Key words: innovation, innovation policy, innovation model, Republic of South Africa, BRICS, Russia

In the modern world, human capital is at the heart of modernization and accelerated economic growth.

HUMAN CAPITAL AND INNOVATION

It is believed that an increase in human capital by 1% leads to an acceleration in the growth rate of per capita GDP by 1-3%¹. In this sense, South Africa faces difficult tasks related to the formation of high-quality national human capital. Moreover, efforts have to be made on the entire front of problems-from the system of basic education to the training of highly qualified personnel and highly specialized technically competent workers in real production sectors.

In the Republic of South Africa, a special place is given to educational programs of the population. This is confirmed by the fact that the country occupies one of the leading positions in the world in terms of public investment in this area - about 5.3% of GDP and 20% of total public expenditures of ^the country2 are spent.

The entire population of South Africa has the right to basic education, including basic adult education and advanced training. In accordance with the country's Constitution, the State has undertaken to gradually make this education available to the public.

The national qualification system of South Africa divides education into three groups: general, professional and higher education.

Education at the school lasts 13 years - from "zero" (class "R") to grade 12 ("matric"), upon completion of which a certificate of maturity is issued. Primary education is divided into grades from "zero" to 9th. According to the 1996 law, education is compulsory up to the 9th grade. General education also includes adult education.

Vocational education takes place from grades 10 to 12. It includes professionally-oriented education and training in technical colleges of all kinds. At the end of this period of study, students receive a diploma and a qualification certificate ³.

From 1990 to 2009, the number of successful exam takers increased from 40% to 60.6%⁴. In the period from 1996 to 2005. there was a gradual decline in the rate of successful exam takers: in secondary education, it fell from 64% to 54%, and in higher education-from 40% to 34%. But since 2006, the level of education has been gradually increasing thanks to a large-scale state program to improve the literacy of the population.⁵

The low literacy rate of some population groups is a consequence of the system that existed during the apartheid era. Under this system, the white population received quality education almost free of charge, while the black population could only count on the so-called Bantu education (for Africans).

Although the Government is currently working to correct the imbalance in education, there is still a sufficient number of uneducated people. Poor areas in rural provinces, such as the Eastern Cape and Kwazulu-Natal, are experiencing the greatest difficulties. Schools tend to be better equipped and better resourced in affluent provinces such as Gauteng and the Western Cape.

The Government has created two programs for the poor. These are" free schools " supported by the state: students are not charged a fee. By 2007, such schools accounted for 40% of all schools in poor areas. As part of this program, the Ministry of Education has also established almost 2,100 kindergartens.⁶

Another program provides nutrition to about 7 million children every day, including all primary school students in the 13 rural and 8 urban poorest areas of the country. In 2009, the program was expanded to include an additional 1 million high school students in grade 12.

Education spending remains the largest item for the Government. Thus, R165 billion rubles were allocated for the 2010/11 academic year. ($24 billion). The Department of Education has allocated R2.7 billion rubles. to develop textbooks in 11 official languages in order to improve the general level of literacy and conduct testing among the 3rd, 6th and 9th grades. Between 2009 and 2010, the number of free schools increased from 40% to 60%.

Government spending on higher education has increased over the past 3 years from R15. 3 billion in the past year.

Ending. For the beginning, see: Asia and Africa Today, 2011, No. 10.

Table

Distribution of students by study profile

Источник: HSRC, Innovation in sub-Saharan Africa - http://www.hsrc.ac.za/research/output/outputDocuments/5804_Petersen_Innovationinsubsaha ran.pdf

2008/09 to R21. 3 billion in 2011/12 ⁷.

However, the country still lacks qualified personnel in the field of education. In 2007, South Africa needed 21,000 new teachers, but teacher training universities graduated only 5,000 specialists. To remedy the situation, measures were taken to return teachers who are already retired to work under special conditions.⁸

The table shows the areas of higher education that are most popular among students, the percentage of students who have chosen a particular direction, as well as the proportion of women in each of the fields. What is striking is the desire of South Africans, similar to the Russian reality, to get a higher education mainly in the field of social sciences, business and law.

The percentage of women in science in South Africa is significantly higher than the global average. South Africa has one of the highest proportions of female scientists in the world, in 2009. they accounted for 39.7% of the total number of researchers. For comparison, in Japan, this figure is 13%, and in Norway-33.4%.

In South Africa, as in most countries of the world, women are mainly employed in the education, health, social and service sectors. At the same time, in such" male " fields as engineering, the percentage of women is significantly lower.

