Chairperson, our biggest aim is to strengthen actions targeting critical structural opportunities and challenges facing South African society that re… - Trusty Gina

Opportunities and challenges include persistently high levels of poverty and unemployment; the fact that our society remains one of the most unequal in the world; governance challenges, a maturing democracy, demographic shifts including a youth dividend, high-levels of crime including unacceptably high levels of gender-based violence. The above will be achieved through the establishment of National Research Institutes.

As part of this societal focus, South Africa plays a significant role in advancing the global knowledge base on climate change and environmental sustainability.

Science, technology and innovation must never be understood as for the specialized elite divorced from society that it finds itself.