Among other contributions, the Sussex Report noted that the application of science and technology to development was “a twin process” and that policymakers need to address both the supply and demand for scientific and technical knowledge. (Oldham, forthcoming) Furthermore, the report identified sometimes prohibitive costs involved for developing countries in ‘acquiring, adapting, and mastering’ technologies produced in the industrialised countries. The authors recognized that though foreign technology could be useful, it was important for each country to develop its own scientific and technological capabilities (including in what they called ‘scientific and technical services’). (UNACASTD, 1970)
“ACAST decided to develop a World Plan of Action for the Application of Science and Technology for Development. This was meant to be a plan which focussed world attention on a limited number of critical issues where further research was needed and where the main beneficiaries of the new knowledge would be developing countries. The Committee was also asked to make an input to the UN planning for the Second Development Decade (1970-1979). To help it in these tasks ACAST asked a Group at the University of Sussex to prepare an overview of the main issues facing the successful application of S&T to development, to identify the barriers to this application and to suggest what measures needed to be taken to overcome these barriers during the course of the Second Development Decade .They also asked the Sussex Group to propose indicators and targets relevant to these issues.
“ACAST published its report in 1970 and this included the Sussex Group Report as an appendix. At the time, the Sussex Report was probably one of the most complete overviews of the issues related to the application of science and technology to the economic and social development of the developing world. Its identification of the barriers and its suggestions for overcoming them were considered by many to be too radical for the time. During a debate in the General Assembly on the preparations for the Second Development Decade the report was referred to as ‘The Sussex Manifesto’. This name has stuck.
“The Sussex Manifesto recognised that an important source of technology for the developing world were the technologies developed in the North by both public and private enterprises, and then transferred to the South. However unlike the discussions at the Geneva conference the Manifesto identified the costs involved in acquiring the technologies, in adapting them to local conditions, and in mastering them. It also recognised that although foreign technology was useful, there was also a need for each country to build its own scientific and technological capabilities .These capabilities not only included research capabilities but also the so called scientific and technological services. The report noted that the money spent on these services may be several times that spent on research.
“Possibly the greatest contribution made by the report was in recognising that the application of science and technology to development was a twin process. Not only did policy makers need to address the supply of knowledge, but the economic and social systems must also exercise a demand for this knowledge. At the time this rarely happened. The report suggested ways in which this demand might be expressed, and discussed the economic transformations that would be required.” (Oldham, forthcoming)
Click here to see Geoffrey Oldham speak further about the original Manifesto.
Sources:
Oldham, G. , forthcoming. ‘45 Years On’ in Carr, M. and T. Marjoram (eds) Minding the Gap: Technology, Policy and Poverty Reduction, UNESCO.
UNACASTD (1970) Science and Technology for Development: Proposals for the Second Development Decade. Report of the Advisory Committee on the Application of Science and Technology to Development (UNACASTD). United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, New York, Document ST/ECA/133; 1970. UN sales number: E.70.I.23