It was with delight that yet another milestone in the history of South African-Swiss cooperation was reached with the signing of the Science and Technology Agreement between South Africa and Switzerland on 7 December 2007. It is expected that the agreement will assist SA in growing its economy and will improve the quality of life of its people in the long term. For its part, Switzerland has a rich culture of scientific and technological achievements, as evidenced by, amongst other things, the many
Nobel Prize winners for science it has produced.
Prior to the signing of the Science and Technology Agreement, collaboration took place between researchers and science and technology institutions in the two countries in the midst of policy discussions and the establishment of instruments for cooperation. For instance, in 2005 alone, seven universities in South Africa cooperated on research with Swiss researchers and institutions, especially in the field of Health, but also in Physics and Astronomy. These informal interactions demonstrated the potential mutual benefits that science and technology cooperation would bring with the signing of the Science and Technology Agreement.
A study on the SA Knowledgebase, a database of South Africa's scientific output (as measured by articles in peer-reviewed journals), indicated that a total of 810 papers have been produced between 1990 and 2007 with at least one South African and one Swiss co-author (WHO addresses included). The graph on the following page distinguishes between papers with an address in Switzerland that includes the World Health Organisation (red line) and those that exclude collaboration with researchers at the WHO (blue line).
There has been a significant increase in SA-Swiss co-authored papers over the past 18 years. The ISI classification of journals according to scientific field has been used to classify all the papers. The fields in which more than 20 papers have been published over this period are listed in descending order below.
- Health Sciences (and especially infectious diseases, public health, virology, oncology and immunology);
- Nuclear Physics (many of these collaborations are with staff at the European Organisation for Nuclear Research - CERN);
- Astronomy and Astrophysics; Plant Sciences and Zoology; and
- Ecology and Environmental Sciences
Switzerland has identified South Africa as one of its preferred partners for the establishment of formalised ties for cooperation in science and technology. This paved the way for the government-to-government agreement in science and technology, which will provide the mechanisms for formal collaboration, including a joint budget commitment for 2008-2011 of over R80 million. In addition, future SA-Swiss cooperation will, inter alia:
- establish a joint committee for the implementation of the agreement;
- deepen the bilateral relations by providing South African scientists with access to the European Organisation for Nuclear Research (CERN);
- extend the focus of cooperation beyond the current cycle of science and technology projects;
- increase cooperation for projects close to innovation; and
- enable the training of SA post-doctoral students in Switzerland.
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