Building STI Capacity for Sustainable Development and Poverty Reduction

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Building STI Capacity for Sustainable
Development and Poverty Reduction

• Alfred Watkins
• World Bank ST Program Coordinator
• Presentation to the AAAS Meetings
• Boston, MA
• February 17, 2008

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OVERVIEW Basic Approach and Stylized Facts
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Underlying Philosophy

• Investing in ST capacity is not a luxury for the
  rich it is an absolute necessity for poor
  countries that wish to become richer
• The time to start investing and building STI
  capacity is when you are poor
• In todays rapidly changing global economy, the
  critical economic development issue is no longer
  whether countries should build STI capacity but
  what type of capacity to build and how to build
  it, given each countrys economic constraints and
  starting point

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Why Worry About All This?
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Difference Attributable to Knowledge

• What kind of knowledge?
• Where do you get it?
• How do you find it?
• How do you learn to use it?

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Where Do You Start? East Asia Capacity
Building Model
Creation
Improvement
Assimilation
Acquisition
Imitation
internalization
generation
STI Capacity Focus
Developing Country
Newly-Industrializing Country
Advanced Country
Development Stages
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Korea RD ( of GDP) 1963-2003
Source Korea Science and Technology Policy
Institute WDI, 2007
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Korea Patent Trends (1965-2006)
Source United States Patent and Trademark Office
(USPTO), 2007
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Removing Barriers is Necessary But Does Not
Automatically Build STI Capacity
High Barriers High
Capacity
Low Barriers
High Capacity
Capacity for technology absorption and diffusion
High Barriers
Low Capacity
Low Barriers
Low Capacity
Sub Saharan Africa
Barriers to technology absorption and diffusion
Source Adapted from RAND
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• Groups of Firms According to Technological
  Capability

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National Technological Learning
ST learning capacity
ST learning opportunities

Knowledge generation capacity
Knowledge absorption capacity
Diaspora and Expats
Internet
Capital imports
Licensing
Education
Export Customers
RD
Inward FDI
ST Networks
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High Tech Does Not Always Equal High Income
Source World Development Indicators, 2007
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GDP per capita in 2006 (constant 2000 US)
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Export Structure by Technology Category Producing
what vs. producing how
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Manufacturing Value-Added Per Capita (Constant US
Dollar)
Source UNIDO, 2005
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Agriculture Value-Added Per Worker (Constant US
Dollar)
Source World Development Indicators, 2007
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RECENT ACTIVITIES
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How can we help countries build the STI capacity
they need to increase value added and generate
wealth?Should countries focus on building
capacity to create new knowledge or utilize
existing knowledge?
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Main Finding

• Much of the science, engineering, and technical
  knowledge needed to achieve these objectives
  already exists outside Rwanda and is widely used
  outside Rwanda. Unfortunately, this knowledge is
  not being applied in Rwanda to solve Rwandas
  problems. The STI capacity building challenge,
  therefore, is to train farmers, entrepreneurs,
  engineers, technicians, scientists and teachers
  to find the appropriate knowledge, import it,
  adapt it to local conditions, and use it to solve
  local problems and produce and market higher
  value, more knowledge intensive goods and
  services

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STI Capacity Building and Mr. Zoellicks Six
Themes

• Goal Sustainable Inclusive Globalization
• STI Program touches on many of these themes
• Low Income Countries
• Middle Income Countries
• Arab World
• Global Public Goods
• Knowledge Sharing
• Fragile States

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Low Income Countries (1)

• Basic Approach Technical solutions to most
  problems facing low income countries are already
  known and widely utilized around the world.
  Unfortunately, most people and institutions in
  low income countries do not have the STI capacity
  needed to utilize this knowledge to solve
  problems in their own countries
• Challenge Create the necessary capacity,
  starting from generally low initial capacity
  levels

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Low Income Countries (2)

• Ongoing Activities STI Needs Assessments and
  Action Plans
• Pilot programs in Rwanda, Ghana, Mozambique and
  Uganda
• Rwanda book has been published
• Rwanda issues clean drinking water, food
  processing, development and diffusion of
  appropriate technology, adding value to natural
  resources, geothermal and geological sciences,
  diffusion of agricultural RD
• Ghana non-traditional mfg. exports, value added
  agriculture, herbal medicines

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Low Income Countries (3)

• Need Assessment issues survey existing
  capacity, understand what new capacity is needed,
  action plan for building the additional capacity
• Complements ongoing World Bank work in
  agriculture, infrastructure, energy, education,
  PSD, etc.
• Next Steps Implementation projects, tool kits

