The BRICS Cape Town Declaration of 10 February 2014 committed the five signatories to a programme of cooperation in science, technology and innovation (STI). A specific decision was made to allocate sectoral responsibilities to each party: climate change and disaster mitigation (Brazil); water resources and pollution treatment (Russia); geospatial technology and applications (India); new and renewable energy, and energy efficiency (China); astronomy (South Africa). Science possesses a veneer of neutrality, and as such is an important adjunct of soft diplomacy, much as the table tennis of the Nixon-Mao rapprochement of 1975. The same is not exactly true of technology with its obvious military import and innovation that is intimately linked with economic competition. The Declaration thus raises some interesting questions. What is the present status of STI cooperation among the BRICS group? What is the rationale behind the choice of the five fields? How does each of the countries stand in these fields? How do these fields align with each country domestic strategy for STI? What bilateral STI agreements are already in place, and what have they delivered? How does the Cape Town Declaration align or compromise the India-Brazil-South Africa (IBSA) process? Will the rising geopolitical tensions (Black Sea; China Sea) limit the scope of STI cooperation? Document analysis and bibliometrics will provide some answers to the above, but the overarching geopolitical dynamics are likely to be the deciding factor.
BRICS Cape Town Declaration; Cooperation in Science, Technology and Innovation; Bibliometrics