THEORY AND PRACTICE OF SCIENCE,TECHNOLOGY AND INNOVATION

POLICY-MAKING: AN OVERVIEW

Mustafa El TayebDirector, Science Policy &Sustainable Develoment

The Beginning

In 1947 The British Government inaugurated an Advisory Council on Scientific Policy

How best can science help in post-war reconstruction

Innovtion in technology arising from scientific discoveries will contribute to growth of the economy

The Sputnik Chock!

The British and American delegates at OEEC convinced their colleagues to establish a Science Committee

The work of the committee was useful but not effective

Until 1957 when the Russians’ space programme started

Sputnik and Gagarin

From OEEC to OECD

The Organization for European EconomicCoopertaion was then busy with thed e p l o y m e n t o f t h e M a r s h a l l P l a n

Europe was busy with purchasing of equipment Alexander King the then chair of science committee was worried that « absence of scientific and technological considerations….might lead to re-equipment to obscelence »

The West Responded

OEEC responded by creating an Office of Scientific and Technical Personnel OEEC recomended the establishment

of a Science Policy Group

During this time UNESCO initiated in 1959-1960, a programme on

General Poblemes of Scientific Research

Fundemantals of natural sciences of the scientific Method, and the shortageof trained scientists and technicians

OEEC transformed into OECD in 1961 with a Directorate of Scientific Affairs

Birth of Science Policy

OECD Member States considdd that « Science is inherently an element of educational Policy; it has little to do with economy and hence is more of a matter for UNESCO »

UNESCO elaborated a gobal study « Survey of the Main Trends of Inquiry in the Fied of Natural Sciences

1963 UNESCO initiative

UNESCO organized the FirstUnited Nations Conference on theApplication of Science andTechnology (UNCAST) for thebenefit of the less developed worldthat was held in Geneva (January1963)

Both rich and poor countries have been exploring how science and technology could be harnessed to contribute to development .

UNESCO initiated a programme named

Aid to National Scientific and Technological Develomment

In October the same year, OECD held its first Ministerial meeting on Science and Technology

Only four countries had ministers in charge of science then

Both UNESCO and OECD then came to the same conclusion

Policy for Science

Opportunities and challenges, in all cases exceed, the finance and skills available to benifit/solve them, hence the need for mechnaism to priortize and allocate resources

Apex bodies, responsible for priority determination and resources allocations, were born

Science for Policy

There was also a need for an applied scientific research targeted towards meeting specific needs in agriculture, health and industry

National bodies and/or mechnaisms to advice governments to enable them take informed decsions

The main objective of governments is to achieve a steady economic growth for sustainable development

In pursuing this objective, the application of science and technology is generally considered as essential in the overall l0ng-term and global perspective

Government also recognized that there is a need for national autonomy in the sphere of science and

technology generally referred to as capacity

Science & Technology Policy

Principles and methods, together withlegislative provisions required to stimulate,

mobilize and organize the country’s scientificand technological potential so as to implementthe national development plan and/or strategy

Science Policy

A statement by a Government that expresses a purpose, an agreed upon set of goals &

objectives and desired outcomes that are consonant with the county’s long-terms vision;It is a framework for resources allocation to priority programmes, projects and processes

designed to achieve the national development programme

Policy Instruments Operational mechanisms

Law or decree, bill, resolution, regulation, organizational Structures, including an agency or a minstry (hardware) as well as procedures, methodologies, programmes (software)

S&T Governance

Interaction and division of responsibility between knowledge producers, policy-makers and other stakeholders in a transparent way that defines duties, powers and accountability of each actor

Mission of GovernmentPolicy-making

Determination and selectionof scientific/technologicalobjectives consistent withthe national stratergies

Mission of GovernmentPolicy-making

Justification of these choices and the evaluation of the consequences

Mission of GovernmentPolicy-making

Excercise judgement in setting the norms that govern the ways& means in which science & technology are developed, tranferred and applied

Mission of GovernmentPolicy-making

Gather, organize and deploy the resourcesrequired to pursue the selected objectives

Mission of GovernmentPolicy-making

Monitorig and evaluationof results obtained in applying the policy

In general, the budgeting for science and technology (R &D and STS) is part of the overall national planning and budgeting.

The Science budget is either as a first rank funding or budgeting category in the overall national plans and budgets

The Science budget be considered as part of other budgetary categories such as in educational, health, agricultural and industrial fields.

