South African Research Infrastructure Roadmap and the National Integrated Cyberinfrastructure System Briefing to PPC on S&T DST DG: Dr Phil Mjwara

Outline Research infrastructure: The Knowledge Triangle and Impact Definition of Research Infrastructure SARIR: Background and Process SARIR selected RIs and Implementation National Integrated Cyberinfrastructure System (NICIS) Context and Principles Strategic Objectives Highlights of NICIS components National Impact of NICIS

Knowledge Triangle

Economic Impact Economic Impact Delivering highly skilled people to the labour market Improving the performance of existing businesses Improving public policy and public services Attracting R&D investment from global business Creating new businesses: 80% local suppliers Economic Impact

Definition: Research Infrastructures Research Infrastructures (RIs)* are facilities, resources, and related services used by the scientific community for: conducting leading-edge research, knowledge transmission, knowledge exchanges, and knowledge preservation; They include major scientific equipment and infrastructure, cyber-infrastructure (or ICT-based infrastructures), scientific collections, archives and structured information, and entities of a unique nature used for research. (*ESFRI)

SARIR: Background (1) Focus on national RIs not international or single laboratories; All major economies see that RIs are an essential component of the national economy; Operating a RI is a service to the whole nation; It must be managed in a transparent and accountable way; Open national RIs are a key bargaining item in international relations (SKA is an example putting South Africa as a serious player); and They make a country a preferred research destination.

SARIR: Background (2) Most are multi-disciplinary and cut across ministerial boundaries; They are long term investments for both capital and operating costs; People trained at RIs have a much wider perspective than those trained at universities (CERN scientists are running major international corporations); Good governance is key to their success. Universities have other priorities than running a national RI; and A Roadmap is a living document, it needs constant updating as new areas develop (ESFRI roadmap already updated twice).

SARIR Development Process Broad-based consultation with all relevant stakeholders – other government departments (including National Treasury), the research community, the SARIR SC, etc. Champions were appointed to prepare the RI proposals for selection and ranking; Finalising the SARIR DST EXCO and ministerial approval of the final SARIR

Selection & Prioritisation Criteria of Ris Impact; Scientific excellence, novelty and innovation; Management plan; Implementation; Governance structure; Financials; Capacity development and transformation; and Monitoring and Evaluation The selected RIs to constitute the SARIR were subsequently ordered according to criteria such as: Affordability, cost to implement, alignment with DST priorities, spread across different scientific domains, alignment with national priorities, and extent of return on investment.

Scope of the SARIR RIs

Thematic areas and cross-cutting requirements 13 RIs across 5 Thematic areas constitute the final SARIR

SARIR: Selected RIs Thematic area Identified RI Humans and Society 1. The South African Network of Health and Demographic Surveillance Sites 2. National Centre for Digital Language Resources Health, Biological and Food Security 3. Distributed Platform for “Omics” Research (DIPLOMICS) 4. Biobanks 5. Nuclear Medicine Earth and Environment 6. A South African Marine and Antarctic Research Facility 7. Biogeochemistry Research Infrastructure Platform An Expanded National Terrestrial Environmental Observation Network 9. Shallow Marine and Coastal Research Infrastructure 10. The Natural Sciences Collection Facility Materials and Manufacturing 11. Nano-manufacturing Facility 12. Materials Characterisation Facility Energy 13. Solar Research Facility

Seven RIs prioritised for implementation for (2016/17-2018/19) No. Research Infrastructure Host Institution   1. Expanded Terrestrial Environment Observation Network NRF (SAEON) 2. Nuclear Medicine Necsa 3. The South African Network of Health and Demographic Surveillance MRC 4. National Centre for Digital Language Resources NWU 5. Natural Science Collections SANBI 6. Shallow Marine and Coastal Research Infrastructure 7. DIPLOMICS CPGR 8. Diversity Biobanks

Chronology of SARIR implementation   Starting financial year of implementation Research Infrastructure Proposed Host 2016/17 2017/18 2018/19 2019/20 2020/21 An Expanded Terrestrial and Freshwater Environment Observation Network SAEON/NRF ✓ Nuclear Medicine Phase 1: Necsa; Phase 2: at a hospital South African Network of Health and Demographics Surveillance Sites MRC National Centre for Digital Language Resources NWU National Science Collections SANBI Shallow Marine and Coastal Research Infrastructure DIPLOMICS Centre for Proteomics and Genomics Research Biobanks To be determined South African Marine and Antarctic Research Facility Nano Manufacturing Facility Solar Research Facility Material Characterisation Facility Biogeochemistry

