WASTE WATER TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER: SELECTED CASE STUDIES AND STRATEGIES IN SOUTH AFRICA

Abstract

It is desirable that considerations of technology transfer should already feature in the planning and conduct of R & D programmes. In order to accomplish this, research should be directed at well-defined needs and user agencies should be directly involved in the planning and execution of the R & D process. This bridges the communication gap between researcher and user agency and diminishes the perceived risk of application for the user agency. Three cases studies are presented where new technology was successfully developed and applied in South Africa in which these principles can be identified. The South African Water Research Commission has a statutory obligation to promote technology transfer. In the strategies being developed to discharge this obligation, the Commission pays special attention to the identification of research needs and the involvement of user agencies in the research programmes it sponsors. Three case studies of ongoing research are described to illustrate these strategies.