Role of SANBio

To provide a focal point for the southern African scientific community to support the activities of national, regional and international entities addressing priority problems for reducing poverty, creating wealth and promoting Africa's development;

To create and strengthen human capital in biosciences and related disciplines in Southern Africa;

To promote scientific excellence by bringing together a critical mass of scientists drawn from national, regional and international institutions in state-of-the-art facilities where they can undertake cutting edge research to help solve some of the most important development constraints affecting the health and well being of people in Southern Africa;

To increase access to affordable, world-class research facilities within Southern Africa;

To produce, manage and disseminate bioscience knowledge relevant to southern Africa's development;

To facilitate access to advice and training on intellectual property, biosafety and regulatory issues;

To attract investment for biosciences in and for southern Africa from governments, the private sector, and regional and international bodies; and serve as a platform for forging partnerships with other biosciences initiatives elsewhere in Africa and worldwide;

To define relevant outputs to address regional problems through the application of bioscience technologies and the development of a technology implementation programme.