Media Releases
South Africa’s Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) now hosts Africa’s only laboratory equipped to test and verify imported or locally produced products that are being promoted as biodegradable.
This follows the recent handover of an automated testing facility and equipment, valued at R5 million, to the CSIR by the Japanese government, through the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO). The testing laboratory is capable of establishing the conditions and timeframes for the biodegradation of materials. Tests can be performed under different conditions – aerobic (compost, soil, freshwater and marine) and anaerobic.
South Africa’s worrying state of wastewater management requires urgent public-private partnerships to accelerate technology development to improve the current situation, says Dr Rembu Magoba, Manager of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) Water Research Centre.
Dr Magoba was speaking at the Africa Water, Waste and Green Energy Conference held in Cape Town recently. Government representatives, business leaders and decision-makers from African countries attended the conference. The country's wastewater treatment system has worsened over the years since 2013. 39% of assessed wastewater treatment systems are now classified as critical, a drop from 29% in 2013.
“Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) inspires young people to generate new technologies and ideas that are crucial to developing sustainable solutions to real-world challenges,” said doctoral researcher Rivalani Baloyi from the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR).
Baloyi and other researchers were engaging learners and encouraging them to take up careers in science during the 2022 National Science Week (NSW) which ran from 1 to 6 August 2022. NSW is an initiative of the Department of Science and Innovation that aims to celebrate science and its role in society.
The scientific research work of eight young scientists was acknowledged at the recently held 7th Emerging Researchers Symposium (ERS), hosted by the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR). These young scientists were selected to battle it out for the best innovative research solutions to the challenges faced by society.
The event, which was hosted under the theme “Innovation in Entrepreneurship”, provided 39 young researchers with the platform to demonstrate how their scientific research responds to the needs of industry, small and medium enterprises, and underserved communities, through oral and poster presentations.
The Minister of Higher Education, Science and Innovation, Blade Nzimande, welcomed Africa's recently launched science diplomacy initiative aimed at ensuring that world-class scientific input is used to respond to key societal challenges on the continent.
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The Minister of Higher Education, Science and Innovation, Dr Blade Nzimande, will launch Africa’s new science diplomacy initiative, in Pretoria on Friday 8 July 2022.
A team of researchers from the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) who has found innovative ways for the country to make more of its finite radio spectrum - and then went on to help ensure that youth and women-owned SMMEs benefit from it - received global recognition at the Inte
The recently launched PotholeFixGP mobile application (app) has already recorded 4 861 downloads on the Google Play Store, with 1547 potholes reported by users so far. The app, a collaboration between the Gauteng Department of Roads and Transport (GDRT) and the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), signals a commitment to the digitalisation of the transport sector as it facilitates enhanced accountability by the GDRT and other roads authorities in the province.