The objective of the Global Forum was “to discuss strategies, programs, and policies for building science, technology and innovation capacity in developing countries for sustainable growth and poverty reduction.” The principal theme was that in today’s increasingly competitive, global economy, STI capacity building is “an absolute necessary for poor countries that wish to become richer”, and is not just relevant to wealthier countries. The forum describes the key issues as “what type of capacity to build, given economic constraints, and how best to implement these capacity building action plans.”  (Global Forum website)

“This was an important event since it was one of the first major international conferences to give a high profile to the role of innovation in development. Almost all the previous conferences had stressed the importance of research in development. But the World Bank symposium showed that important innovations could be brought about using known science and technology. In fact the first two days of the three day meeting were devoted to presenting case studies of successful innovations which addressed the problems of poverty and rarely was the word research used in these presentations and subsequent discussion. It was not until the final day that the symposium turned to the role of research institutions in developing countries. Even in this session most of the presenters showed how the research results led to successful innovations.” (Oldham, forthcoming)   

The Global Forum was organised by: The World Bank, the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), United Kingdom Department for International Development (DFID), Global Research Alliance (GRA), Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), Science Initiative Group (SIG), UNCTAD, and UNESCO.

Since this was aimed to be a practical, results-oriented event, the principal audience was government officials, private sector executives, and staff and managers from bilateral, multilateral, and non-governmental organizations and foundations involved in STI capacity building programs. The Forum was organized around case studies of specific STI capacity building initiatives in developing countries.

“The Forum aimed to:

– Understand the STI capacity building processes that are already underway in different settings and circumstances

– Share lessons of experience in building STI capacity

– See what STI capacity building programs are working effectively and which are not generating the desired outcomes

– Understand some of the reasons behind these disparate outcomes

– Discuss how these lessons can be incorporated into future STI capacity building programs and projects designed by governments and supported by the Bank, bilateral donors, NGOs, and IFIs

– Discuss how governments and donor organizations can work together under the auspices of the Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness and other similar international initiatives to support effective, sustainable STI capacity building programs

– Explore gender-related aspects of STI capacity building.

The Forum was organized around four issue areas:

– Reducing poverty and achieving the MDGs: the role of STI capacity building

– Adding value to natural resource exports through STI capacity building

– Latecomer strategies for catching up — linkage, leverage, learning, and STI capacity building

– The role of R&D in the development process” (Global Forum website)

 

Sources:

Oldham, G. , forthcoming. ‘45 Years On’ in Carr, M. and T. Marjoram (eds) Minding the Gap: Technology, Policy and Poverty Reduction, UNESCO.

Global Forum website: http://www.worldbank.org/stiglobalforum

Proceedings available online at: http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=aQK_PkR4R1wC