Search

The regulations for agriculture sector related biotechnological innovations are discussed, and the implications thereof are highlighted.

A study was conducted to analyze the social and spatial implications of the linear model of R&D. The implications were added to a 'roadmap of the science/technology relationship.' Three aspects of R&D were distinguished: R&D as a set of activities encapsulated within a broader set of activities in the company and the economy; R&D as having a social content and structure and R&D as a geographical phenomenon.

A survey of 12 UK companies was carried out to determine the extent to which advanced materials and materials research and development are being integrated into corporate strategies. The results revealed that many opted to implement materials innovation either through new business development, acquisitions, international collaborations with customers or research and development programs.

A UK study indicates that research parks by themselves are insufficient to stimulate the academic sector into producing technological innovations for industrial applications. It is shown that the location of industrial research and development stations are not affected by their proximity to academic research centers. However, it is recognized that the business environment in the UK is sufficiently delineated from the US model to significantly affect the recognized non-viability of the model.

ABSTRACTSome emerging countries have made significant progress in developing local pharmaceutical and biotechnology but had less success in building medical device industries (MDIs). This paper explores the weak development of local MDIs by analysing the contrasting evolutionary trajectories of Indian healthcare technology sectors. The Indian pharmaceutical and biotechnological industries have emerged as leading global suppliers of generic drugs and vaccines, in marked contrast to the medical devices industry. This paper reveals that existence of a weak collaborative linkage between medical device manufacturers and the Indian health system, which largely lacks a systemic and cross-sectoral linkages, and weak communication between industry and government policy-makers have become a huge barrier to the development of the Indian MDI in the contemporary neo-liberal environment. The weak connection between technology and industrial policy and healthcare policy objectives has severely hampered both development of national technological capabilities and the creation of affordable health care.

Research is presented concerning an analysis of research and development, technical change and innovation management by industrialized countries to design a framework for innovation in developing countries.

The article offers information on the evolution of policy regulation on an ongoing research on agro-biotechnology and pharmaceutical industry in Europe. Research shows that policy and regulatory initiative can influence innovation process but they are infrequent and their value and significance are unrecognizable. It shows that good governance is achieved by creating a policy and regulatory environment that is geared in the desired direction.

Science and technology and particularly biotechnology is increasingly central to development agendas in Africa and elsewhere. Implicit within the centrality of science and technology lie a set of policy issues regarding how best to shape contextually appropriate, innovative and sustainable science and technological products in, with and for developing countries. The work of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) is a case in point and we draw our empirical material from the evolution of two biotech bovine vaccine development programmes housed in a CG Centre. In the paper, we seek to show that broadening our understanding of scientific 'excellence' can lead to more innovative, systemic research that may produce more appropriate technological solutions. We believe this has key implications for science policy, development policy and the practice of science for development itself.

This article reports on a detailed study of large agro-biotechnology companies, conducted during the recent period of rapid industrial restructuring. The concept of life science synergy, involving a useful cross-fertilisation of ideas between the development of new drugs and new crop protection products, has floundered. Although negative public reaction to GM (genetically modified) crop development is a significant cause, our research suggests that there are other more subtle causes, such as organisational culture differences between agro-chemicals and biotechnology disciplines and between seeds and chemicals firms. We found three distinct approaches to life science and technology trajectory-seeking in top agro-biotechnology companies.

Since the mid-1980s most African universities have been struggling with massive decreases in available resources. Support from external donors, after decreasing through the early- and mid-1980s, has stabilized and may even be rising. However, given the loss of government resources for core activities, donor support has assumed a greater overall significance and is increasingly needed for core activities such as teaching, staff development and infrastructure. External support is often planned in relation to policies developed by each donor agency, rather than integrated into university institutional development initiatives, with the danger that it erodes capacity-building. This paper, reporting on comprehensive research undertaken in two African universities with high levels of donor support, seeks to illustrate the seriousness of the problem, and to analyse why it has grown. The paper suggests that it is possible, given better understanding of the issues, to improve the situation, but only if donor support is flexibly coordinated in function of university needs and plans. It further argues that successful coordination calls for a changed relationship with universities. Finally, the paper attempts to draw out issues of general significance for higher education policy in Africa and suggests that the crisis of African universities manifests itself in complex and highly specific situations that are not amenable to simple universal policy prescriptions.

