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TECHNOLOGY CAPACITY-BUILDING INITIATIVES FOR THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY IN ESCWA MEMBER COUNTRIES

The effectiveness of various forms of science and technology (S&T) capacity-building initiatives, including technopoles, incubators, and high-technology industry clusters has been proven in developed and developing countries alike. If Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA) member countries are to meet the socio-economic challenges of the twenty-first century, they must be able to take advantage of similar initiatives.

Concerned institutions in several ESCWA member countries have already approached the Technology and Industry Sections and the regional advisors of ESCWA to provide inputs with regard to the design of technology parks and technology/business incubators (see chart). Furthermore, the fact that institutions in a number of ESCWA member countries are in the process of either setting up park facilities, contemplating their establishment or seeking advice on such measures, is further evidence of the need for ESCWA to play a well-defined role in this regard.

The study entitled, Technology Capacity-building Initiatives for the Twenty-first Century in the ESCWA Member Countries, is one of a series of activities carried out by the Technology Section of ESCWA with the aim of promoting technological capacity-building in the ESCWA member countries. It reviews the most common models for technology-based initiatives and charts practical approaches to their design and implementation. Case studies with regard to S&T policy initiatives and various technology capacity-building initiatives such as technopoles, incubators, and high-technology industry clusters, are included. The case studies are taken from various developed and developing countries and are analysed in the context of their original setting and prevailing conditions. As far as possible, lessons are drawn from these experiences in the hope of providing food for thought for designers of ESCWA member country initiatives. Furthermore, pioneering initiatives in some Arab/ESCWA countries are reviewed as pointers with regard to the current status in the region. A framework for future action in the Arab/ESCWA countries is offered in the form of a proposed set of guidelines for the promotion and development of further such initiatives. Recommendations adopted at the ESCWA Expert Group Meeting on Coordination of Technology Policies to Increase Productivity and Competitiveness within the Global Context: Capacity-building Initiatives for the Twenty-first Century, held in Beirut from 1 to 3 November 2000, are also included.

The aforementioned study sets the scene for future activities. The aim of these is to launch initiatives in ESCWA member countries. These initiatives would be concerned with the development of new institutional forms, including technology parks, technology incubators and high-technology enterprise clusters. They would also be concerned with the development of bridging organizations capable of linking research and development (R&D) institutions to small and medium enterprises in the production and service sectors. The ESCWA Initiative for Technology Parks, Incubators and High-Technology Clusters, launched during the November meeting, is one such framework aimed at identifying and implementing schemes which can be adapted to the specific conditions and priorities of ESCWA member countries.

The Initiative responds to a strong need, evident both from the field and in the recommendations of a number of ESCWA expert group meetings, to undertake operational activities aimed at fostering technology, research, development and demonstration networks and activities. These are aimed at linking production and services capacity to enhanced technology inputs. Thus, participants in at least three of the past expert group meetings of the Technology Section have voiced strong support for a more active role on the part of ESCWA with regard to networking technology capacity-building institutions. ESCWA meetings in relation to priority areas concerning ESCWA work programmes during the past few years have also emphasized these points.

Technology parks and other new institutional forms can, and have in the past, played an important role in technological capacity building. They do this by bringing together, in the same physical location, facilities that include R&D, manufacturing, high-level training, technology and business incubation, financing institutions, standardization and calibration laboratories, testing and analytical facilities, industrial services and facilities. Technology incubators afford an effective means of disseminating new technologies as bases for new business ventures. High-technology industry clusters have effectively fostered the rapid introduction of new technologies into obsolescent traditional industrial sectors.

It is in this context that the ESCWA Initiative, aimed at fostering the creation of technology
parks-essentially as instruments for networking at the disciplinary, sectoral and functional levels-constitutes a logical and necessary step at the present time. It is recommended that ESCWA focus on the following tasks:

1. The preparation of documents concerning the role played by technology parks and other capacity-building schemes, with case studies from developed and developing countries, including nascent examples from selected ESCWA member countries;
    

2. The elaboration of frameworks for establishing capacity-building schemes. At least three models must be considered. These would cater for variations in the nature and diversity of prevailing economic conditions and the degree of sophistication of national S&T and innovation systems;
    

3. The monitoring of activities aimed at the creation of technology parks and their subsequent operations in the ESCWA member countries, with the aim of facilitating exchange of know-how and expertise;
    

4. The establishment of its role as a hub for a network of technology parks and other capacity-building schemes in the ESCWA member countries.