For some of the poorest and the smallest countries, the Study Panel emphasizes that S&T capacity building should be pursued on a regional basis - in collaboration with other countries - so that a critical mass of scientific capability can be achieved. These S&T-lagging countries merit direct attention through 'South-South' and 'North-South' cooperation and new commitments from the S&T-advanced and S&T-proficient countries. The agenda for S&T-lagging countries could include the following actions:

1. Identify national S&T goals and priorities. 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. The goals and priorities should be simple and clear. Strategies for implementation should focus on how collaboration with others will be undertaken. Special attention should be given to cooperation among developing nations. These strategies for science and technology should be developed in consultation with international experts and with the help of international organizations such as the World Bank, regional development banks, United Nations agencies, Third World Academy of Sciences (TWAS), InterAcademy Panel (IAP), and International Council for Science (ICSU).
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 committees should 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. The 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 - whether of local, national, regional, or international status and whether actual or virtual institutes - that address the issues relevant to that country. Such networks, including Millennium Science Initiatives, can serve as the main nodes for those individuals or groups in the nation charged with enhancing S&T knowledge of national and regional importance. International institutions, such as the Third World Academy of Sciences (TWAS), InterAcademy Panel (IAP), and International Council for Science (ICSU), should be consulted to help in the formation and strengthening of nascent national and regional institutions. Governments of S&T-lagging countries should consider regional and multilateral cooperation and sharing of resources for implementing intellectual property protection, so that countries with limited technical resources do not have to duplicate effort, investment, and dedication of scarce talent.
5. Establish mechanisms for S&T advice to government. Each nation requires trusted indigenous mechanisms for obtaining advice on scientific and technological questions related to public policies and programs. A committee of eminent individuals could provide an initial mechanism. Similarly, professional societies should be engaged; and informed and reliable counsel could also come from specially appointed committees of outside experts, cooperating with local scientists and engineers.
6. Provide information on S&T resources and issues to the public. Innovation is required for disseminating the results of research and turning them into new products and services that address local needs. Special attention
   should be given to the country's agricultural extension service and to health-information dissemination and public-education campaigns. A special effort - with international support - should be made to ensure that at least a few libraries in each nation can develop and 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. Beyond expansion and diversification of the national education system at the tertiary level, each S&T-lagging country should establish projects for modernizing elementary and secondary-school education; these projects should emphasize inquiry-directed learning of principles and skills while highlighting the values of science. Each government should also focus special resources on providing high-quality training and support for S&T teachers, as these individuals will be especially critical for building future capacities.
8. Join regional and international S&T training programs. Governments of S&T-lagging countries should seek S&T collaboration with more advanced countries, especially the S&T-proficient countries, and with international organizations to design and obtain financial support for master's and doctoral programs. When feasible, university 'sandwich programs,' which provide for a portion of S&T training abroad, should be emphasized. Fellowships for graduate students should be preferentially awarded to nationals from lesser-developed nations. These fellowships should include re-entry grants that allow the returning fellows to obtain some basic resources that will permit them to carry out research work in the home laboratory and that will facilitate maintaining collaborative contacts with the centers where they received training.
9. Increase S&T career opportunities within the country. Governments of S&T-lagging countries should seriously consider providing, on a temporary basis, special working conditions for their best talents (formed at centers of excellence), including income supplements and adequate research support. These governments should also build ties with their expatriate scientists and engineers, especially those working in industrialized nations, who should be encouraged to participate in national scientific advisory panels and spend time in their country of origin to facilitate the creation of new scientific institutions and programs.

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