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2.3 White Paper on Science, Technology and Innovation (2019) and the Decadal Plan
According to the DSTI, the Science, Technology and Innovation (STI) White Paper (2019) reviews the strides and progress achieved since the first White Paper on STI in 19961. The paper further revisits the National System of Innovation (NSI) and recommends adequately utilising STI to promote the delivery of public services and achieve inclusive development. The paper also calls for creating an enabling municipal/public sector policy environment for the adoption and scaling up of innovative technology solutions to improve the quality of basic services in government. The White Paper further recognises the need to appreciate STI in all spheres of government, and the use of STI in municipal planning, delivery and operational processes. One of the strategic objectives of the DSTI arising from the STI White Paper of 2019 is to strengthen STI capacity, maturity levels and uptake of innovation in government through collaboration with local government and sector departments. In line with the STI White Paper Policy intent to position the government as an enabler of innovation and policy intent to ensure a whole-of- government approach to innovation, the DSTI has invested in a portfolio of initiatives designed to support innovation uptake in the government as well as in municipalities.
The DSTI’s Decadal Plan also identifies the use of innovation to achieve a capable state as an area of focus. A capable state is about achieving the national priorities of economic transformation, inclusive growth, and efficient public service delivery through good public management and the introduction of innovation and technology to improve the capacity of the state. In this context, the DSTI and her partners recognise that a public sector system supported by technology, systems, data and innovation will help improve the performance and delivery of quality basic services by municipalities. To achieve this objective, the DSTI has invested in developing, piloting, and rolling out the MIMI in municipalities to encourage innovation within them.
2.4 White Paper on Local Government
The 1998 White Paper on Local Government presents a vision of a developmental local government, giving local municipalities a wide-ranging and daunting developmental agenda to realise local social and economic development by working with local communities. The White Paper on Local Government calls on municipalities to conceptualise and deploy innovative solutions in their service delivery arrangements to achieve this developmental mandate. Additionally, the White paper recognises that the failure to leverage innovation to achieve the municipalities’developmental mandate is due to a lack of a coherent set of innovation information and decision support tools to inform interventions. This is especially so in impoverished municipalities characterised by a low revenue base and often unable to find solutions to respond to their spatially marginalised contexts. As such, the MIMI serves as an intervention that assists municipalities in assessing innovation for service delivery and inclusive transformation across municipalities in South Africa.
2.5 The Municipal Systems Act 32 (2000)
The Municipal Systems Act 32 of 2000 provides the mechanisms and processes necessary to enable municipalities to move progressively towards the social and economic upliftment of local communities. Chapter 4 of the Act emphasises that any intervention that seeks to improve service delivery should create conditions for the local community to participate in the implementation of municipalities’ innovation strategies. The mandate of the Municipal Systems Act 32 on community participation is consistent with MIMI’s objective which seeks to encourage municipalities to collaborate with local communities in deploying its service delivery functions. As such, community participation is one of the constructs/variables MIMI uses to measure the municipality’s innovation maturity level.
2.6 Municipal Innovation Maturity Index – A Transformative Innovation Policy Lens
On the 6 TIP principles: MIMI is trying to change the directionality of innovation in municipalities to focus on addressing SDG-related challenges, i.e., inclusion, and produce societal and systems–level impacts. MIMI also promotes reflexivity by encouraging municipalities and cities to think more critically and challenge assumptions about the traditional service delivery model or practices that are no longer sustainable, introducing first- and second-order learning through innovation. At a conceptual level, TIP contends that R&D and STI should focus on social and environmental challenges alongside economic growth. MIMI rewards municipalities and cities that pursue this approach, with MIMI Awards categories recognizing municipalities and cities using innovation to boost public participation in policy through e-participation, social inclusion, and addressing environmental issues such as water scarcity.
Finally, regarding the Multi-level Perspective (MLP) theory: MIMI winners are building a niche that, if properly supported (shielded, protected, and institutionalized), can be scaled up to change or transform the regime (dominant and unsustainable practices, behaviours, and rules) currently affecting municipalities and public sector service delivery. The next step is to gather the MIMI winners and collaborate with them to drive broader (systemic) change in how municipalities deliver services in South Africa, understand the types of R&D and STI they prefer and utilise, and more.
1Department of Science and Innovation (2019) White Paper on Science, Technology and Innovation: Science, technology and innovation enabling inclusive and sustainable South African development in a changing world. Government of South Africa: Pretoria
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MUNICIPAL INNOVATION MATURITY INDEX (MIMI)