64 | CHAPTER 4 Three new technology platforms Introduction Why undertake big science in a developing, middle-income country such as South Africa? Critics might see the requisite investments as a zero-sum game – every rand spent on advanced technology plat- forms is a rand less spent on the alleviation of the most dramatic manifestations of under-development afflicting large parts of the population: hunger, disease, unemployment, lack of services, and so on. In addition, they might argue that these investments are a waste of money in that a developing economy must stick to its guns rather than dabble in activities that are simply too big for its shoes. Although there is some merit in these considerations, things are not quite as simple. Firstly, advances in earth observation can in principle of course alert poor, subsistent rural populations to adverse weather conditions, much as developments in green biotechnology can help them cope with and adjust to these conditions. Secondly, although it is true that catch-up is initially based on technological accumu- lation through adoption and adaptation, there is a point at which latecomer countries must venture into frontier activities so as to graduate to a higher level of technological sophistication. Hence what matters is striking a judicious balance between big science and the other developmental activities in support of the catch-up process. Just as an exclusive focus on big science would be mis- taken, its complete neglect would also be likely to deprive the country of development opportunities. In essence, therefore, the justification or otherwise of the degree of big science support is an empirical question. In post-apartheid South Africa, big science was made part of the reconstituted national innovation system from the very beginning and it has become more prominent ever since. It co-existed somewhat uneasily with lower-tech activities in national innovation strategy documents that were remarkable more for the range of activities they proposed to cover than for the focus they established on selected activities (see DACST 1996; DST 2002). This chapter does not address the trade-off between big science and other developmental activities. Instead, it focuses on a narrower question of efficiency, namely, whether the country commands the kinds of human capital required to make big science work. The attention of the analysis is focused on human capital dynamics in three technology fields: nuclear, space and biotechnology. The core competences in question are in engineering, astronomy and molecular or microbiology. The chapter first reviews pertinent characteristics and trends for each field Jo Lorentzen and Il-haam Petersen Free download from www.hsrcpress.ac.za