Date: 07/10/2003
Source: Ministry of Arts, Culture, Science and Technology
Title: Sonjica: SADC workshop on Square Kilometre Array telescope project
ADDRESS BY MS BUYELWA SONJICA, DEPUTY MINISTER OF ARTS, CULTURE, SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY AT THE REGIONAL SKA WORKSHOP, 7 October 2003
Representatives from neighbouring countries,
Directors-General from the Departments of Science and Technology and Communications,
Communications Regulators,
Surveyors-General
Dr Khotso Mokhele,
Prof Justin Jonas,
Dr Rob Adam
Dr Bernie Fanaroff
Distinguished Guests,
Ladies and Gentlemen.
It is indeed an honour to welcome you to this Southern African Workshop on the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) project. I wish to sincerely thank you all for taking the time out of your busy schedules to attend this important event, and I hope you will leave this workshop with a feeling of accomplishment.
Your presence here today, representing your countries at this high level, is a testament to Africa's investment in science and technology for development.
During the course of the workshop, various speakers will discuss the details of the SKA and specifically the bid from the southern part of the African continent to host this project, so I will not go into any technical detail other than to say that the SKA is arguably the most important and most exciting radio astronomy project proposed in the past 50 years. As a $1 billion international project, the SKA will have a receiving surface of a million square metres, one hundred times larger than the biggest receiving surface now in existence anywhere in the world. The location of the SKA in Sub-Saharan Africa will result in important collateral benefits accruing to all countries involved and to the region as a whole - if the central core array for the SKA is positioned in South Africa, for example, a number of remote arrays need to be positioned throughout Southern and Central Africa. The bid to host this project therefore represents an important opportunity for the Continent in general, and Sub-Saharan Africa in particular.
It is worth noting that this workshop is taking place in the week which has been declared by the United Nations as World Space Week. In this week, over 50 nations worldwide will reflect on the contribution that space science and technology have made toward the betterment of humanity.
In the sub-Saharan African region, space science, and initiatives such as the South African SKA bid in particular, have a critical role to play towards the advancement of the region and its people. By hosting a project of the size of the SKA in Africa, massive benefit can be derived, including significant scientific and industrial development, as well as human capacity development. It will create realistic business opportunities for the construction, defence, software, communication, electronics and steel industries of the region. Not only will such a project attract the focus of the scientific community, it will also provide state of the art infrastructure to our region, giving our scientists and engineers access to the best facilities in the world of astronomy.
Through the economic benefits generated by such an initiative, direct and indirect job opportunities will be created at all levels, which in turn have the potential to make a significant contribution to poverty alleviation in the region.
The SKA bid harnesses local advantages to attract the best international scientific infrastructure at low cost to our region, and using this to increase our human resource capacity, better profile our science system and contribute significantly to regional economic development.
South Africa, together with our partners in the rest of Sub-Saharan Africa, is exceptionally well positioned to host the SKA. We have a proud history of excellence in astronomy, the engineering capability to build telescopes locally, a sound high-technology infrastructure to support an initiative of this size and, very importantly, we have the advantage of the clear African skies. Should the bid to host the SKA be successful, it will make Sub-Saharan Africa the most advanced astronomy region in the world in terms of observation capacity across the spectrum from cosmic rays through to radio waves.
The SKA bid provides us with a unique opportunity to be on the cutting edge of science and technology in the world. It provides the opportunity for capacity building among our scientists, and in particular among the new generation of women and girls who are increasingly becoming active in the space sciences. Finally, the SKA provides an opportunity for the application of space science for development, in particular areas such as agriculture, water and disaster management.
It is important to emphasise again that the SKA bid is indeed an initiative that impacts the whole Sub-Saharan Africa, and not South Africa alone. The involvement of the region in the SKA bid is particularly important within the context of the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) initiative. It addresses the need to create synergy and coordination across the scientific endeavours of different African countries. We need to foster the necessary regional partnerships to create critical mass and economies of scale, which is critical when addressing a project of the size and scope of the SKA. Strong regional involvement in the SKA bid will also go a long way towards addressing the NEPAD recommendation for the establishment of regional and continent-wide centres of excellence to coordinate activities around research and development in science and technology. This is particularly important in the broader information and communications technology arena, where the myriad of initiatives taking place across the continent can lead to confusion and the risk of duplication of efforts.
I believe that through more efficient coordination of our existing assets and competencies in space science and technology, throughout Sub-Saharan Africa, we will be able to aspire to even greater heights. Therefore, I trust that this workshop will be successful in aligning all role players behind the Southern African bid to host the SKA telescope.
We need to work together to strengthen our ability to host the SKA. A significant number of scientific, technical and political barriers will need to be overcome in order to realise our dream of hosting the SKA on the African continent, as it will be highlighted in more detail in the presentations during the rest of this workshop. We should, however, not allow these to stand in our way, as we work towards turning this dream into reality.
