Absolutely well said. Again, i ask you to look at us. Even fuel in SA is synthetic - SASOL - when sanctions were in place, there was a danger our fuel supply would be compromised; SASOL was created in early 60s and tasked with converting coal to liquid fuels; if you come here, you will see every station fuel is a blend and a seperate station for pure synthetic.
R&D is an absolute must. We were pioneers and still are in many respects in radio communications - frequency hopping on hf was by us; on other side everyone never considered using it in tactical mode. Too many examples to give. Grad students were partnering with industrial research and everything had dual purpose - Toyota engines were used in Mambas - Casspir - unimog etc; it is the spirit of pioneership. It is a sad thing to see your country having good people who can succeed but roadblocks all the way.