G20 Research and Innovation Ministers Meeting held in Pretoria, South Africa

South Africa, as president of the G20 this year, hosted the G20 Research and Innovation Working Group and Ministerial Meetings on Sept 23 in Pretoria. 

The meeting brought together science ministers and senior officials from G20 member nations, with South Africa pushing for greater strides in responsible science and innovation that prioritizes the Earth's well-being. 

"(The hope is) for countries to willingly use their scientific knowledge and infrastructure to develop joint responses to global challenges such as climate change, pandemics and other health emergencies, armed conflict and using STI (science, technology, and innovation) as a tool to foster diplomacy," said Blade Nzimande, South African Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation.

"Our commitment is in line with what the heads of state and government agreed two years back through the Pact for the Future. Also we recognize the emergence of disruptive and radical technologies that are holding promise for addressing some of the problems that we are confronted with," said Mlungisi Cele, director general of South Africa's Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation. 

The summit doubled as a showcase of innovation. Among the advancements on display was a rapid test kit from the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) that could change kidney disease treatment, but funding is needed to ensure it reaches fruition. 

"About 5 to 10 percent of people living with HIV who are on ARV treatment, specifically the Tenofovir treatment, they do develop kidney injury as a side effect to the drug. We would need clinical trials which are quite expensive. So funding does become important for us to ensure that we develop these rapid tests to the full scale of the value chain," said Amanda Skepu, general manager of Next Generation Health Cluster at the CSIR.

South African tech also impressed. The Cape Town-based Autonosky's drone, carrying up to 30kg, demonstrated world-class capacity. 

"It is great to be here mingling with them, attending the sessions and hear what the other countries are developing. And that will help us take the knowledge with and actually upgrade where we can upgrade in our technologies," said Theleka Mungu, spokeswoman of Autonosky. 

At the meeting, nations were urged to invest boldly in science, technology and innovation to shape the continent's future and its global standing.

G20 Research and Innovation Ministers Meeting held in Pretoria, South Africa

Smart, terrain-adaptive harvesters are helping farmers in Bijie City, southwest China's Guizhou Province, make the most of the fine weather to bring in crops in its summer wheat harvest.

At a wheat farming base in Pingzhai Town of Zhijin County, several combine harvesters are busy working in the golden fields.

"We used to get in crops manually. It often rains in the wheat harvesting season, which would leave wheat rotten in the field, mildewed and sprouting. With mechanized harvesting, we've become more efficient. After it is harvested, the wheat can be quickly dried, guaranteeing the wheat quality," said Wang Jun, head of the wheat farming base.

This year, Bijie has widely introduced agricultural machinery services across all stages of summer grain production, from plowing, planting, managing to harvesting. To tackle the mountainous terrains, local operators have fine-tuned their equipment mix and promote small to medium-sized harvesters, which effectively improved the harvest efficiency.

"We're using tracked combine harvesters, which are advantageous in flexibility, as they turn easily in our hilly areas in Guizhou. With three machines, we can harvest about 10 hectares of wheat a day," said Peng Jian, head of an agricultural machinery service cooperative in Bijie's county-level city of Qianxi.

Bijie is set to harvest over 16,600 hectares of wheat this summer. Local authorities have implemented various subsidy policies for agricultural machinery while streamlining service links of equipment dispatch, maintenance, and technical support. The goal is to wrap up the summer wheat harvest by the end of May.

High-tech farming boosts summer harvest in Guizhou