The following recommendations are new, or at least novel, to many S&T policymakers and to the public at large. The Study Panel believes that their implementation could well make the difference between success and failure in building indigenous S&T capacity around the globe.

1. Attract, develop, and retain young scientists and engineers. While on the face of it this recommendation may appear obvious, it is rarely addressed with enough seriousness, commitment, and breadth. Attraction of young talents to science and technology requires imaginative and compelling curricula. And retaining young talent depends not only on first-rate education and training (Section 3.1), but on programs for cultivating opportunity and recognition and reducing brain drain. This could be achieved by providing adequate compensation and working conditions, motivating them to return home to their native countries (if some of their training is abroad), and accommodating the special needs of women (Section 3.2). Once these new scientists and engineers are developed, they require access to the best regional facilities for continued training to deepen their knowledge and develop their skills (Section 3.3).
2. Provide S&T education at all levels. Scientific and technological outlooks, and their sense of discovery and accomplishment, need to be gained early so that a foundation is built for future S&T training throughout one's school years. A corollary is the need to develop special programs for ensuring quality S&T education for all students - not just for future scientists and engineers - to increase general S&T literacy and to propagate the values of open, honest science among the public at large (Section 3.1).
3. Build centers of excellence. This recommendation is a central premise of this report. The advancement of science and technology can only be assured with local centers of excellence, where the practice of science and technology and the training of a country's future generations of professionals can take place. Although a nation's infrastructure, links between its components, and connections to colleagues in other countries are important, it is a nation's centers of excellence - even if few in number - that truly drive a nation's effort to build capacity in science and technology (Section 4.1).
4. Establish virtual networks of excellence (VNE). Another major premise of this report is the need for networks, each anchored in a physical center of excellence, that create virtual S&T complexes. Such Virtual networks of excellence are a fundamentally new means made possible by new communications technologies, by which links and consequent synergies between talented and compatible but geographically dispersed individuals and teams can be created to upgrade priority areas of research and development in particular countries and regions, and even worldwide (Section 4.3).
5. Foster public-private partnerships that involve academia. Increasingly, universities are establishing spin-off companies that have the right to patent and license the results of their advanced research, even though much of it originated in academic settings. This phenomenon potentially distorts the traditional function of the university, but if properly managed through partnerships that tap the strengths of each participant while safeguarding their basic interests, the risk can be minimized. Meanwhile, such partnerships offer important advantages for promoting cutting-edge research and directing its outcomes to the public good (Section 5.2).
6. Strengthen links with expatriate scientists and engineers. Given the reality that many of a developing nation's most talented individuals will opt to live and work in industrially advanced countries, it is important to at least build strong bridges to such persons. Significant efforts should be made to secure for the native land some of the benefits of their education and experience, for example, through collaborative projects with local colleagues or students (Section 3.2).
7. Create and maintain digital libraries. The power of new information and communications technology should be harnessed, especially (but not exclusively) for the benefit of the S&T-lagging countries, by means of universal digital libraries that are readily accessible all over the world. Editors of S&T journals and books also need to do their part by facilitating online access to the literature, particularly for developing-nation S&T professionals and their institutions (Section 3.4).
8. Build regional networks of collaboration. Major collaborative frameworks among developing nations should be led by regions' S&T-proficient countries, which have a responsibility to help their S&T-developing and S&T-lagging neighbors (Section 4.3). These mechanisms require special funding efforts that not only address the basics - fellowships and joint research costs - but such mundane but frequently critical omissions as travel money (Section 6.2). Cooperation among developing nations in general is highly recommended. The Third World Academy of Sciences (TWAS) and other organizations, including the regional ones, should play an important role in achieving its realization.
9. Devise novel funding mechanisms. S&T consortia, such as CGIAR, which involve collaboration among industrialized and developing nations around particular issues, should all pay increased attention to S&T capacity building. But beyond the conventional methods, novel financing mechanisms to implement sectoral funds, global funds, and regional-cooperation grants - especially for covering interactions among developing nations - will also be needed (Section 6.3).

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