South Africa is one of the largest economies in Africa. South African universities rank unrivalled in Africa for the quality of their education and research. South Africa has 4-5 universities among the world's top 500, a number of high quality emerging education and research environments and is an important gateway to the African continent.
Since the abolition of apartheid in 1994, the vast majority of South Africans have access to water, but water shortages still hamper economic development. The sectoral cooperation with South Africa on water addresses groundwater, water wastage and water efficiency in industry. Research and innovation are an integral part of all three tracks. Several Danish universities want to explore the possibilities for increased research collaboration within the framework of the water cooperation. This led the Danish Ministry of Higher Education and Science (UFM) in 2017 to sign a Memorandum of Understanding with the South African Department of Science and Innovation on research and technology collaboration. The agreement is currently under renewal.
Danish researchers and innovation actors work closely with South African researchers on a number of water and environment projects. From the Danish Embassy in Pretoria, South Africa, the Sector Counsellor for Water is a central focal point for the cooperation with the authorities and for contacts with local educational and research institutions and innovation actors.
South Africa also participates in various international programmes and organisations that can provide a framework for cooperation with Danish partners. This applies to both Horizon Europe, which is the EU's framework programme for research and innovation, and EUREKA, which is a network organisation where national research and innovation programmes can be coordinated in joint projects.