, and the complex distributions of expertise, equipment, and know-how. Understanding the processes and organizational context of generating novel and innovative science and engineering ideas is a core concern of science policy. Science policy topics include weapons development, health care and environmental monitoring.

<i>Hoodia</i> Genus of flowering plants

Hoodia is a genus of flowering plants in the family Apocynaceae, under the subfamily Asclepiadoideae, native to Southern Africa.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Council of Scientific and Industrial Research</span> Indian scientific research and development organization

The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research is a research and development (R&D) organisation in India to promote scientific, industrial and economic growth. Headquartered in New Delhi, it was established as an autonomous body in 1942 under the aegis of the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research (DSIR), Ministry of Science and Technology, Government of India. CSIR is among the largest publicly funded R&D organisations in the world. CSIR has pioneered sustained contribution to science and technology (S&T) human resource development in India.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Raghunath Anant Mashelkar</span> Indian scientist and chemical engineer

Raghunath Anant Mashelkar,, also known as Ramesh Mashelkar, is an Indian Chemical Engineer, born in a village named Marcel in Goa and brought up in Maharashtra.

The Southern Education and Research Alliance (SERA), founded in 1999, is a strategic alliance formed between the University of Pretoria and the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research. The alliance collaborates locally and internationally with universities, NGO's, companies and multinational bodies in various research areas. Sera has a 50% shareholding in the Innovation Hub, a fully accredited technology park situated on 60 hectares of the university's experimental farm.

<i>Hoodia gordonii</i> Species of succulent plant

Hoodia gordonii, also known as Bushman’s hat, is a leafless spiny succulent plant supposed to have therapeutic properties in folk medicine. It grows naturally in Botswana, South Africa and Namibia. The species became internationally known and threatened by collectors, after a marketing campaign falsely claimed that it was an appetite suppressant for weight loss. The flowers smell like rotten meat and are pollinated mainly by flies. The indigenous San people of the Namib desert call this plant ǁhoba.

Central Scientific Instruments Organisation is a Chandigarh, India-based national laboratory dedicated to research, design and development of scientific, and industrial instruments. It is one of the constituent laboratories of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), an Indian industrial research and development organisation situated at Chandigarth's Sector 30C.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ministry of Science and Technology (India)</span> Government ministry in India

The Ministry of Science and Technology is the Indian government ministry charged with formulation and administration of the rules and regulations and laws relating to science and technology in India.

Pretoria Wireless Users Group is a South African wireless users group. It is a non-profit community organisation, providing a wireless community network in Pretoria, the capital of South Africa.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">SANReN</span> South African internet service provider for research organizations

SANReN is the project to create a new National Research and Education Network in South Africa. However, unlike most other NRENs, SANReN will provide its clients with both connectivity to the world's research networks as well as commodity Internet access.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Council for Scientific and Industrial Research – Ghana</span>

The Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) was established by NLC Decree 293 of October 10, 1968 amended by NLCD 329 of 1969, and re-established in its present form by CSIR Act 521 on November 26, 1996. The genesis of the council however, dates back to the erstwhile National Research Council (NRC), which was established by the government in August 1958 to organize and coordinate scientific research in Ghana. In 1963, the NRC merged with the former Ghana Academy of Sciences, a statutory learned society. Following a review in 1966, the academy was reconstituted into, essentially, its original component bodies, namely a national research organization redesignated the CSIR and a learned Society, designated the Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sospeter Muhongo</span> Tanzanian geologist and politician

Sospeter Mwijarubi Muhongo MP is a Tanzanian geologist and a nominated member of the Tanzanian Parliament.

Chris Garbers is a South African scientist and former President of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research. He was a member of the UNESCO/IUPAC International Chemistry Council for four years and served on President Nelson Mandela's National Commission on Higher Education.

Gerhard P. Hancke from the University of Pretoria, South Africa was named Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) in 2016 for contributions to wireless sensor networks.

Rachel Kerina Chikwamba is a Zimbabwean plant geneticist born in 1967. She is in the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) Group Executive: Strategic Alliances and Communication. She is an active member of the Academy of Science of South Africa.

Heide Hackmann is the Interim Director of the Future Africa Institute and Strategic Advisor on Transdisciplinary and Global Knowledge Networks at the University of Pretoria in South Africa. Formerly, she served as the CEO of the International Science Council, an international organization of national and international science councils.

At its essence, intellectual property rights are described as “a legal framework for contractual agreements concerning technologies, which encourage the institution of ‘markets for technology’, making easier the international transfer of technology and its diffusion at the local level.” The discussion that has taken place, concerning intellectual property rights and the following agreements, centers around spreading global knowledge and technologies. Intellectual property has been largely discussed and gone through a series of changes. At the globalized level, a global network for ideas led institutions to put policies in place and key players to form opposing viewpoints. Beyond intellectual property, alternative sources for innovation include forming partnerships and moving business activities abroad.

Biopiracy is defined as the unauthorized appropriation of knowledge and genetic resources of farming and indigenous communities by individuals or institutions seeking exclusive monopoly control through patents or intellectual property. While bioprospecting is the act of exploring natural resources for undiscovered chemical compounds with medicinal or anti-microbial properties, commercial success from bioprospecting leads to the company's attempt at protecting their intellectual property rights on indigenous medicinal plants, seeds, genetic resources, and traditional medicines.

Rachel P. Wynberg is a South African biodiversity researcher and natural scientist who is a professor at the department of Environmental and Geography Sciences at the University of Cape Town.

References

  1. Profile of the CSIR Archived 24 July 2012 at archive.today 6 October 2011.
  2. . 9 February 2017.
  3. Profile of the CSIR Archived 24 July 2012 at archive.today . Retrieved 6 October 2011.
  4. CSIR contract research & development partnerships Archived 15 November 2016 at the Wayback Machine . Retrieved 6 October 2011.
  5. Highlights and Achievements Archived 24 February 2012 at the Wayback Machine . Retrieved 10 September 2009.
  6. SERA Relationships and Links Archived 24 February 2012 at the Wayback Machine . Retrieved 1 October 2009.
  7. amaBhungane (1 July 2016). "amaBhungane: CSIR's supercomputer tender and the theatre of the absurd that followed it". Daily Maverick . Retrieved 3 July 2016.
  8. Maharaj, VJ, Senabe, JV, and Horak, RM. 2008. Hoodia, a case study at CSIR. Science real and relevant: 2nd CSIR Biennial Conference, CSIR International Convention Centre Pretoria, 17&18 November 2008, pp 4
  9. Indigenous Peoples, Consent and Benefit Sharing: Lessons from the San-Hoodia Case (Rachel Wynberg, Doris Schroeder, Roger Chennells Springer, 4 December 2009
  10. Saskia Vermeylen. 2007. Contextualizing ‘Fair’ and ‘Equitable’: The San's Reflections on the Hoodia Benefit-Sharing Agreement Local Environment Vol. 12, Iss. 4,
  11. Rachel Wynberg 2010 Hot air over Hoodia | 13 October 2010 | Seedling
  12. Inventing Hoodia: Vulnerabilities and Epistemic Citizenship. 2011. CSW update APRIL "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 30 April 2014. Retrieved 4 November 2013.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)

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