While the globe focused on geopolitics at January’s World Economic Forum, over 100 scientists quietly opened the Frontiers Science House – a partnership of 50+ organisations turning scientific breakthroughs into tangible solutions for climate change, health and biodiversity.
By Japie Greeff, associate professor and research co-ordinator at Belgium Campus iTversity
The initiative tackles the critical disconnect between laboratory discoveries and real-world benefits. Breakthroughs need funding, collaboration and visibility to reach communities who need them most.
South Africa faces this exact challenge, but most people don’t know about the breakthroughs happening in our own backyard.
More than lab coats and equations
To many South Africans, cutting-edge science sounds like the preserve of socially awkward physicists – Sheldon Cooper debating string theory over comic books.
But our research institutions aren’t doing theoretical navel-gazing.
They’re exploring how mathematical modelling influences clinical pharmacology. Creating systems that optimise air foil design for wings. They’re training hundreds of students in computational science using the Centre for High Performance Computing‘s processing power.
They’re building the longest intercontinental ultra-secure quantum satellite link ever achieved – almost 13,000km connecting Stellenbosch University with the University of Science and Technology of China. The first-ever quantum satellite communication link in the Southern Hemisphere happened here.
The power of pooling
These aren’t standalone one-hit wonders. They’re made possible by pooling resources through institutes like the National Institute for Theoretical and Computational Sciences or NITheCS.
This research platform embodies what open, collaborative science can achieve. With over 400 associates across all 26 public universities and the African Institute for Mathematical Sciences (AIMS), NITheCS pools expertise to tackle national problems rather than leaving researchers isolated.
Funded through the Department of Science, Technology and Innovation via the National Research Foundation, NITheCS is the first of South Africa’s new research institutes, complementing existing work through the South African Research Chairs Initiative and Centres of Excellence.
NITheCS achieves national relevance through its structure: a central hub at Stellenbosch University, with 26 public universities and AIMS divided into five geographical nodes – Gauteng, North, KwaZulu-Natal, Eastern Cape and Free State, and Western Cape, expanding to nine by 2028. Professor Francesco Petruccione, an international leader in quantum computing, leads from the hub.
In addition to enabling local and national collaboration between institutions, the work divides into ten Focus Areas addressing fundamental and applied science, each led by internationally renowned scientists. These areas are:
- Afrocentric solutions for health,
- Climate change and sustainability,
- Complexity in biological systems,
- Finance for sustainable growth,
- Data analytics and artificial intelligence,
- Gravity, astrophysics and cosmology,
- Decoding the universe,
- Quantum technologies,
- Computational modelling of functional materials, and;
- Mathematical structures for foundations and innovations.
Research by NITheCS associates isn’t just captured in articles and news reports but presented weekly through colloquiums recorded and uploaded to NITheCS’ YouTube channel, alongside recordings of mini-schools and seminars sharing the science openly.
Private and public split becoming less relevant
While NITheCS operates predominantly in public universities, private universities have become more research-active recently. What holds them back is that in South Africa, private institutions aren’t granted subsidy for publications.
This means private institutions should target research specifically relevant to industries they serve. This movement is visible in initiatives like the South African Private Higher Education Association.
It’s clear that the future of successful South African research lies in collaboration between different kinds of institutions.
Not a luxury
These breakthroughs don’t make front-page news because this science is too obscure for most people to appreciate immediate benefits.
This fascinating science often seems impractical when South Africa faces urgent service delivery needs. Every rand spent on research isn’t spent on hospitals or roads. That tension is real.
This must be seen within a broader context. Without research, service delivery cannot advance. Hospitals rely on locally relevant studies. With the world’s highest HIV and Aids incidence, South Africa desperately needs researchers finding better patient care. Industries need homegrown innovation to remain competitive.
When Covid-19 hit, South Africa imported critical drugs at enormous cost. A stronger research base would have reduced that dependency. Research-backed decision-making isn’t optional – it’s how you solve the problems the country actually faces.
Research value isn’t always obvious because the public sees breakthroughs but not decades of painstaking work behind them. Someone spends 15 years on an obscure theoretical problem, and suddenly it becomes applicable in medicine, energy or technology.
That’s why sustained investment is essential, even when outcomes aren’t guaranteed. If we don’t fund research, we guarantee no results. If we do, we may not get immediate returns – but we keep the possibility of transformative impact alive.
Making South African science visible
South Africa’s scientists are asking big questions and building capabilities in quantum computing, data science, astrophysics and bioinformatics. They’re training the next generation of researchers with curiosity and purpose.
But as Frontiers Science House recognised, capability alone isn’t enough. Visibility drives funding. Funding enables collaboration. Collaboration scales solutions.
Supporting South African research isn’t about prestige – though we deserve it. It’s about keeping our country capable of solving its own complex problems. When the next global health crisis hits, or industries need innovation to survive, we must have capacity to respond.
We have world-class scientists doing world-class work. They need what Frontiers Science House advocates globally – recognition that turns breakthroughs into impact, and investment that turns potential into progress.
South Africa shouldn’t just participate in the global scientific conversation. We should help lead it – but first, we need to recognise the brilliance already in our midst.