The Republic of South Africa has world-class scientists and research infrastructure, and is positioned as one of the world's leaders in innovation, science and technology. The Department of Science and Technology strives to fully realize the potential of R & D in socio-economic development through human resources, research and innovation.

South Africa has set a goal to increase the number of postgraduate and doctoral graduates, including at the expense of Africans, and given the strong outflow of qualified population, the costs of educational programs are becoming increasingly necessary. This is what the Government sees as an opportunity to boost South Africa's competitiveness and credibility on the world stage.

New educational programs are being introduced, forums are being held on new teaching methods and innovations in the field of education. South Africa is purposefully trying to consolidate the positive image of a new international center for science, culture and education. For this purpose, a lot of funds are allocated for holding major global forums, ranging from ecology to the FIFA World Cup. From 2002 to 2010, 14 international meetings of this kind were held in South Africa. Among them is a forum held in Cape Town in October 2010, dedicated to the problems of education in the modern world, which was attended by representatives of 70 countries.

The activities of government agencies are mainly focused on the implementation of the national research and development strategy (known by the acronym NRDS), which provides for the effective use of human resources, expanding the knowledge base, increasing investment in infrastructure, and improving strategic management in state research and development systems.

Over the past five years, the government has increased funding for R & D and innovation-the budget grew from R2 billion in 2005/06 to R5.l billion in 2011/12. In addition,South Africa's total R & D spending already exceeded R16. 5 billion in 2006.

The current South African policy in the field of science and education could serve as a good example for our country. From year to year, the amount of funds allocated for the needs of science and technical development is growing (a slight decrease in recent years may be due to the impact of the global economic crisis).

At the same time, private business makes a comparable financial contribution to the development of scientific research. To encourage private investment in R & D, the "R & D Tax Incentive Program" was introduced, which entitles to a 150% tax deduction and accelerated depreciation of assets used for R & D over three years at the rate of 50:30:20 percent per year, respectively. There is no discrimination based on skin color when receiving benefits and incentive packages. Science in Russia can only dream of such economic conditions of existence.

The total number of published scientific papers is one of the characteristics of a scientific researcher.-

Figure 1. Distribution of private investment by research area.

Источник: http://www.google.ru/url?sa=t&source=web&cd=2&ved=0CCQQFjAB&url=http%3A% 2F%2Fwww.hsrc.ac.za%2FPage-142. _Phtml&ei=SjhTTtygPMLogaQ ZDrBg&usg=AFQjCNHjnZRQUYjUqzRuIvsOBqtK5id99Q

and, in part, research capacity. Obviously, the volume of a country's publications reflects how much money is spent on research and depends on the overall state of the economy.

In Africa, the leading countries in terms of the number of articles are South Africa (more than 7,000, according to the 2008 pa), Egypt, Nigeria, Tunisia, Algeria and Kenya. Four of them were also leaders in GDP on the African continent in the same year: South Africa, Egypt, Nigeria and Algeria.⁹

South Africa ranks 36th in the world in terms of the number of publications, which account for approximately 0.41% of the global volume. It lags far behind some Latin American and Asian countries. For example, South Africa's published materials account for about a third of Brazil's research papers and about a fifth of India's ¹⁰.

INVESTMENT STRUCTURE AND INNOVATION IMPLEMENTATION

Most of the R & D is conducted in the field of engineering sciences. Expenditures in this area increased from 22.5% of total expenditures in 2007/08 to 24.4% in 2008/09. Research in the field of natural sciences accounts for 20.6%, medicine and health disciplines -14.6%. Other areas where research is conducted are information and communication technologies (13.1%); social sciences and humanities (12.5%); applied science and technology (9.1%) and agricultural sciences (5.5%).

In South Africa, about 10.7% of R & D is funded from abroad, and this percentage is increasing, with more than 43% sponsored by business corporations, 22% by the state, 14% by higher education institutions, and 11% by private non-profit organizations. There are also joint R & D projects between enterprises and government research agencies.¹¹

Recently, South Africa has seen an influx of private investment in high-tech industries. According to a report by the South African Ministry of Science and Technology, non-government R & D investment accounted for 42.7% of total revenue in 2008, amounting to R10. 7 billion. (0.54% of South Africa's GDP), while R8. 2 billion was allocated from private sources for research activities in 2005. The main areas of private financing are technological industries and natural sciences. The distribution of private investment by research area is shown in figure 1.

Among the so-called priority research areas allocated by the South African government, private investors are particularly attracted to research related to nano-and biotechnologies (in 2008,R199. 7 million was allocated only for research in these areas), the development of new materials (R73 million in 2008), the search for vaccines against tuberculosis, malaria and AIDS (R302 million) ¹².

