South Africa’s science minister Naledi Pandor says her country must follow Skolkovo’s lead in catalyzing an innovation economy back home.
Speaking earlier this month to Russian business portal RBC, Pandor said the Skolkovo model fits neatly with the South African government’s priority areas of addressing inequality and poverty.
South Africa’s science minister Naledi Pandor, top left, during her visit to Skolkovo. Photo: sk.ru
“I would like to start an innovation hub like this (Skolkovo) with the primary focus on IT, and we’ll look at in what form apps can be create by young South Africans,” Pandor said on a visit to the Skolkovo Hypercube.
”I am very interested in what is being done here, because many countries do not pay attention to talent and you miss the opportunity for development, all those creative people to whom you don’t give the space,” she added.
”So I would like for our technology innovation agency to visit a place like Skolkovo just to get to know what is being done. I don’t think we can do something as big as this, but maybe with a small part we can start to provide space for young people, where they can be free and have computers, internet, and they can do what they like.”
Pandor timed her visit to Skolkovo to coincide with the Open Innovations Forum in Moscow this week, where Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev was a keynote speaker along with his Chinese counterpart Li Keqiang.
Negotiations are under way to sign cooperation agreements between Russian and South African tech parks and to organize bilateral business missions.
Under a plan unveiled by the South African presidential National Planning Commission in 2011, the country hopes to eliminate poverty and reduce the wealth gap significantly by 2030.
The job of Skolkovo is to help wean Russia off natural resources to create generations of high-tech scientists and entrepreneurs by supporting the innovation cycle from idea through to commercialization.