ANNUAL CONFERENCE 2005

In association with Development Policy and Practice and the International Development Centre at the Open University

Milton Keynes, UK
7th-9th September 2005

Connecting people and places: challenges and opportunities for development

SPECIAL PARALLEL SESSION
PANEL ON GENERATING TECHNOLOGY IN THE DEVELOPING WORLD: PROSPECTS AND PROBLEMS
OUTLINE AND ABSTRACTS

This is a panel discussion organised by: Suma Athreye (Economics, Open University, UK) and Banji Oyelaran-Oyeyinka (INTECH, United Nations University, Maastricht)

There will be two sessions on September 8th.

In the last three decades a handful of developing countries have emerged as technology producers in their own right. In this panel discussion we address the prospects and problems of technology generation in Africa, using the lens of developing country experience to give us a perspective. We also draw on the experiences of technology transfer and technology generation to bring out the complexity and challenge that technology generation in Africa is likely to involve, drawing upon the work of the Open University’s INNOGEN Research Centre on an important platform technology, viz. biotechnology.

The format of the discussion will be as follows: each speaker will speak for 15 minutes. Thereafter, there will be a round of questions to speakers by the chair/moderator. Following the response of the speakers, the discussion will be open to questions from the audience.

The panellists and what they will speak about:

TECHNOLOGICAL CAPABILITIES AND AFRICAN DEVELOPMENT: GAPS AND OPPORTUNITIES
Prof. Martin Bell, SPRU, University of Sussex, UK

It is obviously easy to identify gaps in African technological capabilities. However there are several surprising omissions in most existing compilations. At the same time, among the commonly suggested opportunities by which capabilities might be acquired and accumulated, there are also surprising omissions. This presentation will highlight some of the neglected gaps - not to lengthen the existing lists but to draw attention to the corresponding opportunities that seem to have been given scant attention.

DOES FDI REALLY MATTER FOR DEVELOPMENT?
Prof. Rajneesh Narula, University of Reading and the Copenhagen Business School

FDI is nowadays actively being promoted by the Washington consensus as a panacea for economic development. Structural adjustment programmes prominently integrate macroeconomic stabilization policies alongside policies to promote increased inward FDI. However, liberalisation has not always increased FDI inflows into host developing countries, nor, where FDI flows have increased, has the potential for FDI-led industrial development always been realised This presentation examines the reasons for both these failures and argues that FDI response tends to be most vigorous where local capabilities are strong when liberalization takes place, and feeblest where they are weak (of course, excluding resource extraction).

THE 'OLD', THE 'REACTION’ AND THE 'NEW'?: RETHINKING SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY AND INNOVATION IN AFRICA
Prof. David Wield, Development Policy and Practice, Open University, UK.

Things have changed in the ways science, technology and innovation (STI) are conceived in Africa. The 'old' linear, view that science must be good for development gave way to the ‘reaction’ that poverty alleviation does not need the elitist sophistication of home grown science. In 2005, the 'new trendy' view has dramatically put technology and knowledge centre- stage for African development. This paper uses a series of studies of relatively successfully ST and I partnerships to look at aspects of this change. The studies suggest ways that S&T, particularly innovation might bring benefit but also suggest the need for change in strategies for research, higher education and capacity building more generally.

THE POLITICAL ECONOMY OF HUMAN CAPITAL IN AFRICA
Prof. Bankole Oni, Nigerian Institute of Social and Economic Research, Ibadan, NIGERIA:

There exists a structural relationship between a society’s level of technological capability and its capacity to engineer social and economic development. Although many countries in Africa recognize the importance of the development of science and technology as a national policy, the lack of policy coordination and poor political economic management have constituted very serious constraints to the realization of the objective of human capital development in the continent.

SMOKE, MIRRORS AND POVERTY: INNOVATION AND COMMUNICATION IN GENOMICS, BIOTECHNOLOGY AND DEVELOPMENT
Prof. Jo Chataway, Development Policy and Practice, Open University, UK

Communication is essential to both innovation and development and there is considerable debate concerning what kind of communication about technology serves the interests of the poor in developing countries. In the field of biotechnology sophisticated communications techniques deployed by those in favour and those against the technology have created a ‘war of words’. Some technology based initiatives such as the International Aids Vaccine Initiative (IAVI) use both public relations (PR) and advocacy techniques to further scientific and technological capabilities in developing country contexts. But technology based development often exemplifies the difficulties in distinguishing between potentially damaging hype and productive communication efforts. This presentation argues that we need to think carefully about how we understand and judge communication efforts and the projects that they are associated with.

STUPID FARMERS, STUPID AGRONOMISTS OR STUPID ECONOMISTS?
Dr. James Morton, HTSPE Limited, UK

In the last 50 years, the international community has spent billions of dollars on agricultural research and extension. Theory justifies this as an investment in a public good and the green revolution seems to show that it is worthwhile. Nevertheless, there are few successes outside irrigated agriculture and the African farm sector stubbornly refuses to take off. This presentation looks at three cases of technical change, in Bangladesh, Yemen and the Sudan, each revealing how detailed analysis by experts completely missed the point, and uses them to re-consider some of the theoretical justifications for research and extension.