Programme Director;
Director-General of the Gauteng Provincial Government, Ms Phindile Baleni;
Our international Guests: Professor Yoyo Riva from Argentina, Ms Aline Cannataro from Brazil and Ms Lisa Zorn from Germany;
Professor Phillip Harrison from Wits University and former member of the National Planning Commission, Fellow speakers;
Mr Rashid Seedat, Head of Planning in the Gauteng Office of the Premier and other representatives of the Gauteng Government;
Government officials from other spheres; and
Ladies and Gentlemen

I am honoured to deliver the keynote address at this first knowledge sharing opportunity as part of the Partnership for Urban Innovation. This is the first urban innovation knowledge-sharing exchange and also the first national-level event that brings the ‘urban’ and the ‘innovation’ policy communities together to network and share experiences.

This event is jointly hosted by the Department of Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation and the Gauteng Provincial Government. The two entities have established a partnership called the Partnership for Urban Innovation.

Soon after the adoption of the National Development Plan by parliament in 2012, the National Planning Commission started experimenting with a number of partnerships to take forward implementation of various aspects of the National Development Plan. The commission engaged provincial governments and other stakeholders to identify parts of the NDP they wished to experiment with.  After some discussion, the province of Gauteng decided that more than any other province, it is affected by urbanisation and it wished to focus on this area.

It was agreed that a pilot initiative should be undertaken to support the Gauteng government in dealing with pressures associated with urbanisation. This resulted in a practical agreement to undertake collaborative work around urban innovation, including the establishment of a Partnership for Urban Innovation (PUI). The central goal of the partnership is to help us better understand urbanization and jointly develop innovative ways to respond to the challenges and opportunities it presents.

As we all know, when well-managed, urbanisation can present many opportunities, but it can also be a source of stress for government authorities, business enterprises, households and individuals.

The primary goal of the Partnership for Urban Innovation is to:
·         Promote awareness and knowledge of urban innovations in South Africa
·         Support international exchanges and collaborations that facilitate the diffusion of innovative practices; and
·         Provide direct support and incentives to municipalities, communities and other key agents who are involved in innovative urban practice.

The Partnership for Urban Innovation is an expression of our commitment as the different spheres of government to ensuring that our urban centres deliver on the promise of urbanisation. It is also recognition that as government, we do not have all the answers; our firms, universities, and private citizens are the greatest source of new good ideas. This partnership is about harvesting those good ideas.

Partnerships are also important because they make it possible for us to address the complex challenges we face. They are a recognition that we can do better when we draw on our collective knowledge resources. And, because we live in times of fiscal constraints, partnerships make it possible for us to use our “collective balance sheet” to unlock far greater resources to finance our growth and development programmes than each entity operating alone.

Cities and urban centres are critical spaces where different people come together to pursue their interests, whatever they are. This concentration of brain power makes innovation possible and creates opportunities for increased competitiveness and economic growth.

The NDP calls on us to ensure that our cities are inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable. Cities with these characteristics can make a greater impact on eliminating poverty and reducing inequality.  It is important to note that when we talk about our cities, we do not mean the buildings and highways, we are talking about the people who live in the cities.

So, what are the challenges that we are called upon to find solutions to?

One of the most pressing challenges is that South African cities are among the most unequal in the world. The manner in which our cities are organised in terms of the location of places of employment and where people live contributes to this inequality by increasing transport costs for the poorest communities. This means that workers spend a large share of their income on transport, and it constrains access to opportunities for better jobs.

Let me illustrate the importance of the cities in this province. Census 2011 revealed that Gauteng’s share of South Africa’s population increased from just under 20% in 2001 to almost 24% in 2011.  Employment also grew faster in Gauteng than in the rest of the country, with the labour market absorption rate in Gauteng at 52%, compared to the national average of 43%.

All of this tells us that we can expect more people to move into Gauteng. The Integrated Urban Development Framework notes that “Individuals and households in South Africa are ‘voting with their feet’, by moving into provinces and areas where jobs are being created, and where household incomes are higher.” We dare not fail those people.

