Sectors and Programmes – Bio-Economy

Agriculture in South Africa forms a critical part of the country’s socio-economic and socio-political stability, with a large percentage of the population’s livelihood dependant on the need to build a globally competitive sector that will be able to withstand incoming agricultural produce from the rest of the world. This sector is central to the National Development Plan where the Government aims to eliminate income poverty from 39% to 0% and reduce inequality by reducing the Gini Coefficient from 0.69 to 0.6.

SABDI is a Department of Science and Innovation (DSI) – contracted fund which supports collaborative and integrative research projects that focus on functional genomics, structural biology, synthetic biology and systems biology. SABDI is particularly interested in bridging the physical, computational, engineering and life science disciplines.

Technology Platform Programme (TPP) exists to facilitate access to cutting edge technological capabilities by investing in and supporting entities to acquire appropriate technologies and expertise that in turn lower the barriers for others to innovate. The programme identifies and co-develops opportunities and funds and supports Technology Platforms to build long-term technological capabilities in the National System of Innovation (NSI).

The Technology Innovation Cluster Programmes are collaborative programmes aimed at leveraging the strengths of multiple partners to drive a technology solution and alleviate common industry specific pain points, lowering the hurdles to support economic growth.