Budgeting for Science

The 1964 UNESCO initiative

Following the conference in Geneva, UNESCO sponsored the International Conference on the Organisation of Research and Training in Relation to the Study of Conservation and Utilization of Natural Resources that was held in Lagos, Nigeria –August 6,1964

CASTAFRICA I

UNSCO then organized the First Conference of Ministers responsible for Science and Technology in Africa (CASTAFRICA I) in 1974 in Dakar, Senegal

As a follow up to the 1963 Geneva Conference, the Second United Nations Conference on the Application of Science and Technology for Development (UNCSTD) was held in Vienna, Austria in 1979

Lagos Plan of Action

The Organisation of African Unity adopted“Lagos Plan of Action for the Economic

Development of Africa: 1980-2000”

Formulation of national science and technology policies & theestablishment of national science and technology Systems

Commitment of funding to R&D activities in Science & Technology to a minimum of 1% GDP rising to 3% GDP (by the year 2000)

African Countries started adopting National policies aimed at

strengthening the human resource base, establishment of universities

and research institutions, improving science education

Poverty

HIV/AIDS

Cholera

Climate Change

Transportation

Maintenance

Scientific Research

Where is Africa’s scientificResearch?

PublicationsThe major bibliographic databases revealthat Africa produces

Agriculture and tropical health

1.5 %

10 –15%.

of world production (all disciplines)

PATENT APPLICATIONS FILED BY ANDGRANTED TO AFRICAN COUNTRIES, 1999PATENT APPLICATIONS FILED BY AND GRANTED TO AFRICAN

COUNTRIES (UNESCO Science Report 2005)

Country By Non-Residents

To non-Resident

Botswana 54 26

Lesotho 80315 43

Madagascar 41237 29

Malawi 80430 84

Swaziland 40673 57

Tanzania 14467 0

Zambia 87 66

Zimbabwe 80167 34

"Creation, mastery and utilizationof modern science is basically what distinguishes the South from the North."

Abdus Salam,1979 Nobel Laureate for Physics

The first lesson is based on the experience of those Asian economies — such as South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore and Hong Kong — that successfully moved from relative poverty to relative prosperity in the 1970s and 1980s.

Asian Tigers

Initially they focused on importing technology

This was followed by efforts to master the technology, to copy it (through what is known as 'reverse engineering')

Make incremental improvements through improved design engineering and applied research.

Asian Tigers

Eventually, several of these countries began to invest heavily in scientific research

Other factors such as heavy government investment in primary, secondary, technical and tertiary education

Industrial policies were also critical, involving managed credit and the protection of nascent industries

Latin America

These Countries invested heavily in building national scientific research capacity and creating centres of scientific excellence

The result was an increase in the number of research scientists and more scientific papers published in academic journals

Little contribution to the economic development of the countries in the region.

The experience of the Asian tigers and Latin America countries suggest that, in the early stages of a country's industrial development, there is little direct relationship between the success of efforts to build national scientific research capacities on the one hand, and economic development on the other

Linear Model versus NIS A change from what was widely assumed that there was

a linear process leading

A much more systemic approach based on Networks linking scientific and technical activities both within and between institutions including new forms of interaction between universities and business enterprises, and both within and between countr

Basic & AppliedResearch

Design &

DevelopmentProduction

Some aspects of change

First, funding for science and technology would not be generic (i.e. directed at building general science and technology capabilities in developing countries) but focussed on a relatively small number of specific problem areas that require urgent solutions, and that cannot wait until generic research capacity is built in the developing world.

Second, investments in science, technologyand innovation would be predicated on industrial strategies aimed at economicgrowth, within which international support for science and technology would largely bedemand led.

Third, the linear knowledge model linking research to production would be explicitly avoided through policy instruments that seek to differentiate, by countries and by regions, the best ways to create, acquire, assimilate, use and diffuse knowled

Finally, the emphasis in financing research would be on developing research networks in the developing world which include research partners in the developed world, and which can be certain of receiving long-term financial backing.

Agriculture

Regional strategies

African Member States, sharing common objectives adopted a Consolidated Plan of Action on Science& Technology

Policies regarding science and technology operate best

at the national level

REVIEW OF NATIONAL RESEARCH SYSTEMS

National Innovation System

A UNESCO Template on Higher Education & Research

SWOT Analysis

Scientific and Technological Activities

National Policy Reviews

The study design

we proposed undertaking a four-phased approach: Phase 1: collection of relevant material and mapping of the

available information on the S&T system Phase 2: On the basis of the above, preparation of a first

report on the status of STI and drawing-up an outline of S&T policy

Phase 3:Organization of wide consultation with all stakeholders (this may take the form of a national workshop) to expose the proposal and generate consensus on future orientations.

