Knowledge Economy in BRICS: a Case of South Africa Ratna Vadra 1 Received: 21 April 2015 / Accepted: 9 November 2017 / Published online: 20 November 2017 # Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2017 Abstract The BRIC, a four-member grouping of emerging economies of the world, has expanded its membership to include South Africa and has renamed itself as BRICS. BRIC refers to the fast-growing developing economies of Brazil, Russia, India and China, South Africa as the fifth member of this group, and was admitted in 2011 and BRIC now is changed to BRICS. It is commonly accepted that globalisation is an overriding trend for business, research and innovation, and that BRIC countries are increasingly gaining importance in global innovation processes. The inclusion of South Africa not only marks a significant milestone in Africa’ s developing role on the world stage but also talks to a potential shift in focus within BRICS from purely mercantile interests to a stronger development agenda. It is important to bear in mind that Africa is largely a young continent and it itself has several implications and opportunities. This paper highlights the increased importance of the BRICS countries (i.e. Brazil, Russia, India and China) in the world economy. The current paper studies how BRICS countries are moving toward knowledge-based economy with special focus on South Africa. It is a critical need for African countries to grow into genuine knowledge economies. South Africa will need to drive its economic growth to a higher level and gain a higher level of international competitiveness. Keywords BRICS . South Africa . India . Knowledge economy . Knowledge development . Emerging . Markets Introduction Much has been written in this respect about China and India’ s rising role in sub- Saharan Africa (SSA), but South Africa remains a highly significant regional, political and economic player. South Africa facilitated through its regional leadership and it has J Knowl Econ (2017) 8:1229–1240 https://doi.org/10.1007/s13132-017-0512-y * Ratna Vadra rvadra@imt.edu; rveconomics@gmail.com 1 Economics and International Business, Institute of Management Technology, Ghaziabad, U.P., India