Council for Scientific and Industrial Research

Not to be confused with Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), India; or the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), the forerunner to the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), Australia.

Council for Scientific and Industrial Research
Abbreviation	CSIR
Formation	1945[1]
Type	Research and development organisation
Location	Pretoria, South Africa
Region served	South Africa
President and CEO	Sibusiso Sibisi[2]
Website	www.csir.co.za

The Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) is South Africa's central and premier scientific research and development organisation. It was established by an act of parliament in 1945 and is situated on its own campus in the city of Pretoria.^[3] It is the largest research and development (R&D) organisation in Africa and accounts for about 10% of the entire African R&D budget. It has a staff of approximately 3,000 technical and scientific researchers, often working in multi-disciplinary teams.

SERA

Main article: Southern Education and Research Alliance

In 1999 a strategic alliance was formed between the University of Pretoria and the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research.^[4] This alliance, which is known as the Southern Education and Research Alliance (SERA), collaborates locally and internationally with universities, NGO’s, companies and multinational bodies in various research areas.^[5] The SERA partners share a vision for a world-class, innovative and market responsive business that delivers appropriate information, facilitates knowledge connectivity through knowledge workers, links the best minds to create a global network, and protects intellectual property. Through their co-operation the alliance partners aim at fostering a non-exclusive academic, scientific and technological environment that will benefit all participants and the country as a whole.^[6][7] Sera has a 50% shareholding in the Innovation Hub, a fully accredited technology park situated on 60 hectares of the university's experimental farm.^[8]

Research areas

The CSIR's main areas of research are:^[9]

• Biosciences
• Built environment
• Defence, peace, safety and security
• Information and communications technology
• Laser technology
• Materials science and manufacturing
• Mobile intelligent autonomous systems
• Nanotechnology
• Natural resources and the environment
• Space technology
• Synthetic Biology

Research centres at the CSIR

• National Laser Centre
• Meraka Institute

External links

• CSIR Website
• CSIR Research Space - provides access to some of the research outputs generated by CSIR scientists
• Defence Research and Development in South Africa - The Role of the CSIR
• Meraka Institute - The African Advanced Institute for Information and Communication Technology
• Human Factors and Enterprise Engineering - research group at Meraka Institute [1]
• Transport research in the CSIR: [2]
• Optronic Sensor Systems

References

1. ^ http://www.csir.co.za/profile_of_csir.html Profile of the CSIR October 6, 2011
2. ^ http://www.csir.co.za/csir_executive.html CSIR - Executive October 6, 2011
3. ^ http://www.csir.co.za/profile_of_csir.html Profile of the CSIR Retrieved October 6, 2011
4. ^ Highlights and Achievements. Retrieved 10 September 2009.
5. ^ SERA Relationships and Links. Retrieved 1 October 2009.
6. ^ Key Initiatives. Retrieved 1 October 2009.
7. ^ SERA Profile. Retrieved 1 October 2009.
8. ^ Our partners - an overview Retrieved 28 May 2010
9. ^ http://www.csir.co.za/research_and_development/CSIR_research_areas.html CSIR contract research & development partnerships Retrieved October 6, 2011

Coordinates: 25°44′53″S 28°16′34″E / 25.7481°S 28.2762°E / -25.7481; 28.2762