Ltr, SERA Relationship Managers, Prof Robin Crewe and Ms Khungeka Njobe, with guest speaker Prof Mzamo Mangaliso, NRF President. SERA participants and other guests at the SERA Networking Breakfast in July this year. Prof Mzamo Mangaliso is the President and CEO of the National Research Foundation. He holds a PhD in Strategic Management and Business Administration from the University of Massachusetts in Amerhest, USA and has spent over 20 years in the academic environment as a lecturer and teaching professor. His research interests include long-range planning, global competitiveness and entrepreneurship & innovation. Prof Mangaliso is a member of the Academy of Management.

The SERA Relationship managers, Prof Robin Crewe of the University of Pretoria and Ms Kungeka Njobe of the CSIR, recently hosted a Networking Breakfast for members of the SERA community.

Prof Mzamo Mangaliso, newly appointed President of the National Research Foundation [NRF], was the guest speaker at the event, held at the CSIR International Convention Centre on 5 July (view the presentation).

SERA task and project team members and their colleagues from the CSIR and UP, as well as NRF employees, attended the event.

Prof Mangaliso referred to his appointment at the NRF as an opportunity to work within a stable organisation with a national impact in research and innovation, and therefore economic growth, in the country. "I believed that I was entering an arena that had a unique appreciation of the benefits that science and innovation can bring to a developing economy".

He indicated that the "signs that we have seen show that economic growth is correlated to business enterprise R&D and higher education R&D. The two combined, with a strong base of human capacity, can drive the GNP (gross national product) of a country higher and higher".

Prof Mangaliso also gave an overview of the NRF's activities, including the available funding instruments and grant opportunities as well as figures on the total investment in research capacity-building for 2006.

He concluded by referring to the future trajectory for the NRF, which will be directed by a process of implementing a new strategic management model and a review of the organisation's vision and core missions.

The breakfast was followed by a report on the progress and highlights of SERA task teams in 2006, presented by Prof Crewe. This included the establishment of the UP Water Institute, under the leadership of the SERA Water Task Team leader, Prof Eugene Cloete, and projects undertaken by the Food Security and Sustainable Rural Development Task Teams.

Prof Crewe also thanked the task and project teams for their participation in and contribution to the success of the Alliance.