South Africa’s biggest science and industry gathering set to take place in Pretoria
The Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) is celebrating 77 years of touching lives through innovation. As part of this milestone, the organisation will host its 8th Biennial Conference on Wednesday, 2 and Thursday, 3 November 2022.
The two-day conference will bring together scientific experts, academia and industry leaders from around the world, and members of the public to evaluate how research, development and innovation (RD&I) can be harnessed to build a robust South African economy. This year’s conference will be held under the theme: ‘Harnessing research, development and innovation for a robust South African economy’.
The conference, which is one of the flagship initiatives to celebrate the organisation’s contribution to RD&I in South Africa, will provide a platform to showcase the CSIR’s multiple research capabilities and the continued impact of its strategy in contributing to industrial development and supporting a capable state.
Challenges such as power outages, water cuts, climate change and the high unemployment rate in South Africa, have all added enormous pressure on an already volatile economy that is slowly recovering from the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic. As such, the CSIR and its stakeholders will use this gathering to deliberate on how R&D can play a role in co-building a capable state, an inclusive economy and competitive South African industries.
The conference will also look at South Africa’s opportunity to become a significant player in the hydrogen market. The programme will include a plenary session that will feature key industry speakers. Some of the topics that will be discussed include empowering the South African workforce to embrace the fourth industrial revolution; precision medicine in Africa; the role of small, medium, and micro enterprises in growing the cannabis and hemp industry; and creating a circular plastics economy in South Africa.
The conference will have an interactive exhibition covering technologies such as Cardiflo, a point-of-care screening technology designed to detect cardiovascular risk factors to advise patients on care and preventative lifestyle changes. Technologies for precision agriculture, point-of-care diagnostic technologies to detect human, animal and zoonotic diseases and more, will also be on display.

Source: Government of South Africa