I thank you
Issued by: Ministry of Arts, Culture, Science and Technology
7 October 2003
Source: Ministry of Arts, Culture, Science and Technology
Title: Sonjica: SADC workshop on Square Kilometre Array telescope project
ADDRESS BY MS BUYELWA SONJICA, DEPUTY MINISTER OF ARTS, CULTURE, SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY AT THE REGIONAL SKA WORKSHOP, 7 October 2003
Representatives from neighbouring countries,
Directors-General from the Departments of Science and Technology and Communications,
Communications Regulators,
Surveyors-General
Dr Khotso Mokhele,
Prof Justin Jonas,
Dr Rob Adam
Dr Bernie Fanaroff
Distinguished Guests,
Ladies and Gentlemen.
It is indeed an honour to welcome you to this Southern African Workshop on the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) project. I wish to sincerely thank you all for taking the time out of your busy schedules to attend this important event, and I hope you will leave this workshop with a feeling of accomplishment.
Your presence here today, representing your countries at this high level, is a testament to Africa's investment in science and technology for development.
During the course of the workshop, various speakers will discuss the details of the SKA and specifically the bid from the southern part of the African continent to host this project, so I will not go into any technical detail other than to say that the SKA is arguably the most important and most exciting radio astronomy project proposed in the past 50 years. As a $1 billion international project, the SKA will have a receiving surface of a million square metres, one hundred times larger than the biggest receiving surface now in existence anywhere in the world. The location of the SKA in Sub-Saharan Africa will result in important collateral benefits accruing to all countries involved and to the region as a whole - if the central core array for the SKA is positioned in South Africa, for example, a number of remote arrays need to be positioned throughout Southern and Central Africa. The bid to host this project therefore represents an important opportunity for the Continent in general, and Sub-Saharan Africa in particular.
It is worth noting that this workshop is taking place in the week which has been declared by the United Nations as World Space Week. In this week, over 50 nations worldwide will reflect on the contribution that space science and technology have made toward the betterment of humanity.
In the sub-Saharan African region, space science, and initiatives such as the South African SKA bid in particular, have a critical role to play towards the advancement of the region and its people. By hosting a project of the size of the SKA in Africa, massive benefit can be derived, including significant scientific and industrial development, as well as human capacity development. It will create realistic business opportunities for the construction, defence, software, communication, electronics and steel industries of the region. Not only will such a project attract the focus of the scientific community, it will also provide state of the art infrastructure to our region, giving our scientists and engineers access to the best facilities in the world of astronomy.
Through the economic benefits generated by such an initiative, direct and indirect job opportunities will be created at all levels, which in turn have the potential to make a significant contribution to poverty alleviation in the region.
The SKA bid harnesses local advantages to attract the best international scientific infrastructure at low cost to our region, and using this to increase our human resource capacity, better profile our science system and contribute significantly to regional economic development.
South Africa, together with our partners in the rest of Sub-Saharan Africa, is exceptionally well positioned to host the SKA. We have a proud history of excellence in astronomy, the engineering capability to build telescopes locally, a sound high-technology infrastructure to support an initiative of this size and, very importantly, we have the advantage of the clear African skies. Should the bid to host the SKA be successful, it will make Sub-Saharan Africa the most advanced astronomy region in the world in terms of observation capacity across the spectrum from cosmic rays through to radio waves.
The SKA bid provides us with a unique opportunity to be on the cutting edge of science and technology in the world. It provides the opportunity for capacity building among our scientists, and in particular among the new generation of women and girls who are increasingly becoming active in the space sciences. Finally, the SKA provides an opportunity for the application of space science for development, in particular areas such as agriculture, water and disaster management.
It is important to emphasise again that the SKA bid is indeed an initiative that impacts the whole Sub-Saharan Africa, and not South Africa alone. The involvement of the region in the SKA bid is particularly important within the context of the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) initiative. It addresses the need to create synergy and coordination across the scientific endeavours of different African countries. We need to foster the necessary regional partnerships to create critical mass and economies of scale, which is critical when addressing a project of the size and scope of the SKA. Strong regional involvement in the SKA bid will also go a long way towards addressing the NEPAD recommendation for the establishment of regional and continent-wide centres of excellence to coordinate activities around research and development in science and technology. This is particularly important in the broader information and communications technology arena, where the myriad of initiatives taking place across the continent can lead to confusion and the risk of duplication of efforts.
I believe that through more efficient coordination of our existing assets and competencies in space science and technology, throughout Sub-Saharan Africa, we will be able to aspire to even greater heights. Therefore, I trust that this workshop will be successful in aligning all role players behind the Southern African bid to host the SKA telescope.
We need to work together to strengthen our ability to host the SKA. A significant number of scientific, technical and political barriers will need to be overcome in order to realise our dream of hosting the SKA on the African continent, as it will be highlighted in more detail in the presentations during the rest of this workshop. We should, however, not allow these to stand in our way, as we work towards turning this dream into reality.
I thank you
Issued by: Ministry of Arts, Culture, Science and Technology
7 October 2003
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