Developing technology platforms for an emerging economy: A situational analysis of South Africa

Central to national economy is the development of a broad industrial base to add value to new enterprise development and manufacturing of innovative products and services for local and international markets. Modern industrialization is driven by technological entrepreneurship, cost-effective energy sourcing, competitive cost of technology deployment and accessibility of entrepreneurial financing for technological innovations and new technology start-ups. In aligning its economy with a global perspective, South Africa is developing an industrial strategy based on economically competitive technology platforms with a focus on addressing its economic and social imperatives. The goal of technology platforms is to facilitate horizontal broadening of manufacturing platforms while promoting vertical growth of strategic technologies where the country has competitive edge. The aim is to enhance national economic competitiveness through exploitation of technological innovation to solve prevalent economic and social burdens. This paper examines the South African innovation landscape in the context of technology platforms, the current initiatives, their deficiencies, enabling policy implications and suggests a framework for an industry-centric technology platform model based on international best practice. The understanding of these dynamics is important for policy makers, industry and academic players and is aligned with the country´s drive and objectives to improve its standing on global competitiveness.