Media Releases
The Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) is celebrating 80 years of touching lives through innovation. As part of celebrating this milestone, the organisation will host its ninth Biennial Conference from 08 to 10 October 2025, in collaboration with the Global Sustainable Technology & Innovation Community (G-STIC), an initiative led by the Belgian Research and Technology Organisation (VITO). The conference will be held in conjunction with the 8th G-STIC Conference, marking G-STIC’s inaugural conference on the African continent.
The South African Nuclear Energy Corporation (Necsa) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the CSIR to collaborate research and technology development initiatives at Necsa on 23 April 2025.
Waste material from the construction sector can now be used in an innovative green building block used to build low-cost RDP houses through a Department of Science, Technology and Innovation (DSTI)’ Circular Economy Demonstration Fund aimed at demonstrating proven circular economy interventions, such as, technologies, innovative process improvements, social innovations that have not yet achieved scale or impact in South Africa.
The President, who was hosted on Tuesday, 8 April, by the Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation, Prof. Blade Nzimande, toured a number of facilities at the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), to gain first-hand insights into the research and development activities taking place at the institution.
“Today, I received a personal tour of the world-class facilities on this campus. I got to see the vast array of work being done across the CSIR’s clusters, in areas such as advanced agriculture and food, chemicals, health, mining, manufacturing, defence, digital transformation, human settlements and the built environment,” said President Ramaphosa. “All of this impressive work is firmly aligned to Government’s priorities of driving inclusive growth and job creation; reducing poverty and the high cost of living; and building a capable, ethical and developmental state.”
Speaking at the workshop, CSIR Energy Research Centre Manager, Dr Thabo Hlalele, emphasised the critical role of the partnership between the CSIR and AFD in supporting South Africa’s energy transition.
“As a signatory to the Paris Agreement, South Africa has committed to reducing its greenhouse gas emissions. This commitment will lead to an expanded deployment of renewable energy technologies, creating opportunities for South African enterprises to participate in the renewable energy industry and supporting the transition to a low-carbon economy. This collaboration between the CSIR and AFD represents a significant step towards understanding the challenges and opportunities South African enterprises face in the rapidly growing renewable energy industry,” says Dr Hlalele.
The report provides a detailed analysis of loadshedding statistics and the energy availability factor (EAF) during this timeframe.
The study compared Eskom's aggregated generation resources for 2024, including coal, nuclear, hydro, pumped storage, open cycle gas turbine, renewable energy independent power producer procurement programme, solar photovoltaic, wind and concentrated solar power with their installed capacities and energy production outputs from January to December 2024 to assess their impact on loadshedding.
This iteration also examined national average electricity tariff increases and compared it to the tariff in other countries.
On Wednesday 12 March, the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) marked the successful completion of phase one of the Ngiyaqonda! project with the handover of mobile devices to the first pilot school. Ebuhleni Primary School received the devices during a handover event hosted at the school.
There is an increasing awareness of the literacy crisis in South African schools, most notably highlighted by a report from the 2030 Reading Panel, which revealed that approximately 80% of Grade 3 learners in South Africa cannot read for meaning in any language.
On Thursday, 13 February 2025, the Council for Scientific, and Industrial Research (CSIR) and Clyrofor signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to advance innovation, foster skills development and support the commercialisation of cybersecurity
Titled “Managing the impacts of a Green Hydrogen / Power-to-X economy: an Environmental Impact Assessment Guideline for South Africa”, the instructional manual offers practical guidance for assessment practitioners, project developers, decision-makers and stakeholders involved in the planning and environmental authorisation processes for complex green hydrogen systems.