If we consider the structure of private investment in terms of what types of research they are aimed at, then 63% of all private investment goes to experimental research, approximately 28% goes to applied research, and 8% is allocated to basic research.

Recently, joint research programs organized by public and private companies are being developed more and more actively.

One of them, for example, is the research program in the field of "clean coal mining and processing technologies", conducted jointly by Eskom, Saneri and Sasol. Private companies are also attracted to finance the development of new energy sources and, along with state-owned enterprises, participate in nuclear energy research.

Another important source of funding for research activities is foreign capital. The research and achievements of South African scientists in the field of science are recognized worldwide. On the eve of the global crisis (2007), the development of research activities in South Africa from abroad received approx.-

International students in South Africa (by region)

Figure 2. International students in South Africa (percentage between regions).

Источник: http://www.iie.org/en/Services/South-Africa/Interna-tional-Students-In-SA

R1. 99 billion rubles. The bulk of these funds are private investments in research projects jointly conducted by foreign and South African non-governmental companies, or in the implementation of innovations at their own South African branches (in 2008, this figure was approximately R1. 1 billion). Foreign capital also went to projects implemented by the state (R56 million), research institutes (R320. 2 million), and non-profit organizations (R131.5 million).

The main flow of R & D FDI comes from countries such as the United States, Germany, Japan, South Korea, Switzerland, and the Netherlands. It is worth noting that 80% of all TNCs investing in R & D are corporations from 5 countries: the USA, Japan, Germany, Great Britain and France.

The main industry in which FDI is directed is mining. But along with it, investors from the United States and European countries are attracted by the production of high-tech equipment. Japanese and South Korean firms are actively investing in areas related to the latest laser technologies. In the field of studying laser and medical technologies, South Africa cooperates with such international companies as Lumenis, Ophir, and Iridex.

In addition to attracting FDI in research and development, South Africa actively purchases the latest technologies from abroad. At the moment, some branches of production are completely dependent on the arrival of the latest imported equipment. For example, research in the field of nuclear energy is based on the import of foreign technologies. To change this situation, the South African Government is actively developing international cooperation programs in the field of R & D.

Research is most actively conducted in the" priority " areas. These include the aerospace industry. Under an agreement signed in 2008 between South Africa and European countries, the European Space Agency (ESA) began cooperation with South African companies involved in the development of artificial satellites, and also pledged to provide their own launchers for launching them in the future.

As part of the Satellite Navigation Systems (GNSS)development Project South Africa actively cooperates with European organizations, such as EGNOS (European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service).

Perhaps one of the most famous projects was the South African SALT telescope, which has no analogues in the southern hemisphere. Its construction was completed in 2005. SALT has become an example of South Africa's global cooperation with countries around the world. Germany, Poland, the United States, New Zealand and the United Kingdom are partners in this endeavor. South Africa recently offered its territories for the construction of the Square Kilometer Array (SKA) radio telescope.

Another important area of international cooperation for South Africa is research conducted within the framework of the Global Monitoring for Environment and Security (GMES) and the Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS). A special place in these studies is occupied by the study of climate change, monitoring the state of water resources and their management.

Most of the projects and developments are carried out in South Africa together with European countries, America and Japan. However, South Africa, being a continental leader in the field of scientific research, has recently been increasingly attracting other African countries to cooperate. This mainly concerns such areas as the use of the latest biotechnologies (including for breeding drought-resistant grain varieties, breeding new breeds of livestock), the development of vaccines against tropical diseases (malaria, Ebola), and the search for ways to combat the spread of AIDS.

In addition to cooperation with existing companies and institutes, South Africa participates in the creation of research centers in Sub-Saharan Africa, invites specialists from the region to work and train, and provides scholarships for students from other African countries to study at South African institutes. The share of international students enrolled in South African public universities in 2007 was 7.1 % of the total number of students (see figure 2). Most of these students were from Botswana, Lesotho, Swaziland, Namibia, Zimbabwe and Angola.

CHALLENGES TO INNOVATION

From an economic point of view, innovation activity

- this is the introduction to the market or the introduction of new or significantly improved products or processes in the organization. Based on the resources required to create a new product, there are three inextricably linked elements of the system: human resources, finance, and technical base.

Sufficient financial support for innovations allows you to coordinate the payment of scientific and technical products and research, the supply of equipment, materials and components, settlements with the founders, the labor collective and state management bodies. Attracting investment, therefore, becomes one of the main objectives of innovation policy, and financial transactions - the necessary tools for its implementation.

