Technology: It is not a silver bullet in international development

Monday, February 22, 2010

Jeff Waage, Director, London International Development Centre, discusses why policy, local knowledge and new innovations are critical in enhancing the capacity of science and technology to deliver in the developing world

Perspectives on international development and how it is to be achieved have varied over recent decades. The free-trade, market-based approach of the 1980s, often called the Washington Consensus, placed emphasis on economic growth and a reliance on business and trade to lift countries out of poverty. Subsequently, greater emphasis has been placed on human development, the factors that kept individuals and communities poor, including poor education and health, and particularly the lack of good governance and pro-poor policies.

As development theory changes, so does attention paid to science and technology. Traditional development theory puts technology, and its capacity to reduce the labour costs of producing goods and benefits, as an engine of development, and hence identifies a key role for science. As poverty is seen to more the product of political and social processes, science is seen as less of a priority, a perception which has been widespread in recent years. However, with new threats of infectious disease pandemics, the emergence of climate change as a central development issue and the recent food security crisis, science has regained a prominent role in development thinking and investment. The growing influence of private foundations, so-called philanthro-capitalists, has also spurred interest in finding technological solutions to development problems.

An analysis of the role of science in development today can make use of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) as a framework. The following examples illustrate some of its features, drawn across MDG emphasis on hunger, health and environment:

New Rices for Africa (NERICA) – this West African-based project engaged biotechnology from China, in the form of plant tissue culture techniques, to create hybrids between African and Asia rice varieties, thereby increasing the yield of African rices several-fold, and reducing their growing time, while preserving desirable local attributes of pest and drought tolerance.

Malaria control - Following a failed attempt to eradicate malaria at the end of the last Century, malaria has resurged, killing one million per year, mostly children and mostly in Africa. A mixture of new and old technologies offers hope: a combination of new medicinces to combat drug resistance, led today by an ancient treatment, artemisinin, derived from a Chinese herb; traditional bednets improved by impregnation with safe pesticides, and the prospect in the medium term of a malaria vaccine.

Earth observation – a recent global assessment reveals many of our key ecosystem services, e.g. the provision of clean water, fertile soils, biodiversity for food and fibre, to be degraded, particularly in poor countries. This is occurring on a vast global and often in remote areas – how to we measure changes in resources and prioritise action? Advances in earth observation by satellite, combined with geographical information systems and information technology, is solving this problem by monitoring and predicting changes in world forest cover, water supply and many other vital resources.

These are just a few examples of advances in science and technology that have direct benefits for development. Looking across the range of examples like this, we can draw three conclusions:

Firstly, science innovation for development is not just about technological solutions. As importantly, it is about establishing a scientific understanding of problems that guides development policy and investment. This role for science is particularly clear with climate change. The growing scientific understanding of climate change has not only made this an international development priority, but it has allowed us to identify specific targets around which policies and agreements for mitigation and adaptation need to be built.

Secondly, successful science innovation for development draws on the full range of sources of science and technology. As we see for malaria, traditional herbal medicines, conventional methods like bednets and new vaccine technology can all contribute to development. This observation challenges deep-seated and extreme views. At one extreme is the naïve perception of new technologies as stand alone, "silver bullet" solutions for development problems. At the other extreme is the belief that an emphasis on local and traditional technologies are the only legitimate, fair and appropriate technologies in a development context. A new generation of science innovators needs to replace these prejudices with the understanding that being "appropriate" is not about where innovation comes from but about how useful it is.

Finally, there are specific needs and opportunities for new science innovation for development, not simply for the modification and wider application of existing, conventional technologies. This is particularly the case for "new platform technologies" - these are technologies emerging from the latest advances in basic science. By their very nature, they are largely being generated in and for the needs of industrialized countries. They include biotechnology, information and communication technology and nanotechnology.

Traditionally, we see such technologies delivered to meet development needs only after a slow period of "trickle down", and much effort at technology transfer and adaptation. Today, we look to accelerate that process by involving developing country scientists at the initial stages of defining problems for basic research that will underpins development of technologies and applications. In this way, research addresses potential applications for developing as well as industrialized countries from the start. Sometimes, developing country applications may be at the lead, as is the case with mobile telephony in Africa, where demand for mobile applications in health care, banking, business and education are booming in the comparative absence of traditional ICT systems typical of wealthy countries.

But building new science and technology with development in mind creates a profound challenge – we must help developing country partners to improve their national scientific capacity so that they may participate in global science and innovation. And it is not just scientists who need this empowerment, it is the entire "innovation system", the networks of public and private sector institutions and professionals who initiate, import, modify and diffuse new technologies, including entrepreneurs and regulators. Strengthening national science innovation systems in developing countries will require a different approach than that which characterizes North-South science today. Today, science cooperation is usually built around projects, often short term and, while directed at development goals, often firmly driven from the North. These efforts rarely help to build continuing capacity in southern institutions. Fortunately, there is change, and we are now seeing more southern-based, capacity-strengthening scientific partnerships in development. The emergence of Brazil, India, China and other countries as international science leaders will accelerate this process through South-South collaboration. With strong equitable partnerships, the opportunities for science and innovation for development will accelerate development and benefit all.