The government falls short in investigation

Lahja Nashuuta

The government has not met the commitment made by African governments to spend at least 1% of their gross domestic product on research and development (R&D), and is far from reaching the global average of 1.7%.

This is according to the National Survey of Experimental Research and Development by the National Commission for Research, Science and Technology (NCRST) released earlier this week.

Anicia Peters, executive director of the NCRST, said government spending on R&D dropped significantly from the highest at 46% to just 3.3%, emphasizing that “there was less funding for engineering and technology, medicine and health and human sciences”.

He further noted that research funding for transportation, telecommunications, as well as infrastructure, industrial production and technology is low, while R&D on food and water security is not specified.

Speaking at the same event, Higher Education Minister Itah Kandjii-Murangi acknowledged the funding gap and stated that there is a need to increase government spending on R&D to guide science and technology towards societal challenges.

Kandji Murangi said that although Namibia has not been able to achieve the 1% GDP target, the country has demonstrated a political commitment to achieving the target through Vision 2030 as well as the sixth national development plan.

The survey further revealed that currently, GDP spending on research and development (R&D) accounts stands at 0.7%, of which the government has only contributed 0.02% in the fiscal year 2021-2022.

Government funding for research illustrates a decline from 0.16% funding in the 2013-14 financial year, when the institution carried out a similar survey.

The government is the second lowest contributor, at just 3.3%, which is a significant decrease from 46% in 2013/2014, when it was the largest spender on R&D.

The nonprofit sector remains stubbornly the lowest spender at 2.5%.

The survey reveals that higher education R&D expenditure in the 2021/2022 financial year amounted to N$964 million, equivalent to 75.5%, while Namibian business expenditure accounted for N$288.3 million Namibian dollars or 21.7%, and that of the government amounted to 43.6 Namibian dollars. million.

Meanwhile, the non-profit institution’s spending amounted to $33.1 million, which is equivalent to 3.3% during fiscal year 2022.

Most research funding channeled into applied research accounted for the largest proportion of R&D spending in 2021/22, at 52.3%, while spending on experimental development increased significantly from 26.6%. in 2013/14 to 32.1% in 2021/22, and basic research decreased. to 15.4% in 2021/22 from 19.5% in 2013/14.

Only 0.2% of the institutions surveyed did not classify the type of research.

The survey also reveals that the country has few researchers in health, science and engineering, and that there is a lack of research institutions.

The significant decline in government funding for R&D is a cause for serious concern, the survey suggests.

The study recommends that the government should invest more in R&D and innovation to drive its own national R&D and innovation agenda, unlike international funders.

“More investment in engineering and technology will be needed for R&D in the manufacturing, green hydrogen, oil and gas, critical raw materials and 4IR/AI sectors to develop local human capacity and infrastructure. Infrastructure spending for national and accredited R&D facilities should increase to train the country’s researchers. Spending on industrial production and technology is too low,” the report reads.

The report further says that targeted investments must be made in medicine and health sciences, as Namibia needs to invest in vaccine manufacturing and preparation for future epidemics, while providing universal healthcare across the country.

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2024-05-02 Correspondent