There is also an ongoing need to identify and implement innovative solutions to enable municipalities to accommodate urban growth in more efficient, inclusive and sustainable ways. Large urban areas, of which there are many in Gauteng, offer the prospect for innovation-led development. This potential is however often constrained by bureaucratic approaches that incentivize compliance at the expense of efficiency, and by a lack of trust and meaningful exchange between actors in urban spaces. We need to change that.

There are several partnerships that the commission initiated or encouraged, working with various sectors of society. Some of them have been institutionalised through the Medium Term Strategic Framework and other government initiatives.

Operation Phakisa is one example. It is essentially a problem-solving methodology adapted from the Malaysian model called ‘Big, Fast Results’. This methodology brings together all stakeholders required to address a particular problem to identify and agree on actions to be taken collectively and individually to deal with the particular problem or challenge. We have introduced Operation Phakisa in the Oceans Economy, and in the Health and Education sectors. We are in the process introducing it in the Mining sector.

Another example is the National Education Collaboration Trust – a national initiative involving different stakeholders committed to improving learning outcomes in schools. Different stakeholders such as government, business, labour and civil society are working together on this initiative.

These partnerships are not only important in resolving particular challenges to service delivery, they also serve to build trust between various stakeholders.  They go beyond those conceptualised as Public-Private-Partnerships and often require more flexible, adaptive approaches.

At an international level, there is also interest in experimenting with different types of partnerships. In its report published in 2013 entitled “Now for the long term”, the Oxford Martin Commission for Future Generations highlights the importance of “creative coalitions”. The report suggests that investment in multi-stakeholder partnerships can “prompt deeper change, learning and practical action”.

One of the “creative coalitions” proposed in the report is of particular interest to our purpose here today. It is called the “C20-C30-C40” coalition to bring 20 Countries (using the G20), 30 Companies (selecting 30 companies affiliated with the World Business Council for Sustainable Development) and 40 Cities (working through the C40 cities initiative) to take practical steps towards dealing with climate change collectively.

There is another global partnership in which we are playing a role called the Urban Water Alliance. It is an innovative public-private platform for cooperation that supports the co-design and mobilization of investment for innovative urban wastewater project across the next generation of rapidly growing G77 cities.

The Urban Water Alliance will be an informal network of key actors from development finance institutions, private sector players which include large scale water users from industry, infrastructure developers, water utilities and operators, technology providers, financiers and investors, as well as other stakeholders such as civil society, international organizations, development agencies, and experts.

The Urban Water Alliance is based on a clear recognition that our consumption patterns and use of natural resources such as water is unsustainable. Cities around the world face shortages unless they find innovative ways to treat and reuse waste water.

This week leaders from around the world gathered in New York for the United Nations General Assembly to adopt the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).  These goals will build on the success achieved and address shortcomings of the Millennium Development Goals which were adopted in 2000.  Similar to the MDGs, the new SDGs will serve to galvanise resources and energy towards a set of common, long-term goals.

Goal No. 9 aims to “Build resilient infrastructure, promote sustainable industrialization and foster innovation”. This goal emphasises the importance of investments in infrastructure to achieving sustainable development and empowering communities. It notes that “It has long been recognized that growth in productivity and incomes, and improvements in health and education outcomes require investment in infrastructure”.

Goal No. 11 aims to “Make Cities inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable”. It recognises that “Cities are hubs for ideas, commerce, culture, science, productivity, social development and much more. At their best, cities have enabled people to advance socially and economically”.

However, many challenges exist to maintaining cities in a way that continues to create jobs and prosperity while not straining land and other resources. Common urban challenges identified include congestion, lack of funds to provide basic services, a shortage of adequate housing and declining infrastructure.

Goal No. 17 aims to “Revitalise the global partnership for sustainable development”, and then outlines the importance of partnerships between government, the private sector and civil society. It notes that “A successful sustainable development agenda requires partnerships between governments, the private sector and civil society. These inclusive partnerships built upon principles and values, a shared vision, and shared goals that place people and the planet at the centre are required”.