It is worth noting that South Africa has a developed financial sector, as evidenced by the fact that the Johannesburg Stock Exchange is one of the 20 largest in the world in terms of capitalization. ¹³ Since the apartheid era, the local banking sector has had experience and is not shy away from financing venture technology projects, including R & D and innovation (which, by the way, is very different from the Russian one). However, a number of factors hinder the attraction of investment.

The most common of them is the continuing poverty and backwardness of the majority of the country's population. This is associated with specific "narrow", but no less acute problems. Take, for example, the problem of high crime rates in South Africa, which is directly related to poverty. For investors, this is evidence of an unstable socio-political situation, a factor that constrains investment in general, and in innovation in particular.

It is worth highlighting economic crimes: in 2009, 62% of South African companies experienced their manifestations. Therefore, it is not surprising that foreign companies are sometimes biased against South African investment projects. ¹⁴ To increase their attractiveness, the South African Government has granted equal rights to foreign and domestic investors.

It should also be noted that in order to attract foreign capital investments, there is a practice of monetary compensation to investors for losses related to inflation, crediting export operations and providing tax incentives for companies that create new businesses.:

- manufacturing enterprises in remote areas of the country;

- products that replace imported goods;

- labor-intensive production facilities;

- enterprises using know-how or previously unknown technologies in South Africa ¹⁵.

In 2009, the freedom to invest index was at the level of the global average: 50 on a scale from 0 to 100. Nevertheless, investors constantly complain about the "lack of transparency of the regulatory system" ¹⁶. Here, however, it is worth noting that everything is learned in comparison. Unfortunately, Russia's performance here is even worse.

Second, the South African government's Broad-based Black Economic Empowerment policy means that the white population, which controls most of the country's capital, is relatively less advantaged than its black counterparts. Although from the point of view of restoring historical justice, this is natural, but in real life everything looks more complicated. Often, white owners of capital (and potential investors) see moving abroad as the most convenient way out of this situation, which also entails capital flight from the country. Some of the countries that attract such well-off migrants (for example, Australia, New Zealand, a little less Canada and England) benefit greatly from this situation.

Third, South Africa, as a regional leader, attracts migrants from neighboring, less economically developed countries. As a rule, such employees do not live in the country on a permanent basis, and if they do, they send money to the family in their homeland, which leads to a large-scale export (often illegal) of South African currency abroad. South Africa is fighting this phenomenon by creating new regulatory bodies and developing more stringent border control strategies.¹⁷

In terms of human resources, the main challenges facing South Africa (as well as most of the African continent) continue to be the AIDS pandemic, which has become truly monstrous, and the lack of qualified specialists. The lack of a sufficient number of educated workers is a consequence not only of an underdeveloped education system, but also of "brain drain", including among white youth, to developed countries. One of the reasons for the leak is the extremely high level of unemployment, which is what the main efforts are aimed at combating. Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan announced the budget policy plan for three years (2010/11-2013/14), according to which 6 billion RAND will be allocated for projects that promote job creation, primarily for the ¹⁸-year-old generation.

Thus, South Africa's innovation policy is not being implemented as smoothly as it is written on paper: it faces both the old, already familiar challenges, and those that the new time poses to it. Nevertheless, it seems that the country as a whole is ready to meet these challenges and has every chance of successfully implementing its modernization plans.

BENEFITS OF SOUTH AFRICA'S EXPERIENCE FOR RUSSIA

In South Africa and Russia, after the dismantling of the totalitarian system, it became necessary to create a new social order. Economically and economically efficient

In scientific terms, the systems were discarded, and the new country was formed in conditions of instability, in fact, by trial and error. It goes without saying that the strongest side had to be used for this: the presence of significant reserves of natural resources. Perhaps this is what allowed South Africa to develop relatively evenly until the global financial crisis.

Nevertheless, the crisis has shown that the resource-oriented economy in the context of globalization is becoming largely dependent on fluctuations in the level of world prices. However, the international rating agency Fitch believes that the South African economy has already relatively stabilized ¹⁹. For Russia, it provides positive forecasts in the form of GDP growth of 4.3% this year (primarily due to higher oil prices and real incomes, as well as strengthening the balance sheets of the private sector).²⁰.

To achieve stability, the South African government believes, a transition to a knowledge-based and innovative economy is necessary. The Russian Federation has taken a similar course. Now the economies of both countries are focused on efficiency, but it is necessary to note qualitative differences: with a more developed financial sector, South Africa significantly loses to Russia in the size of markets-both external and internal.

