If South Africa can build on its recent success in expanding investment in research and development within the scientific field, the country would be able to develop new industrial processes that were both locally innovative, and internationally competitive, said Science and Technology Minister Naledi Pandor.

A major challenge for South Africa is to ensure that its scientists contribute to improving the lives of the poor, boosting the economy and expanding knowledge, Pandor said ahead of the eleventh General Conference of the Academy of Sciences for the Developing World (TWAS).

This month, South Africa will be hosting the conference for the first time.

The theme of the conference, which would be held in Durban, was Science for Africa's Development. The focus would be on the role that science can play in the upliftment of local communities.

Science could do much to alleviate the impact of poverty, in healthcare, for example, and in producing cleaner, renewable energy that ordinary people could use in their homes, Pandor noted.

Science could also make a difference by transforming South Africa's economy into more of a knowledge-based economy and less of a resource-based one, dependent on extractive industries and raw materials.

This, in Pandor's view, was key to overcoming the effects of worldwide economic recession in the country. However, in response to the credit crunch, the Department of Science and Technology (DST) needed to prioritise its spending strategically.

"Our policy is to protect and promote our investment in science, to make it easier for students and entrepreneurs to exploit their patents and form companies, and to provide a regulatory regime in which small and medium enterprises find it beneficial to market their ideas."

However, despite having some of Africa's strongest universities and research institutes, South Africa's primary and secondary schools remained weak, particularly in mathematics and science education. Pandor mentioned the DST's Youth into Science Strategy, which aimed to improve the quality of maths and science learning, from the schooling sector through to the university sector.

Part of the Youth into Science initiative involved raising awareness in schools, in which the DST was being supported by institutions such as the Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf).

The TWAS General Conference, sponsored by the DST and the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research, would be hosted by ASSAf at the International Convention Centre, in Durban, from October 19 to 23.