The Advisory Committee on the Application of Science and Technology to Development (UNACASTD) was established by a resolution of the Economic and Social Council (Resolution 980 (XXXVI)) in 1963 following the United Nations Conference on the Application of Science and Technology for the Benefit of the Less Developed Areas.

From its start, the Committee was particularly concerned with “the widely growing gap in science and technology between the developing and the advanced countries” which they saw as “one of the major factors in the increasing disparity” of living standards. This led the Advisory Committee to propose a ’World Plan of Action for the Application of Science and Technology for Development’. The Economic and Social Council followed by the General Assembly of the UN endorsed the resolution and requested the Committee to coordinate its work with plans for the Second UN Development Decade (1970s).

The early work of the Advisory Committee focused on identifying key problems on which efforts and research should be focused, and to propose a world plan of action. It was aimed to focus efforts on fields in which a science and technology breakthrough could have an exceptional impact on development goals. Furthermore, it was thought that establishing a limited set of particularly important problems would better draw the support of foundations and other private and bilateral institutions. The eight objectives identified by the committee were focused on: 1) food 2) health 3) better understanding population problems 4) effective exploration and utilization of natural resources 5) industrialization 6) housing and urban planning 7) transportation and 8.) education. The Committee then chose several key research problems in each of these areas. (Katz, 1968:397) The development of the World Plan of Action itself took place over several years involving extensive consultation across UN agencies and externally (e.g. the Sussex Group report), and was published in 1971.

The Advisory Committee suggested guiding principles for the combined efforts of both the developed and developing countries. These focused on:

a) Building up basic structures, policies and institutions and a team of skilled personnel in developing countries.

b) Improving transfer of existing technical and other knowledge and promoting its practical application in developing countries;

c) Concentrating the scientific and technical efforts of the developed countries and the United Nations system, “in close cooperation with the developing countries, on problems of urgent importance to the developing countries.” (UN 1971)

 

Sources:

UN (1971) Official Records of the Economic and Social Council, Forty-first Session, Supplement No. 12, para. 7.  Cited on p. vii of the 1971 United Nations World Plan of Action for the Application of Science and Technology for Development. UN Publication E.71.II.A.18

Katz, S. E. (1968) The Application of Science and Technology to Development. International Organisation. Vol. 22, No. 1, The Global Partnership: International Agencies and Economic Development (Winter, 1968), pp. 392-416. 

UNACASTD (1971) World Plan of Action on the Application of Science and Technology for Development, by the United Nations Advisory Committee on the Application of Science and Technology to Development (UNACASTD), Department of Economic and Social Affairs, United Nations.  UN Publication  ST/ECA/133