DEVELOPMENT:
Scientists Must Show the Way
Sanjay Suri
LONDON, Jan 6 (IPS) - Scientists must move to the centre of government
decision-making on development issues, says a report presented to the
United Nations Thursday.
The report by an eminent group of 27 international experts following a
three-year study calls for an end to the monopoly of economists as
development policy advisors.
''Economic advice will always be important in guiding policy makers on
developmental matters. But in a knowledge-based economy, leaders and
governments increasingly need science advisors to make effective use of
emerging technologies,'' says report co-author Calestous Juma of Harvard
University.
''Science advisors will soon be a necessary part of every presidential
and executive office, including the office of the UN Secretary-General,''
he added.
The report 'Innovation: Applying Knowledge in Development' was prepared
by the task force on science, technology and innovation of the United
Nations Millennium Project commissioned by the UN Secretary-General Kofi
Annan to advise on implementing the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
The MDGs are quantifiable targets to be achieved by 2015. áThe Millennium
Project will report later in January on strategies to reach all MDGs,
including reducing poverty, hunger, disease, illiteracy, environmental
degradation, and discrimination against women.
The new report emphasises how central science is to development, and how
important it must therefore be in decision-making. Science is known to
have delivered faster development, says Juma. But many government
structures do not reflect the significance of science-led decisions.
Many of the present structures arise from outdated economic thinking,
Juma says. ''It was thought that the main sources of economic change were
land, labour and capital,'' he told IPS. ''But now science and technology
is the driving force behind economic transition. And changes in the world
of science and technology are coming much faster than in the world of
land, labour and capital.''
Newly industrialised countries like Taiwan and Korea have regular and
extensive mechanisms to put science at the centre of decision-making,
though these activities are not documented, Juma said. ''Korea has an
elaborate mechanism to keep the leadership informed over scientific
developments,'' he said. ''The Taiwanese leadership was closely involved
in the country's advances in the semi-conductor industry.''
India has always had a system of high-level scientific advice to the
government, even though the economy did not start to grow fast until
recently, he said.
''Putting science at the centre of government decision-taking is
politically significant both in the developing and the industrialised
world,'' Juma said. ''Canada has appointed a scientific advisor to the
prime minister. Ireland has a chief scientific advisor to the prime
minister.''
But science can deliver quick and more dramatic benefits in the
developing world. ''Jamaica has a well established mechanism of
scientific advice to the prime minister's office,'' Juma said. ''In human
health Jamaica now records the same longevity as industrialised countries
because of the use of science in the health system.''
Chile used to depend extensively on its copper resources. ''Now it has
recorded rapid growth in the last ten years,'' Juma said. ''That has been
driven by the Chile Foundation, a non-profit organisation that engages in
technology prospecting. It brings new technology into Chile for creating
new enterprises. This is a good example of the use of existing
technology, and of adapting imported technology to the local economy.''
If other countries take up similar approaches, they will grow faster,
Juma said. The countries that have stagnated are also the ones that use
less technology, as in Africa where many depend on raw material.
''Higher growth is a significant foundation for achieving the millennium
development goals,'' Juma said. ''Even for basic needs technology has
helped, as with the green revolution in India, the Philippines and
Mexico.''
The report lists several instances where countries have progressed by
placing science at the heart of decision-making.
Malaysia's transformation from a supplier of raw materials to a
diversified economy that exports electronic products and technology
services is the result of such moves, the report says. Malaysia created
the Academy of Sciences Malaysia (ASM) in the 1980s, and to serve
national development objectives ASM works closely with the science
advisor's office in providing advice to the office of the prime minister.
To be effective science, technology, and innovation must ''become the
core of industrial, agricultural, and services policies, and create
explicit links between market and non-market institutions,'' the report
says.
The report recommends that countries create and improve science and
technology advisory institutions at the national and international
levels; employ institutions of higher learning such as universities
directly in the service of community development; strengthen national
programmes designed to promote business development; and design
infrastructure projects as a way to promote technological innovation.
(END/2005)
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