.@dstgovza unveils SA research infrastructure roadmap, first of its kind on the continent 1/20
— Sarah Wild (@sarahemilywild) October 4, 2016
“World-class research infrastructure is the basis for building competitive knowledge-based activities,” @dstgovza minister Pandor said 2/20
— Sarah Wild (@sarahemilywild) October 4, 2016
Total budget for 1st five years = R1.97bn, but only years 1-3 have definite funding of R643m from @dstgovza budget 3/20
— Sarah Wild (@sarahemilywild) October 4, 2016
There are 13 planned research infrastructure projects, spanning sciences and humanities 4/20
— Sarah Wild (@sarahemilywild) October 4, 2016
A national centre for digital language resources: develop country’s languages equally and create databases and applications 5/10 (My fav)
— Sarah Wild (@sarahemilywild) October 4, 2016
3. A nuclear medicine research facility: drug develop and clinical research, a “one-stop shop” 7/20 (This one’s pricey: R443m)
— Sarah Wild (@sarahemilywild) October 4, 2016
5. Natural science collections facility: a hub for 1000s of specimens decaying in SA’s poorly funded & managed museums 9/20 (My editorial)
— Sarah Wild (@sarahemilywild) October 4, 2016
7. A distributed platform for “omics” research (which includes genomics) to help SA researchers get more than a foot in the door 11/20
— Sarah Wild (@sarahemilywild) October 4, 2016
9. A marine & Antarctic research facility: keep SA as a player in the field, and grow human capital 13/20 (Also, big geographic adv for SA)
— Sarah Wild (@sarahemilywild) October 4, 2016
11. A solar research facility: single site to test different solar and cell technologies 15/20
— Sarah Wild (@sarahemilywild) October 4, 2016
13. A biogeochemistry platform: this pretty much involves research into anything in the ground – fossils, rocks, minerals 17/20
— Sarah Wild (@sarahemilywild) October 4, 2016
Including R3.5bn for the SKA and MeerKAT and R1.5bn in cyber infrastructure (unis have better internet than you do) 19/20
— Sarah Wild (@sarahemilywild) October 4, 2016
But roadmap is not set in stone: there are three-yearly check ins to make sure SA is on the right path & betting on the right horses 20/20.
— Sarah Wild (@sarahemilywild) October 4, 2016