A Science and Technology Agreement was signed between DST and the Swedish Ministry of Education on 23 November 1999. The main focus of the SA-Swedish Research Partnership Programme is to contribute to the socio-economic development of both countries. The cooperation agreement established five objectives for the programme, namely: To produce new knowledge and enhance understanding in fields of mutual concern and relevance in all disciplines;
- To promote research excellence and quality;
- To establish a basis for long-term research cooperation between researchers in South Africa and Sweden;
- To contribute meaningfully to research capacity development; and
- To encourage the internationalisation of South African and Swedish higher education institutions.
One of the key national mechanisms for monitoring the cooperation between South Africa and Sweden is the Bi-National Commission (BNC), established in Stockholm on 4 September 2000. The BNC consists of three committees, i.e. Political Affairs, Economic Affairs, and Social Affairs and Development Cooperation.
In addition, Sweden has indicated that it will be transforming its development cooperation relations with South Africa, with a greater emphasis in future on a regional partnership with South Africa in joint and trilateral projects in Africa.
The current cooperation with Sweden has achieved notable science and technology successes. A total of over R30 million was allocated by the Swiss and DST to the more than 150 research projects that received grants from 2000 to 2008. A special event marking the cooperation was the Carl Linnaeus celebration in Cape Town on 18 September 2007. Linnaeus was a famous scientist who is regarded as "the father of modern taxonomy", born in 1707 in the southern Swedish province of Småland. His most valuable contribution to botany was the method he developed for identifying and recording flora and fauna. He is best known, however, for the binomial catalogue he introduced, giving all plants and animals two names: a generic (family) name and a name for the species. During his lifetime, he named some 7,700 plants and 4,400 animals.
The Department of Science and Technology is in discussions with the Swedish Minister of Education and Research for the amendment of the Science and Technology Agreement to include innovation policy and cooperation discussions in science and technology.
|
