Agenda for United Nations agencies and regional intergovernmental organizations

1. Help developing nations to identify national S&T goals and priorities

United Nations agencies and regional intergovernmental organizations should help developing nations to create national S&T strategies through financial support and expert consultation. The objective should be the setting of national priorities for research and development that address national needs in areas such as agriculture, health, industrial development, and the environment.

2. Support research and development efforts in developing nations that address local and global needs

International financial support and collaboration is required for creating centers of excellence in developing nations - whether of local, national, regional, or international status.
International financial support and participation is required for creation of new 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 - at national, regional, and global levels.
United Nations agencies and regional intergovernmental organizations should support and help finance the creation of two global funds - an institutional fund and a program fund - that would provide international financial support to research programs of merit in developing nations.
United Nations agencies and regional intergovernmental organizations should participate in a conference of international community of donors to review the concept of a global fund for science and, if they agree to it, help form a steering group to develop the funding mechanisms necessary for implementation. They should also play leadership roles in related projects that come to pass.
Each nation involved in the development, production, or use of new technologies, such as those deriving from biotechnology, should have the means for assessing and managing their benefits and risks. Government should therefore ensure that expert scientific advice is available from regional or international sources not only to assure effective adoption of new technologies but to facilitate implementation of public health, human safety, and environmental guidelines or regulations associated with their potential side-effects.

3. Help developing nations to upgrade their educational institutions and programs

These agencies and organizations should help each developing nation to establish a country - specific science - education policy that not only caters to national needs but instills an awareness of global responsibilities. Consequent national projects should particularly aim to modernize science education at the elementary- and secondary-school levels (ages 5-18); and they should emphasize inquiry-directed learning of scientific principles and skills while highlighting the values of science. Whether students go on to scientific careers or not, all should leave school with a good general understanding of science and its role in society.
These agencies and organizations should help each government to focus resources on providing high-quality training for science and technology teachers. This will involve special efforts at all tertiary-education institutions, including research universities.
These agencies and organizations should support government awards of special fellowships or grants, designed to provide adequate research and income supplements, to outstanding young scientists who work in developing nations for a period of time. Such special treatment may require local institutional flexibility, but it would be amply justified by the fundamental benefit of stimulating and retaining the local talent.

4. Help developing nations to provide information on S&T resources and issues to the public

Funding should be provided for innovation in disseminating the results of new knowledge and technologies and in turning them into new products and services that address local needs. Such efforts could include:

Consultative services, provided by national or regional research institutions, 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.

5. Facilitate regional and international S&T research and training programs

International organizations should offer financial support and help design the institutional framework to establish 'sandwich programs' that provide for a portion of S&T training abroad.
Regional cooperation in S&T training that leads to doctoral degrees, together with postdoctoral programs, should be promoted in national or regional centers of excellence, especially those that are in S&T-proficient countries among the developing ones. In particular, such centers of excellence should provide scholarships and research facilities, including the use of their own laboratories, to help achieve international cooperation with and among developing nations. They should also take into account the often-critical need for travel money.
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.
A number of programs and fellowships to support S&T capacity-building activities have previously been established by some countries and by organizations such as UNESCO, Third World Academy of Sciences (TWAS), International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP), and International Council of Science (ICSU). A database of all such activities should be created and posted on a Website available to all scientists and engineers, even those working in the remotest regions of the world.

6. Support the development of digital S&T information sources

These agencies and organizations should provide funding and expert support for libraries to maintain electronic gateways for the sharing of digital information among researchers, teachers, and learners.
Major hubs in the developing world should be organized for sharing digital information with research institutions in the industrialized world. This will facilitate access to some materials (in video format, for example) that require wide bandwidth not necessarily available everywhere. It will also serve the eminently sensible goal of backing up original material.