the potential output of the economy requires not only a concerted and coordinated effort from government, but also the support and buy - in of the private sector and labour if we were to succeed in improving the growth performance. it may even require a new social compact. in the past, infrastructure development in particular has been held back largely due to limited implementation capacity. this has resulted in bottlenecks in electricity generation, transport, and port infrastructure and south africa has therefore not benefited as much as other resource intensive emerging market economies from large terms of trade gains in recent years. this also discouraged investment in south africa ’ s natural resource industry, and has made it difficult in some instances to maintain export volume growth. policy certainty and investor confidence have proven to be essential prerequisites for the capital formation south africa requires for substantive export led growth. the new growth path sets the goal of creating 5 million new jobs by 2020 and to this end identifies the structural problems in the economy that need to be overcome as well as the key opportunities or job drivers in specific sectors and markets. one of the key jobs drivers is infrastructure development which provides the basis for higher growth, inclusivity and job creation. government has also established the presidential infrastructure coordinating commission ( picc ) to address the challenges of delivery through coordination, integration and accelerated implementation. a single common infrastructure plan will in future be centrally driven and monitored. the objective is also to develop a twenty - year planning framework beyond one administration to avoid the typical stop - start pattern of the past. the picc ’ s mandate is to ensure systematic selection, planning and monitoring of large projects. an infrastructure book that contains more than 645 infrastructure projects across the country has now been compiled by the picc. an infrastructure plan with identified strategic integrated projects has also been developed by the picc and adopted by cabinet and although this in itself will not address all the challenges, it forms an important part of the national development plan ’ s ( ndp ) proposals to increase employment and growth other key proposals of the ndp include improving the functioning of the labour market, supporting small business through better coordination of activities and improving the capacity of the state to effectively implement economic policy. although south africa has at times over the past 18 years, achieved significantly improved real economic growth outcomes, built democratic institutions, transformed the public service, extended basic services and stabilised the economy, too many people are still trapped in poverty and too few south africans have obtained employment over this period as growth has not been sufficiently inclusive

in order to survive, it has little choice but to be versatile, innovative and entrepreneurial as smmes seldom have a monopoly. hence, smmes are often subjected to fierce competition with scant opportunities to extract rents. this, by necessity brings out the best in them. innovation innovation is not the exclusive domain of small business as many forms and kinds of innovation require economies of scale, large investments in research and development, and the ability to bear out long periods to gestation and regulatory approval. but there are numerous examples of small businesses that have sufficient talent to produce significant and bankable innovations. being nimble, lean and hungry supports executional excellence, as is borne out by the garage innovators of silicon valley and the swimming - pool equipment innovators of south africa. south africa, however does have some way to go on the innovation front. the imd3 world competitiveness yearbook 2015, for instance, shows that south africans register very few patents. with the 2 211 patent applications filed by south africans in 2013, the country comes out at number 49 out of 61 countries in the “ patent applications per capita ” category of competitiveness measurement. total expenditure on research and development at 0, 73 per this is a rough approximation because the national small business act in fact provides for different numbers depending on the industry, and also introduces turnover and total asset value criteria. institute for management development. bis central bankers ’ speeches cent of gdp puts south africa at number 46 out of the 61 countries ranked by the imd, with israel topping the list with 4, 2 per cent of gdp. south africa also lags on the number of computers per capita criterion – at 195 computers per 1 000 people, it occupies place number 53 out of 61, with the us leading the way at a ratio of 1 111 per 1 000 people. incidentally, on the overall competitiveness scoreboard, the imd ranks south africa 53rd out of the 61 countries ranked. of the brics countries, only brazil, at number 56, is below south africa. the us, china and singapore occupy the first three places. entrepreneurship significant changes in relative prices signal great entrepreneurial opportunities. an example is the sharp reduction in the relative prices of information technology as well as communication goods and services, the huge opportunities which they created, and the impressive way in which entrepreneurs – worldwide – have responded to these opportunities. in south africa too, our it entrepreneurs continue to scale new heights. an opportunity which is worthwhile bearing