Finalization of the Policy Document and its validation first, by a national conference and then by Government

Contextualization of the science system within political, economic, educational and social systems

the political and socio-economic “status” of the country S&T system, highlighting significant strengths, weaknesses and major events and developments.

demographic , social , economic and technological indicators

The governance of science, technology & innovation System

Existing science policy, research strategy and Higher Education documents as well as formal reviews and commissions into HE and research in the country.

Whether policies are being implemented, suceess and failure, obstacles etc

Knowledge and R&D performers

Information on public universities, private universities and university centres Internationally funded but locally

based research institutes, if any Government funded research centres Private sector or corporate research

institutes/centres

Higher Education System

This is the foundation on which the STI system is built

Strength and Weakness of the Higher Education System; its research capabilities (by field)

Niche areas of research in the system and at universities

Nature of knowledge production undertaken in various sectors of the system

Salaries and working conditions

S&T Human Resources

Number of researchers/ scientists * gender

Number of academics in HE institutions Number of researchers per million of

labour force Nr of academics by scientific field *

gender Nr of academics (gender breakdown) Number of academics in HE institutions

per million of labour force Nr of Masters and Doctoral students

(enrolments) * gender Nr of M and D students by field of study

(6)

Research Funding (Public or private; National and international; Trends)

R&D intensity (GERD/GDP) Expenditure on R&D per researcher Expenditure by sector Source of funding (incl. overseas agencies) – actual values

and proportions Expenditure by scientific field (6) Role of government and other domestic agencies in

funding research Role of international donor and funding agencies in funding

and steering research in the country

Scientific co-operation and agreements ( formal agreements; main partners; doctrines, practices and evolution; types and amount of funding

bilateral scientific agreements multilateral and regional agreements international agencies operating in country degree of scientific collaboration as measured through

share of foreign co-authors of papers Main institutional collaborators Main topics and domains of international

collaboration

Research Output (post-graduates/ publications/ papers/ patents)

Total output in ISI-journals (by scientific field)

Total output in local journals (by field) Nr of Masters and Doctoral graduates Nr of theses/dissertations Nr of patents Description of context and nature of

research output

Functionning of Natioanl Innovation System

Exclusive Role of Government

1. Policy and Resources Allocation (formulation, monitoring, review of science policy and linkages with other policy domains)

2. Regulatory System of metrology, standardization, safety in health and environment as well as IP functions

Shared Functions

Financing of Innovation (use of Govt. purchasing power..) Performance Functions Human Resources Development Function Infrastructure Function

Challenges and Opportunities

HealthIndustryEnergyAgricultureWater Resources

RRESOURCES ALLOCATION

Priority Determination

It would be presumptuous to believe that the advance of science and technology can be centrally directed by arbitrary selection of national scientific objectives and the subsequent commitment of national resources

The impact of science and technology to economic growth and development can be limited in the absence of other socio-economic inputs and determined political drive

It is the motivation for growth and change which prompts scientific and technological innovation and not the reverse

Research-basedWith Strong linkage to the productive sectors

Intermediate Agencies

Foster innovation and commercialzation throughScience Parks and IncubatorsVenture capital, incentives etc

Capacity building

Regional Workshop,Windhoek, May 2007

Nairobi, Kenya,June 2008

Funding mechnaisms, tax incentives, Banks, Venture Capital etc

Long-term Support for Science

Long-term support for Science

1. Promote co-operative networks between Scientist and parliamentarians on issues of legislation

2. Support participatory policy reviews resulting in a view to improving the management of S&T efforts at the national level.

3. Promote public debate on S&T issues and civil society participation on science policy options

4. Raise public awareness, diffuse scientific and technological culture in the society and fill the gaps in public understanding of science

Public Understanding of Science

Two of the greatest evils that afflict

Asia and keep millions in a state of physical, mental and spiritual poverty are fanaticism and superstitions. Science, in its cultural value as well as technological sense, is the great enemy of both”

Tan Sri Datuk Dr Oma

Africa Has a new Plan of Action

Members of the Mission on Science and Technology Policy for a Democratic South Africa with Nelson R. Mandela

James Mullin, Deanna Ashley, Lydia Makhubu, Thomas Odhiambo, Geoffrey Oldham

Political ChampionsI remember the advice given to me by one of the

international members of the Mission, Dr Thomas Odhiambo, head of the African Academy of Sciences, about how important our future investments are in the area of S&T and how many African countries are only now realizing that they would have been further along the path of economic development had they recognized, following independence, the importance of investments in this area. This lesson has not escaped our new government and

indeed S&T is recognized as a major pillar of the Reconstruction and Development Programme.

Nelson R. MandelaSeptember 1995

The way forward