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- 2 - Francisco Sagasti, Chief of Strategic Planning, The World Bank, who spoke on science policy and technology assessment; and Kenneth Prewitt, Vice President of the Rockefeller Foundation, who described the rationale for the Foundation's program in Africa. The symposium was held at the National Academy of Sciences in Washington, DC. It was supported by grants from the James S. McDonnell Foundation and the U.S. Agency for International Development (AID). This report is an account of the presentations and working group discussions and does not necessarily represent the views of the Board on Science and Technology for International Development nor of the sponsors. SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS Symposium participants agreed that science and technology have made vital contributions to development and will continue to do so; that it is urgent that developing countries have the capability to assess their needs, do the research, and apply the results; and that science and technology should be used to encourage the development of environmentally sustainable resources, including human resources. The goal of science and technology for development must be to build indigenous capacity in developing countries, particularly those without an infrastructure or S&T base, to enable those countries to make informed choices about their own problems. Participants also agreed that the terms "aid" and "development" have lost their urgency and may need to be replaced. A new vocabulary is needed to attract new support. Development problems are global scientific problems and should have the highest international priority. The diversity of nations and the growing inequality between the developed countries, the more advanced developing countries, and the least developed countries calls for a sensitivity in our approach to development problems. Scientific Research and International Scientific Collaboration Basic and applied research provides opportunities for collaboration between scientists in developed and developing countries and brings universities into a leading role. American universities arc training thousands of developing country scientists and engineers, many of whom face limited opportunities for employment in their home countries. Administrators in American universities must find ways to encourage American scientists and engineers to focus on developing country problems. Developing country scientists should become more involved in international scientific collaborative activities. Examples of such programs arc the International Gcosphcre-Biosphere Programme - A Study of Global Change (IGBP), the International Decade for Natural Disasters Reduction, and the program to map the human genome.
- 3 - J J Cooperative mechanisms for bilateral or international scientific research should be encouraged. In the past, there have been several successful programs, including the National Academy of Sciences' Brazil Chemistry Program, the National Science Foundation's Science and Engineering for Economic Development (SEED) Program, and the BOSTID Research Program. Stable international or regional scientific institutions, such as the Third World Academy of Sciences, the African Academy of Sciences, and the United Nations University are also needed. Technology Development The private sector should become more involved in technology development through such mechanisms as the U.S.-Israel Binational Industrial Research and Development (BIRD) Foundation and the U.S.-India Program for Acquisition of Commercial Technology (PACT). Such programs link U.S. and host country enterprises, providing loans and encouraging risk-taking, backed by good management. I Alternative approaches to development, such as micro-enterprises, should be -" examined. Micro-development produces change slowly and brings about improvements in the infrastructure when their absence impedes development. "I Micro-development also builds indigenous capacities by training local managers I on the job. One advantage of such enterprises is that their failure does not cripple the country, and the risk-takers are not labelled as failures just >'â¢Â» because the project did not evolve as planned. To develop technology, an S&T base or infrastructure must be established with technical support facilities, laboratories, etc. Human resources, I especially managerial skill, upon which technology development depends, must be J strengthened. Technology development must be for the mutual benefit of the United States and the host country, and science policy issues such as '' â¢Â» intellectual property rights and equal access to information, research I facilities, and field sites must be recognized. '' "⢠I Assessment. Management, and Policy Issues Because countries and regions have differing needs, capacities, and comparative advantages, greater flexibility is required in designing development assistance. The success of culturally-sensitive programs, such as the National Center for Industrial Science and Technology Management Development in Dalian, China, and the state-level technology development effort based in Bangalore, India, underscores the importance of transmitting change through existing socioeconomic structures. The importance of science and technology to policy formulation must be stressed. Early application of rigorous scientific analysis of development problems is necessary to generate a broad range of sustainable options.
