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

2. 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

3. Knowledge Triangle

4. 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

5. 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)

6. 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.

7. 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).

8. 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

9. 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.

10. Scope of the SARIR RIs

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

12. 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

13. 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

14. 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

15. 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

16. 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

17. National integrated cyberinfrastructure system (nicis)

18. 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

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

20. 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

21. 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)

22. Highlights: CHPC Infrastructure upgrade
The Lengau 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

23. Highlights: SANReN National Connectivity:
Supported the DHET funded Rural Campus Connectivity Project 2 (RCCP2)
Capacity per site increased to 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.

24. 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

25. 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))

26. Thank you