Based on research carried out in 1996, this paper explores how different actors and interest groups are responding to the current crisis of industrialisation and technological developmentin Tanzania. The background to the crisis is of a gradual crumbling of Tanzania's stateled model of development and the installation of market-led measures over the last decade. It is argued that simple distinctions between state and market are insufficient for understanding the dynamics of industrial and technological capability building. The concept of networks of learning is explored as a means of understanding the complex relationships which help or hinder industrial development. Existing, embryonic and potential networks in Tanzania are identified and discussed in terms of their usefulness for understanding industrial capability building.

The EC Deliberate Release Directive 90/220 responded to a wide-ranging risk debate on the intentional release of GMOs. It was to integrate environmental precaution with market harmonisation. New networks have offered opportunities for influencing the expertise and concepts which would guide its implementation. In particular, ‘familiarity’ has been promoted as a euphemism for acknowledging and clarifying uncertainty about biotechnological risk.The Directive provided a flexible framework for evaluating potential effects of GMOs — their statutory relevance, acceptability, causality and plausibility. Regulators have had to devise normative judgements, for which divergent norms have arisen from national differences in regulatory style and institutional framework. Only by learning from these differences can the regulatory procedure accommodate the wider risk debate and thus address the legitimacy problems of biotechnology.

In the article 'Mozambique's' Presidential Offensive - We are declaring war on the enemy within (Peoples' Power,No. 16, 1980) Richard Williams made an interpretation of the organisational and political offensive launched at the beginning of 1980 in Mozambique. The main aim of the article was to argue against the simplistic views prevalent in the British press at that time that Mozambique was lurching to the right. Marcelino dos Santos and Jorge Rebello had been moved from their ministerial positions to full-time party work. This has been described as demotion following the defeat of an imagined left-wing faction. The country's attempts to attract foreign investments and the encouragement of local private traders was said to indicate a return to 'the capitalist road'.

Mozambique - Towards a People's Health Serviceby G. Walt and A. Melamed (Eds), Zed Press, London, 1983; Mozambique - the Revolution under Fireby Joe Hanlon, Zed Press, London, 1984; A Difficult Road - the Transition to Socialism in Mozambiqueby John S. Saul (Ed), Monthly Review Press, New York, 1985.Crippling a Nationby Aziza Seedat, published by International Defence and Aid Fund (IDAF), London, 1986; and The South African Diseaseby Cedric de Beer published by Catholic Institute for International Relations (CIIR) London and AWP (US) autumn 1986. Originally published in 1984 by the Southern African Research Services, Johannesburg, South Africa.Population and Development Projects in Africaedited by Clarke, Khogali and Kosinski, Cambridge University Press, 1985.Health Sector Policy Options for Independent Namibiaby Neil Andersson. United Nations Institute for Namibia, Lusaka, 1984.RESPONSE TO REVIEW BY KATE SHOWERSThe Third Portuguese Empire, 1825-1975: A Study in Economic Imperialismby Gervase Clarence-Smith, Manchester University Press, 1985, 256pp.

This paper examines R&D and strategic decision–making in firms, reviewing institutional and market constraints that act on the development of bio– and new materials technologies. The findings are assessed against the background of biotechnology and new materials as potential 'core technologies' that, combined with new socioeconomic norms, will make up a significantly different technoeconomic paradigm for the next century. The studies presented portray levels of complexity that highlight the variety of technological evolution. They also illustrate the need for improved methods of analysis that better integrate macro– and micro–levels of evolutionary theory.

Pamela Smith and David Wieldrecently spent two years in Maputo at the Ministry of Health and the University Eduardo Mondlane. Here they assess the state of science in Mozambique

Focuses on the impact of research on biotechnology innovation in Europe. Companies in Europe that announced proposals to consolidate research-led life sciences; How researchers got trained in the 1970s and 1980s; Information on research programs offered by the Center for Technology Strategy.