Page 8 - Research & Innovation Report 2020

DVC’S MESSAGE: RESEARCH, INNOVATION
AND INTERNATIONALISATION

and decisions. Furthermore, it has to offer tangible solutions that
will impact communities on the ground.

Moreover, the COVID-19 pandemic has again emphasised the Local impact,
urgent need for good governance and Pan-African economic
solutions that deal with infrastructure, transport, education, health, global relevance
and prosperity. Disruptions in global value chains on which Africa
depended for product and technology imports impose a sense of Adopted in 2015, the 17 SDGs outlined a global
urgency on African innovators to accelerate solutions to bridge the intention to end poverty, protect the planet, and
gap created by market disruptions. In addition, the intersecting ensure that all people enjoy peace and prosperity
challenges of environmental threats and the need for equality and by 2030. They are an urgent call for global
equity must continuously be addressed in shaping the future of partnerships by all developed and developing
the continent. countries, in the understanding that poverty
and other deprivations cannot be overcome in
The University has a wealth of exceptional academic resources, isolation and will require integrated global action.
particularly in the area of sustainability, where so much work is This must go hand-in-hand with strategies that
already in progress. Our campuses are strategically located within improve health and education, reduce inequality,
the Eastern Cape, South Africa and Africa. This, coupled with and spur economic growth – all while tackling
the University’s well-established networks and partnerships, puts climate change and working to preserve our
Nelson Mandela University in a prime position to take the next oceans, forests and biodiversity. Development
step in promoting cutting-edge endeavours in the following areas: must balance social, economic, and environmental
sustainability.
• Traditional academic investigation (whether basic, applied or Nelson Mandela University’s approach to
strategic, and whether using quantitative, qualitative, practice- sustainable development aligns with the SDGs,
based or other methodologies); with the African Union Agenda 2063 – The Africa
• Professional and creative practice (including architecture, visual, We Want – and the National Development Plan. It
performing and media arts, and consultancy and related activities, requires addressing global issues from a uniquely
etc.); African perspective that has local impact and
• Knowledge and technology transfer (including development global relevance.
projects and other forms of innovation, commercialisation,
prototypes, evaluation and other externally commissioned
contracts, etc.).

Following this path will contribute to efforts of cultivating university
graduates who are sustainability minded, as well as creating
career-track opportunities for them to stay within the Eastern Cape Our overall intention is to promote sustainability in a way that
and continue to contribute to their own communities. Meanwhile ripples outward in circles of service, from deep within embedded
these students will also be able to contribute more broadly – in university structures out into local communities, through the nation
South Africa, on the continent and globally. and continent and onwards into the global arena.

“ ... Nelson Mandela University is emerging

as a leader in sustainability in South Africa

and indeed, Africa.”

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