I have referred to these international examples to demonstrate that our thinking is in line with where the rest of the world is going.

Let me now turn to the importance of innovation. The NDP calls for a framework to coordinate the production of knowledge and guide the investment of public funds to support innovation. It also confirms that innovation is critical for introducing new products into the market and producing goods and services more efficiently, noting that research and development should be significantly expanded. 

To measure progress on our innovation capacity, we have introduced a target for Research and Development Expenditure of 1.5% of GDP by 2019 in the MTSF for 2014-19. Progress on this indicator is not adequate; the latest development indicators report highlights that in 2013, South Africa only spend 0.76% of GDP on Research and Development activities. The highest level achieved was in 2006/7 at 0.95% of GDP.

In addition to expenditure on research and development, the registration of patents and levels of ICT connectivity are also important indicators of competitiveness, which should increase if we innovate.  ICT also plays a key role in enabling development and bringing progress to all levels of society.

South African patent registration continues to grow at a very modest rate by global standards, reflecting mediocre domestic trends in research and development expenditure. This will impact negatively on South African's competitiveness and employment creation capacity over time.

Something to be celebrated is the growth of internet users in South Africa from 7.6 persons out of 100 persons in 2006 to 48.6 persons out of 100 persons in 2013. We must also celebrate the overall improvement in the competiveness ranking of South Africa. The 2015 report indicates that South Africa improve 7 places.

However, our rankings on the network readiness index published by the World Economic Forums Global IT report indicates that we slipped from number 37 to 70 over the same period. The 2015 report indicates that South Africa’s ranking slipped further to 75th out of 143 countries.

These are worrying trends for a country facing as many challenges as we do, many of which manifest in urban centres and cities. We need to encourage innovation in a range of areas from addressing transport challenges, to violence and crime, unemployment and poverty, housing and water provision, energy and environmental protection, food security and greater economic inclusion.

This Urban Innovation Colloquium is the first knowledge-sharing event undertaken as part of the partnership. A few international experts will share their knowledge on conceptualising urban innovation in and how it is mainstreamed in different countries.  We will also hear from local practitioners and innovators from the public and private sectors.

We will also hear voices of young South Africans on examples of innovations that they think could make a difference in South Africa. As part of the work of this partnership, we have appointed ten young researchers to each identify an innovative approach to dealing with urban pressures of their choice and assess the replicability thereof in the South African context.

The young researchers appointed to work on this project cover a range of areas. A few very practical examples include case studies of waste management that looks at ways of dealing with organic waste in dense, transient communities. Another example looks at the Kenyan M-Kopa, a pay-as-you- go solar energy solution, using mobile money.

Innovative policy-level case studies include land value capture models used in Brazil to encourage densification in priority precincts through density bonuses to encourage development of affordable housing, the use of public private partnerships to finance gap-housing, partially with crowd-sourced funds in London, and tax incentives to encourage the use of public transport in San Francisco.

There is also a study that looks at approaches towards more active and engaged communities that participate in everyday running of their cities as well as the eKaya Neighbourhood Improvement Programme in Hillbrow.

There are two case studies of where seemingly innovative approaches have not yielded the expected results. And the last study looks into knowledge creation as a critical tool for social and economic transformation.

I believe there are many more examples of innovations – both small and large – that make a difference in the lives of ordinary South Africans that we do not know about. This colloquium aims to raise awareness, and encourage learning from more of those in future.

Finally, let me thank my former colleague and predecessor Mr Trevor Manuel and Minister Nomvula Mokonyane for initiating this work two years ago. Our appreciation goes to Premier Makhura and the rest of the Gauteng Government for continuing to support this important initiative. Professor Harrison was part of the team that conceptualised this partnership and I thank him for continuing his involvement after the expiry of his term as a member of the National Planning Commission. Thank you also to the young researchers and the team that organised this event.

To all of you, thank you for your attendance and participation.