Agenda for S&T-lagging countries - InterAcademy Council

This category includes countries with little scientific or technological research strengths and no discernable overall S&T capacity in personnel, infrastructure, investment, institutions, and regulatory framework.

1. Identify national science and technology goals and priorities

The government of each S&T-lagging country should develop a national S&T strategy that specifies priorities for research and development that address national needs in areas such as agriculture, health, industrial development,
and the environment. This should involve high government officials at the federal level, including state and even municipal levels where appropriate.
Such strategies for science and technology should be developed in consultation with international experts and the help of international organizations such as the World Bank, regional development banks, United Nations agencies, InterAcademy Panel (IAP), Third World Academy of Sciences (TWAS), and International Council of Science (ICSU).
Each country should have, at a minimum, the following types of institutions, and the national S&T strategy should include goals for developing them:
- Autonomous centers of excellence - research programs, within a university, a research institute, or operating independently, typically in one geographical location, and deemed by merit review to be of the highest international quality in personnel, infrastructure, and research output;
- Strong universities - tertiary educational institutions for educating and training new generations of S&T talent, performing research and development in areas of societal need, and providing an independent source of information on topics of importance to the nation;
- Virtual networks of excellence - research programs jointly sponsored and conducted by research institutes in different geographical locations, with research personnel communicating and collaborating primarily via new technologies such as the internet and the World Wide Web, deemed by merit review to be of the highest international quality in personnel, infrastructure, and research output;
- Independent national or regional academies of science, engineering, and medicine - merit-based autonomous institutions, in which peers elect new members in recognition of their distinguished and continuing professional achievements, elect their own officials, perform programs of independent work, and inform the general public and national decisionmakers on science and technology aspects of public policies.
National funding commitments for science and technology should rise to at least 1 percent - preferably 1.5 percent - of Gross Domestic Product, and should be disbursed using a merit-based approach.

2. Mobilize international expertise for promoting national capabilities in science and technology

Given the limited national capabilities in S&T-lagging countries, it will often make more sense to think in terms of forming national committees of eminent individuals to represent expertise in various fields (as opposed to building formal academies). Such a committee could have extensive contacts with regional and international experts and be delegated to interact with the international bodies dealing with science and technology.

3. Orient S&T capacity for achieving national goals

Clearly, the focus of the poorest and smallest countries will be largely in the area of building up their national education systems at the primary and secondary level, with due attention to the gender dimension and to appropriate vocational training. However, emerging tertiary-level institutions should be helped early on to assume the multiple functions of the university.
Existing S&T institutions should be regularly assessed through expert review and evaluation. Techniques for such procedures should include, as appropriate, peer review teams, relevance review panels, or benchmarking studies.
Given the modest scientific capacity of S&T-lagging countries, their merit reviews should include appropriate experts from other nations. Such involvement of the global research community, possibly through a program of international cooperation among academies of science, engineering, and medicine, can make the merit review processes in developing nations more effective, not just for particular programs, but more broadly.

4. Participate in regional or international centers of excellence that address issues of national need

Each S&T-lagging country should join with S&T-proficient countries to associate with those centers of excellence - research programs managed by a university, an advanced research institute, or operating independently, typically in one geographical location, and deemed by merit review to be of the highest international quality in personnel, infrastructure, and research output - whether of local, national, regional, or international status, that address the issues of critical importance to that nation.
These should include virtual networks of excellence (VNE) - research programs jointly sponsored and conducted by research institutes in different geographical locations, with research personnel communicating and collaborating primarily via new technologies such as the internet and the World Wide Web, deemed by merit review to be of the highest international quality in personnel, infrastructure, and research output.
The option of national 'sectoral' funding for research and development - corporate national tax set-asides for the conduct of research in areas of economic interest to the nation - should be seriously considered by the public, private, and academic sectors of developing nations that aspire to significant S&T capacity. The management of such funds should be tripartite, with the participation of the academic community, government, and industry. A portion of each fund's resources should be used to support basic and applied sciences, and another portion should support infrastructural needs.
International institutions such as Third World Academy of Sciences (TWAS), InterAcademy Panel (IAP), and International Council of Science (ICSU) should be consulted to help in the formation and strengthening of nascent national and regional institutions. The participation of these international bodies will help the new national organizations establish the requisite high standards and effective mechanisms of operation, including periodic international reviews of the research institutions and programs.

5. Establish mechanisms for S&T advice to government

S&T-lagging countries should establish trusted indigenous mechanisms for obtaining advice on scientific and technological questions related to public policies and programs. Informed and reliable counsel could also come from specially appointed committees of outside experts.
In cooperation with other nations, S&T-lagging countries should achieve the means to assess and manage the benefits and risks associated with the development, production, or use of new technologies, such as those deriving from biotechnology. Government should ensure that indigenous S&T capacities are in place not only to enable effective adoption of a new technology but also to help implement public-health, human-safety, and environmental guidelines or regulations associated with potential side-effects of the new technology. Coordination of technology assessments with other nations will permit the sharing of experience and the standardization of some types of risk assessment.

6. Provide information on S&T resources and issues to the public

S&T-lagging countries should encourage innovation in disseminating the results of research and in turning them into new products and services that address local needs. Such efforts could include:
- Consultative services, provided by expert consultants, in areas such as agriculture, water and land management, housing, and health;
- Cooperative partnerships between local citizens and research institutions for sharing up-to-date information of local relevance;
- Empowerment of social entrepreneurs for supplying products and services significantly below market prices to people in need;
- Information kiosks,' either publicly funded or for-profit, to help distribute useful information obtained from the Internet, with translation into the local language.
Libraries should develop or maintain wide-bandwidth electronic gateways for accessing and sharing electronic S&T-information resources among researchers, teachers, students, and the general public.

7. Upgrade educational programs and institutions

Each nation should establish an S&T-education policy that addresses its own particular national needs. National projects should aim to modernize such education at the elementary- and secondary-school levels (ages 5-18); and they should emphasize inquiry-directed learning of principles and skills while highlighting the values of science.
Each government should focus resources on providing high-quality training and support for science/technology teachers. This will involve special efforts at all tertiary-education institutions, including research universities.

8. Join regional and international S&T training and research programs

National governments should work with more scientifically advanced nations and with international organizations to design and obtain financial support for 'sandwich programs' that provide for a portion of S&T training abroad.
Regional cooperation in science and technology should include training that leads to doctoral degrees and postdoctoral work experience. Regional centers of excellence should provide scholarships and research facilities, including the use of their own laboratories, for educational training in science and technology.
The training of new scientists and engineers should be aided by networks that have already been established by practicing professionals in diverse specialties. These networks should be given enduring support by academic, governmental, intergovernmental, and private organizations in more advanced nations.

9. Increase S&T career opportunities within the country

To spur locally needed S&T activities, governments of developing nations should seriously consider providing, on a temporary basis, special working conditions for their best talents (whether formed at centers of excellence abroad or at home), including income supplements and adequate research support.
Governments of developing nations, in collaboration with their national S&T communities, should be encouraged to build ties with their expatriate scientists and engineers, especially those who are working in industrialized nations. These scientists and engineers should be encouraged to participate in national scientific advisory panels and to facilitate the creation of new scientific institutions and programs.