It is with great pleasure that Universities South Africa (USAf) extends a warm welcome to delegates attending the 2023 RISG Research and Innovation Biennial Dialogue under the strategic leadership of the Research & Innovation Strategy Group (RISG), chaired by Prof Thoko Mayeksio, Vice-Chancellor, University of Mpumalanga.
The theme for this year’s dialogue is Research and Innovation for Societal and Economic Impact. This theme is apt for the sector, as it will contribute to creating a more inclusive, creative and sustainable economy and improve the wellbeing of our communities and environment. As faculty and leaders of research and innovation at universities, we need to be striving for the design and implementation of new and innovative ideas to bring about much-needed change. As such, it is key that, as USAf, we provide opportunities like these to engage and share ideas with each other.
In line with USAf’s mandate to strengthen research and innovation in the higher education sector, this Dialogue brings together a selected group of delegates from universities, government departments, industry and other agencies to engage on a range of matters of collective interest for research and innovation in Higher Education. These include, for example, research and innovation impact, transformative internationalisation and student mobility.
We are confident that this event is a significant opportunity to facilitate learning and to deepen our collaboration and exchanges on topics of high relevance within the university sector to envisage together a future of promising development within this field.