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BACKGROUND & CONTEXT

South Africa has relatively strong industrial capabilities, but increased global competition requires a constant process of upgrading these capabilities and strengthening those areas essential to enhance the competitiveness of the industrial base. With the emergence of an Industrial Policy framework for South Africa, Government recognised the contribution of a future advanced manufacturing industry for accelerated and sustainable economic growth and job creation. Importantly also is the recognition in the Accelerated and Shared Growth Initiative of South Africa (ASGI-SA) that advanced industries, driven by cutting-edge technology interventions, have a positive and significant impact on the rest of South Africa’s industrial base through the ability to stimulate innovation and high-value skills development across the economy as a whole. Of specific importance is the recognition by Government of the South African aerospace industry as one of these industries of the future.

The Department of Trade & Industry (the dti) identified the need for greater innovation and skills development in line with the specific requirements of the aerospace industry and the need for the further engagement of academia and industrialists on this issue, as a matter of priority during 2005. This culminated in the dti establishing the National Aerospace Centre of Excellence (NACoE) as the first Industrial Centre of Excellence under this new policy. Through this policy on Industrial Centres of Excellence the dti aims to develop human capital in critical and scarce skills areas as well as promoting sector competitiveness to meet current and future market requirements.

The NACoE represents a national collaboration between government, industry, academia and research institutions around partnership principles for the provision and co-ordination of specialised skills, programmes and services for the improved competitiveness of the South African aerospace industry. The scope of activity is focused on the South African aerospace industry, with aerospace defined to be “the technology of flight in any of its forms”, and includes aeronautics and space technology as well as technologies related to support systems.

The NACoE operates in close partnership with several other Government programmes, such as the Aerospace Industry Support Initiative (AISI) of the Department of Trade & Industry and the Advanced Manufacturing Technology Strategy (AMTS) Aerospace Network of the Department of Science & Technology.

The NACoE is a national programme supported by the Department of Trade and Industry and managed and hosted by the University of the Witwatersrand.