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Promoting Innovation to Improve Lives in Developing Nations :
New Report
for U.N. Stresses Science and Technology for Economic Growth by
Calestous
Juma (1993 Laureate)
Cambridge,
MA – Developing nations should focus on harnessing the power
of technological innovation to grow their economies and improve
the lives of their people, asserts a newly released report by
experts prepared for the United Nations.
The report, titled Innovation: Applying Knowledge in Development,
was prepared by the Task Force on Science, Technology and Innovation
of the United Nations Millennium Project commissioned by Secretary-General
Kofi Annan. It outlines key areas for urgent national and
international policy action to accelerate substantive economic
and social progress in developing countries, even within the next
five years.
“There is an urgent need for developing countries to pursue
those public policies that begin to tap the tremendous benefits
promised by science, technology and innovation,” said Calestous
Juma, Task Force coordinator and professor of the practice of
international development at Harvard’s Kennedy School of
Government. “Now is the time to plant the seeds of
change – in education, government and the private sector
– that can begin moving developing countries forward.”
The Task Force recommendations aim at implementing the Millennium
Development Goals adopted by all governments in 2000. They include:
• Strengthening the ways in which governments use science
and technology advice to inform development policy and implementation;
• Putting institutions of higher learning such as universities
to the service of community development;
• Designing infrastructure projects as a foundation for
technological innovation.
The Science, Technology and Innovation Task Force is comprised
of 18 representatives from academia, the public and private sectors,
civil society organizations, and UN agencies. The Task Force
was coordinated by Juma (who also co-authored the report) and
Lee Yee Cheong, president of the World Federation of Engineering
Organizations.
Speaking to the Task Force recommendations, Juma said, “Traditional
wisdom continues to emphasize the role of primary education in
development. While this foundation is necessary, it is poor substitute
for strong commitment to higher education in science, technology
and engineering as a source of economic development.”
Addressing the issue of business development, Juma said, “The
capacity of the public sector to meet the needs of the poor is
being exceeded around the world. The time has come to complement
its role with a strong emphasis on business development as the
engine of growth. The role of the public sector is to promote
entrepreneurship; not to supplant or suppress it.”
Regarding public sector change, Juma stated, “Economic advice
will continue to play an important role in guiding policy makers
on development matters. But in a knowledge-based economy, leaders
will need to turn more and more to science and technology advisors.
This is inevitable in a world marked by rapid technological change
and science advisors will soon become a necessary part ofpresidential
and executive offices, including the Office of the United Nations
Secretary-General.”
The Millennium Development Goals, backed by a political mandate
agreed upon by the leaders of all UN member states, have become
the international standard of reference for measuring improvements
in the human condition in developing countries.
The report reinforces measures already being adopted by governments
around the world. Canada has created the office of the National
Science Advisor to the Prime Minister; the Irish government has
appointed a Chief Science Adviser to the Prime Minister; the government
in Jamaica has devised a formal program aimed at boosting student
interest in science and technology; and India has announced plans
to set up a scientific advisory council to advise the Prime Minister.
The Science, Technology and Innovation Task Force is one of ten
task forces established by the UN Millennium Project. For
three years the project has worked to recommend strategies to
reach UN Goals of reducing poverty, hunger, disease, illiteracy,
environmental degradation, and discrimination against women by
2015. The recommendations for accomplishing these goals
are contained in a report, Investing in Development: A Practical
Plan to Achieve the Millennium Development Goals, to be submitted
to UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan on Jan. 17, 2005.
Calestous Juma is professor of the practice of international development
and director of the Science, Technology, and Globalization Project
at the Kennedy School's Belfer Center for Science and International
Affairs. He is a former executive secretary of the United Nations
Convention on Biological Diversity, and served as founding director
of the African Centre for Technology Studies in Nairobi and currently
serves on the President's National Economic and Social Council
of Kenya. Juma has won several international awards for
his work on sustainable development.
Calestous Juma
calestous_juma@harvard.edu
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