Technology Transfer for the Poor

According to author David Dickson, as developing countries have become increasingly integrated into a single global economy, emphasis on science policy has changed from the 'science push model' of development, focused on the proportion of a country's gross national product spent on research and development, to 'technology transfer', focused on government policies affecting the practical application of scientific knowledge. "For regions like East Asia or Latin America, effective technology transfer, tapping into the scientific and technical knowledge of not only researchers in the North, but increasingly their own, is now recognised as essential to economic growth and social prosperity."

According to Dickson, society's economically poorest sectors are often forgotten in technology transfer debates because the private sector provides the main technology channels. However, Dickson points to the following responsibilities of government:

• Invest in university-based research and training, to ensure that a country has the knowledge and skills it needs to not only acquire but also use new technologies.
• Regulate all transferred technologies, creating useful and socially acceptable standards. Governments must develop public institutions that can make such a judgement, either by adopting international criteria (on safety levels, for example) or by developing criteria of their own.
• Actively develop forms of technology transfer, like mobile cell phones, that will directly benefit the economically poor, including job creation outside the technology sector.

Dickson concludes with the following recommendations: combine modern science with the practical experience and good sense of traditional communities; fill the gaps left by the private sector in fields, such as niche agriculture; and find new ways of attracting investment without patent fights,
in order to use creativity and social innovation to directly benefit the economically poor.