The South African Agency for Science and Technology Advancement (SAASTA) and the Nanotechnology Public Engagement Programme (NPEP), in-collaboration with the Department of Science and Innovation (DSI) held the first Nanotechnology Symposium on Health, Safety and Environment on Monday 10 February 2020. The event took place at the SAASTA auditorium, Pretoria in Gauteng.
The Nanotechnology symposium was
a wealth of discussion and innovative
research on Nanotechnology in South
Africa. It brought together scientists,
policy makers, researchers, science
communicators and stakeholders from
both the private and public sector.
The symposium aimed at providing a
platform to discuss the Health, Safety and
Environment of Nanotechnology, which
could lead to a sustainable development of
Nanotechnology in South Africa.
Opening the symposium was Dr Jabu
Nukeri, the Managing Director at SAASTA.
Dr Nukeri spoke about the importance of Nanotechnology in South Africa.
He mentioned how
impactful is the use of nanotechnology on addressing the country’s
challenges.
Nukeri spoke about the need to continue the development of
Nanotechnology, as now it is critical to
keep up momentum for all the progress that has been made. He further
spoke about how important
such discussions are, but there is a need for action on such
interactions and be taken to the
communities.
Dr Xolani Makhoba, a representative of the DSI gave a talk detailing the
progress of the Department
of Science and Innovation’s (DSI) National Nanotechnology Strategy. The
strategy was approved in
2005 to ensure that South Africa becomes a player in the emerging area
of science and technology.
It is an important landmark in South Africa’s goal to use nanotechnology
to address a wide range of
social and economic challenges in South Africa.
Dr Makhoba stated that the strategy’s focus areas are manufacturing,
water, health and energy.
The investment in Nanotechnology has yielded relevant local and
international competitive outputs.
According to a study conducted by the Greenhouse consultants on behalf
of the DSI, this research
has shown that the Nanotechnology strategy has achieved the following;
400 PhD graduates, 400
Masters graduates, 5000 publications on Nanotechnology and 40 patents
registrations.
Continuing the topic of Governments efforts of developing Nanotechnology
in the country was Ms
Nontombi Marule from the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), who
presented on the innovation
and commercial support of Nanotechnology. According to Ms Marule,
technology commercialisation is
critical in supporting industrialisation and diversifying the South
African economy through the creation
of new industries. She encouraged commercialisation of innovations
because it will have impact on
the societal and economic needs of communities.
During the symposium, delegates discussed how the HSE policy and
regulatory environment is
conducive for the sustainable development of nanotechnology and the role
of the Nano code of
conduct. This is crucial to ensure that South Africa is able to grow the
Nanotechnology industry and
to create opportunities for human capital development, particularly for
historically disadvantaged
communities and women.
In addition, delegates had a broad discussion about the way forward. It
was concluded that in a
short period of time, the objective to use nanotechnology to address the
country’s challenges in the
areas of water, health and energy, as well as to give a competitive edge
to some of the country’s
strategic industries (mining and minerals, advanced materials and
manufacturing, and chemicals and
bioprocessing) are being realised. Spearheading the creation of
programmes focusing on human
capital development and on growing the nanoscience and nanotechnology
research base.
Furthermore, they emphasized the need to maintain funding and to
continue the development of
Nanotechnology in order to build on the progress that has been made.
Much of which, progress is
ongoing at the NRF-SAASTA.