Another point of contact between Russia and South Africa is the problem of labor resources. But if the greatest danger for South Africa is the catastrophically rapid spread of HIV infection, then in Russia the main problem is a sharp decline in the birth rate. Russia's demographic policy is yielding very little results, and although population growth increased by 0.4% between 2006 ^and 2009,21 it is still negative.

Investors ' uncertainty about the stability of these markets remains a serious negative factor for both countries. It seems that it was the latter that caused a significant outflow of capital from South Africa in 200822, and then in Russia (2009 - $56.9 billion, 2010 - $38.3 billion).²³. It is also possible that South Africa's accession to the WTO in 1995 contributed to a more stable development. Russia plans to join the WTO in the near future, but it is not yet clear how this will affect the country's economic condition.²⁴

Be that as it may, countries have to struggle to attract new investment. One of the methods used is the creation of special bodies aimed at innovation activities: in South Africa, for example, this is the Technological Innovation Agency (TIA, established in 2010). A Direct Investment fund has been created in Russia to attract capital from abroad since June 2011, Dmitry Medvedev announced ²⁵.

Not all of South Africa's experience, of course, is applicable to Russian realities. Be that as it may, due to the reforms of recent years, problems in the field of education, especially higher education, are also characteristic of Russia. Mass participation is not yet a guarantee of quality, but it is quality that allows us to move science forward. Many universities, which were considered one of the best in the world during the Soviet era, were unable to keep their mark in the "dashing 90s" and are now forced to correct the mistakes of both their own and those of would-be reformers. To solve this problem, at a minimum, it would be necessary to identify priority areas and draw up a list of specialties required by the country. Willy-nilly, the elements of sound planning must be returned to the field of education and science. After all, if the policy of modernization is in the first place, then training of technical specialists will be required, which implies not only providing the country's leading universities with materials and equipment, but also competent public propaganda.

We must admit that South Africa as a whole is developing quite dynamically and purposefully along the path of innovation. It would be useful for domestic developers of modernization and innovation programs to pay attention to the" Ten-Year Plan", which, despite harsh criticism from some politicians and public organizations, represents a number of clearly defined tasks that need to be solved in order to achieve success in the field of innovation.

^{Sianesi B., Van Reenen J.} 1 The returns to education // Journal of Economic Surveys. 2003.

² http://www.southafrica.info/about/education/education.htm

³ http://southafrica.usembassv.gov/root/pdfs/study_sa__profile_rev100630.pdf

⁴ http://www.southafrica.info/about/education/education.htm

⁵ http://www.scienceinafrica.co.za/scicrisis.htm

⁶ http://www.southafrica.info/about/education/education.htm

⁷ http://www.info.gov.za/aboutsa/education.htm#intro

⁸ http://www.solidarityresearch.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/16-Skills-Shortage-in-South -Africa-Summary-facts-FJC-ET.pdf

⁹ http://researchanalytics.thomsonreuters.com/rn/pdfs/globalre-searchreport-africa.pdf

¹⁰ http://www.hsrc.ac.za/research/output/outputDocuments/5804_Petersen_Innovationinsubsaha ran.pdf

¹¹ http://www.embaixada-africadosul.pt/index.php7option-com_content&view=article&id=144: south-africa-maintains-steady-growth-in-rad-expenditure&catid=47:press-releases&Itemid-10 7

¹² http://www.hsrc.ac.za/Page-108.phtml

¹³ WFE Annual Report and Statistics 2009.

¹⁴ PWC Global Economic Crime Survey 2009.

¹⁵ http://www.southafrica.ru/eco.php

¹⁶ Index of Economic Freedom 2009.

¹⁷ http://www.southafrica.info/2010/innovation-legacy.htm

¹⁸ http://africa.ibtimes.com/articles/76507/20101027/firiance-minister-south-africa-s-three-year- budget-plan.htm

¹⁹ http://www.moneyweb.co.za/mw/view/mw/en/page295043Void-527451&sn=2009+Detail

²⁰ http://www.fitchratings.ru/regional/country/news/comments/news.wbp?article-id=D137A05A -2C10 - 4CED-B01A-87968B172D9C

²¹ http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SP.POP.GROW

²² South African Reserve Bank. Annual Report 2008/2009.

²³ http://top.rbc.ru/finances/13/01/2011/526906.shtml

²⁴ http://www.wto.ru/ru/opinion.asp7msg_id-27853

²⁵ http://top.rbc.ru/economics/29/03/2011/568017.shtml

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