In South Africa, public research institutes (PRIs) face the dual challenge of linking their national system of innovation (NSI) to global knowledge flows and the frontiers of science, while seeking solutions to context-specific development problems. This study examined how five research-performing and -funding PRIs, responded to these growing demands of responding to the countrys growth and development agendas. It draws on research that explored the changing roles of science councils in the NSI by analysing patterns of interaction, and the organizational, institutional, and policy factors that constrained and enabled these interactions.
Human Sciences Research Council (2026) studied this question.