By Fifi Rhodes
WINDHOEK – Professor Tjama Tjivikua has called on government to avail more funds for research activities, saying the underfunding of research at the Polytechnic of Namibia could lead to the neglect of research in priority sectors of the economy.
He said with the current funding, the Polytechnic cannot execute important programmes such as research in the innovation value chain. “Too much resources make you to forget things, while limited resources make you think differently,” he said. The Polytechnic is currently busy with an aggressive staff development programme and Tjivikua is of the opinion that spending more on research can lead to more higher level studies. He was speaking this week during the handover of over N$1.3 million in grants to researchers at the Polytechnic of Namibia by the National Commission on Research, Science and Technology (NCRST) under the Namibia/South Africa joint bilateral collaboration research programme.
Seven projects were awarded to successful Namibian researchers and scientists in partnership with South African researchers by institutions of higher learning that submitted research project proposals to the NCRST for funding. The research areas include bio-science with the focus on food, agriculture and health technologies; space science with the emphasis on astronomy and earth observation; indigenous knowledge systems; mathematical science; mineral resources with the focus on value addition, as well as laser science and energy with the emphasis on renewable energy efficiency.
The grants will run for the next two years with the next call for research proposals expected to take place in 2015. After the two years, the researchers are expected to provide a report on their findings, detailing the outcome of their research. The manager for resource mobilisation and fund management at NCRST Alushe Nditya said most of the research projects are already underway. She said altogether 59 proposals were received. “All applications were subject to a review process to ensure that they have scientific validity, are of good scientific quality and authentic and innovative,” she said. A joint technical committee which oversees the entire process agreed to fund a total of 30 projects. She said of the 30 projects, seven researchers from the Polytechnic of Namibia were selected as grant receipients. “We therefore call on the private sector to join us as we further research development and innovation in Namibia,” she said.
Nditya said the NCRST is well positioned to take advantage of the fact that government through the 4th National Development Plan (NDP4) is likely to spend 3 percent of GDP on research and development. She called on the research teams to carry out work through the innovation value chain and to commercialise through the research phase and translate the research into products and processes that respond to socio-economic conditions in both countries.