Aggregated data
Among the 15 Newly Industrialised Countries (NIC) analysed,
South Africa is ranked No. 8 with regard to the General Innovation Index (GII) and No. 4 with regard to the Sustainability Index (SusI). South Africa is also specialising on sustainability technologies with regard to literature and patents, but not in exports.
Please view the methods sheet for more detailed information about the indicators and their calculation.
The world shares of South Africa in sustainability relevant publications, patents and exports are given in table 1.
| literature | patents | exports | |
|---|---|---|---|
| World shares | 0.84% | 0.37% | 0.48% |
Among the 15 Newly Industrialised Countries analysed,
South Africa’s overall GII is composed of very diverse rankings with regard to the dif-ferent indicators. It is ranked at the bottom among the 15 NICs with regard to to skilled labour and entrepeneurship, but it is placed at position 3 and 4 with regard to governance and learning, respectively.
Concerning the environmental and social aspects that are used for the SusI index, South Africa is ranked No. 3 with regard to environmental aspects and No. 9 with regard to social aspects.
For most technology fields, South Africa specialises positively with regard to knowledge base. In addition, there is a strong positive export specialisation for waste technologies. Only transportation technologies show a low specialisation for both do-mains . The world shares of South Africa in technology specific publications (WLS), patents (WPS) and exports (WTS) are given in table 2.
| Technology fields | WLS | WPS | WTS |
|---|---|---|---|
| energy supply | 0.58% | 0.51% | 0.13% |
| energy efficiency | 0.37% | 0.32% | 0.18% |
| material efficiency | 0.69% | 0.35% | 0.43% |
| transportation | 0.46% | 0.12% | 0.35% |
| water | 1.49% | 0.56% | 0.19% |
| waste | 0.81% | 0.05% | 0.90% |
Table 3 lists the results for the indicators of South Africa on an even more disaggregated level. The relevant indicators are the World Trade Share (WTS), Relative Trade Share (RTS), Revealed Comparative Advantage (RCA), Patent Share (PS) and the Revealed Patent Advantage (RPA). Striking numbers especially with regard to patents can be found, for example, in technologies related to recycling and biofuels.
| Disaggregated Technology fields | WTS | RTS | RCA | PS | RPA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Recycling | 0.97% | 63 | 76 | 0.67% | 78 |
| Energy Efficient Appliances | 0.09% | -92 | -93 | 0.00% | -100 |
| Energy Efficient Buildings | 0.13% | -86 | -88 | 0.25% | 6 |
| Industrial Auxiliary Equipment | 0.38% | -20 | -32 | 0.52% | 66 |
| Industrial Processes | 0.27% | -48 | -97 | 0.18% | -27 |
| Renewable Energy Technologies | 0.34% | -30 | -20 | 0.71% | 80 |
| Power Plant Technologies | 0.09% | -93 | -88 | 0.46% | 58 |
| Renewable Raw Materials | 0.37% | -21 | -62 | 0.41% | 50 |
| Propulsion Technologies | 0.31% | -38 | -11 | 0.05% | -91 |
| Biofuels | 1.01% | 65 | 87 | 1.61% | 96 |
| Automotive Engineering and Design | 0.24% | -57 | -34 | 0.26% | 8 |
| Sewage Disposal Technologies | 0.16% | -78 | -66 | 0.58% | 71 |
| Water Supply Technologies | 0.29% | -43 | -51 | 0.76% | 82 |
| Wind Turbines | 0.00% | -100 | -36 | 0.59% | 72 |
| Photovoltaics | 0.48% | 3 | 4 | 0.06% | -89 |
| Thermal Solar Power | 0.03% | -99 | -67 | 0.52% | 65 |
| Carbon Capture and Storage | 0.15% | -81 | -93 | 0.74% | 82 |
| Desalination | 0.00% | -100 | -100 | 0.40% | 48 |
| Engines | 0.40% | -16 | 19 | 0.07% | -85 |
| Hybrid Vehicles | 0.10% | -92 | -89 | 0.07% | -86 |
| Water Efficiency Technologies | 0.11% | -90 | -92 | 0.04% | -94 |