SARIR budget (2016/17-18/19) No. Research Infrastructure Host Institution Budget (R'm)   2016/17 2017/18 2018/19 Total 1. Expanded Terrestrial Environment Observation NRF (SAEON) 18.4 12.6 23.4 54.4 2. Nuclear Medicine Necsa 56.9 46.1 149.1 3. The South African Network of Health and Demographic Surveillance MRC 27.0 32.0 40.0 99.0 4. National Centre for Digital Language Resources NWU 7.5 28.87 30.72 66.37 5. Natural Science Collections SANBI 15.0 17.8 18.7 51.5 6. Shallow Marine and Coastal Research Infrastructure 29.7 32.4 35.6 97.7 7. DIPLOMICS CPGR 10.0 12.0 37.0 164.5 181.77 208.80 555.07

SARIR budget (2016/17-20/21) No Research Infrastructure Host Institution Budget (R’m) SANBI 2017/18 2018/19 2019/20 2020/21 Total 8 Biodiversity Biobanks 3.70 4.40 3.30 15.1

National integrated cyberinfrastructure system (nicis)

Context for National Cyberinfrastructure programme Annual investment of about R250m; Data-intense research portfolio is growing (e.g., astronomy, bioinformatics, climate modeling, longitudinal social science data) Emergence of E-science, data analytics as transdisciplinary disciplines (“Big Data”) and key input into e-based commerce

NICIS Principles: An ideal national integrated CI system Joint planning and budgeting; Good governance; Visibility of CI services; Sustainability; and Constructive stakeholder engagement

Current Cyberinfrastructure Elements Centre for High Performance Computing (CHPC) South African National Research Network (SANReN) Data Intensive Research Infrastructure Initiative for South Africa (DIRISA; formerly Very Large Database initiative) South African GRID computing initiative (SAGRID) … all managed at the Meraka Institute, CSIR (also responsible for implementation of ICT R&D roadmap) Presentation www.dst.gov.za

Highlights: NICIS The CERN Tier 2 facility in South Africa CERN Tier 2 facility provide stable service to the ALICE community and this was extended to ATLAS (increase in storage capacity) Alignment of NICIS and SKA NICIS engaging the SKA-SA in ensuring alignment of the responsibility in providing services. An MoU has been finalised and signed Participation in Global Network Architecture (GNA) initiative Dedicated West Africa Cable System (WACS) capacity for MeerKAT and CERN, accessed via open exchange from Cape Town SADC Cyberinfrastructure framework The collaboration framework within SADC countries has been signed by Ministers and included all aspects of the Cyberinfrastructure Special NICIS Projects Tier 2 Data Node (UCT-led consortium, National e-Science Post-graduate Teaching and Training Platform (NEPTTP) (Wits-led consortium), e-Science research (Meraka-led)

Highlights: CHPC Infrastructure upgrade The Lengau 1.029 Petaflop system was fully commissioned. It was rated number 1 in Africa and 127 on the world Top500 list. Human Capital Development initiates The South African CHPC Student Cluster Competition team received an overall 3rd position during the 2018 International Student Cluster Competition held in Frankfurt, Germany. Reliability and utilisation of the HPC systems Utilisation reaching 80%. 75% of users from universities, 14 % from Science councils, 7% from industry and 4% from African Countries

Highlights: SANReN National Connectivity: Supported the DHET funded Rural Campus Connectivity Project 2 (RCCP2) Capacity per site increased to 3 292 Gbps in 2017/18 National dark fibre backbone upgrade RFP process completed, including a partial solution for carrying MeerKAT and Square Kilometre Array (SKA) core site data to CHPC. Services: South African Identity Federation (SAFIRE) handed over to TENET for operations Collaboration Participation in the Global REN CEO’s forum with 15 leading RENs (e.g. GEANT, internert2) Implementation of Global Network Architecture (GNA) capacity between SA and UK, as well as launch of the Open Exchange Point (OXP) in Cape Town.

Impact Big Science Projects Equal Opportunities and Access: Quality teaching and learning Competitive and collaborative Research CERN SALT SKA SANReN UCT Rural and remotely located HEIs

Highlights: DIRISA Data Management Planning (DMP) DMP tool developed in consultation with the NRF. The service provides DMP templates for universities and allows researchers to comply with NRF requirements for research funding; hence supporting the sharing and re-use of data. Collaboration DIRISA collaboration with SITA to deploy services to issue unique persistent identifiers (PID) to support the preservation and sharing of valuable datasets (e.g., environmental, genomic) Special projects Two awards were approved, (i) the establishment of a Regional Tier 2 Data Node, and (ii) a National e-Science Post-graduate Teaching and Training Platform to two consortia comprising higher education institutions. These consortia have entered into contractual agreements with the CSIR over a three-year period. In 2018 the first cohort of 30 students (in two tracks: science and engineering, and Humanities and Social Sciences) were enrolled in the e-Science masters degree programme (as the key deliverable of the National E-science Postgraduate Teaching and Training Platform (NEPTTP))

Thank you