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STI Capacity Building A Cross Cutting Issue
Higher Education and TVET
Private Sector Development
RD
Standards Quality
Infrastructure
Agriculture Rural Dev.
STI needs assessment focuses on solving a problem
(ex food processing capacity building) and
probes across multiple silos to identify capacity
needs.
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Cross-Cutting Nature of STI Capacity Building
Infrastructure (develop transportation for
perishable goods power for processing units
and cold storage)
Education and Human Resource Development (develop
higher education, TVET, on-the-job training)
Building Capacity in Food Processing Industry
Standards and Quality Assurance (develop
capacity for testing, certification and
compliance)
Agriculture and Rural Sector Development (develop
cottage industry for packaging material from
fiber crops)
Private Sector and Industrial Development (stream
line informal food processing units)
Business Regulatory Environment (improve ease of
doing business, trade freedom, FDI incentives)
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Capacity building is needed at all skill levels
Skill Levels Required Tasks
Required Skills

• Hydrological Analysis of Surface and Underground
  Water

Hydrology, Geology, Limnology, Geochemistry, GIS
and Remote Sensing

• Watershed Conservation and Pollution Control

Environmental Engineering, Chemistry, Soil
Science, Geology
RD

• Well Boring and Pumping Underground Water

groundwater engineering, Construction, Masonry,
Pump operation, maintenance
Design Engineering

• Harvesting Rainwater Run-offs from Roofs and
  Fields

Geology and Hydrology Construction and Masonry
Technician Craft Skills Capabilities
Civil Engineering Construction, masonry (for
tanks, reservoirs, pipes)

• Water Storage Distribution Infrastructure

Basic Operators Skills and Capabilities
Water Purification and Water Quality Control
Chemistry, Microbiology, Public Health,
Environmental Science, Laboratory Assistance
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Enterprise-based model of STI Capacity Building
PPP Options
Farmers and Outgrowers
Farmers and Outgrowers
Entrepreneur (Diaspora, FDI, Expat, Local, NGO)

• Strives for product and
• process innovation through
• Technology Searching
• Technology Acquisition
• Technology Adaptation

• Meets Standards and
• Quality through
• Engineering
• Production techniques
• Field and lab testing

• Uses and invests in well-
• trained manpower through
• On-the-job-training
• Vocation schools
• Universities

Produces Saleable products and services
Information from market research and from buyers
Market (Local, Regional, Global)
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Middle Income Countries (1)

• Starting Point MICs had an initial competitive
  advantage based on trade preferences, prior
  abundance of low wage, unskilled labor
• But rising wages and higher standards of living
  are leading to a loss of competitive advantage
  need to move from (i) cheap labor to (ii) skilled
  labor and innovation (iii) producing higher value
  added, skill intensive goods and services
• How can late-comers catch up?
• Existing laws, institutions, business practices
  are not designed to address these issues

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Middle Income Countries

• Work currently underway in several countries and
  could be extended
• Review IP Legislation to ensure it fosters and
  supports innovation and technology diffusion
• Review governance structures for research
  institutes do they work in a financially
  sustainable way on economically relevant
  innovation issues? Do they combine first rate RD
  with technology search and diffusion?
• Emphasis on technology diffusion capacity and
  technology upgrading of local industry SME
  spin-offs, cluster and supplier development
• Prepare needs assessments and action plans for
  relevant sectors where FDI and/or significant
  domestic investment is taking root.
• Work in collaboration with local industry and
  foreign investors
• Identify relevant lessons of experience/internatio
  nal best practice

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Knowledge Sharing Current and Potential
Activities

• Global Forum on STI Capacity Building --
  www.worldbank.org/stiglobalforum
• Reducing poverty and achieving MDGs
• Adding value to natural resources
• Technology upgrading and catch up strategies
• RD
• Proceedings available in March 2008
• STI capacity building tool kits
• Book on technology diffusion institutions and
  programs
• Networking opportunities

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Network Programs, Needs, and Resources
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Network Types
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Network Objectives
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Networking About Networks

• Carnegie Corporation Regional Initiative in
  Science and Education www.ias.edu/sig and ten
  click on RISE for further details
• Independent networking proposals/inquiries from
  various universities in US, Asia and Europe
• The US National Science Board draft report
  entitled, "International Science and Engineering
  Partnerships A Priority for US Foreign Policy
  and Our Nation's Innovation Enterprise."
  http//www.nsf.gov/nsb/publications/2007/draft_ise
  p_nsb0710.pdf
• US AID report entitled, "The Fundamental Role of
  Science and Technology in International
  Development An Imperative for the US Agency for
  International Development."
• World Bank-JICA Workshop Networking for Change
  STI and Higher Education in the Global Economy,
  Tokyo, February 1, 2008

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THANK YOU

• Alfred Watkins
• Science and Technology Program Coordinator
• Awatkins_at_worldbank.org
• www.worldbank.org/sti