CREATION OF THE OFFICE OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

The Twentieth Special Session of the General Assembly of the Organization of American States (OAS) held in Mexico in February 1994, while defining priorities for the Inter-American Council for Integral Development (CIDI), emphasized the necessity for OAS to move away from "...traditional aid oriented approach and developing instead forms of cooperation based on a partnership..."^/ It went on to state "Partnership for Development must facilitate the attainment of the objectives set by the member states themselves, supporting the channeling of additional resources to complement national efforts, in keeping with the priorities set by the General Assembly and the strategic plan devised by CIDI." During the same session the General Assembly identified "Scientific development and interchange and transfer of technology" as priority areas for development cooperation and instructed CIDI to address these topics in its strategic plan. Similar support for the scientific and technological activities was confirmed at the Summit of the Americas and at the Hemispheric Meeting of Ministers Responsible for Science and Technology in Cartagena.

The Miami Summit has given the OAS a clear mandate: to support the commitment of the countries of the Hemisphere on an irreversible process for economic integration by building upon existing bilateral and subregional trade arrangements in a global economy to negotiate a Free Trade Area for the Americas.^/

The countries of the region participating in the globalization process could face two adverse situations which will have to be addressed:

a) an increase in the disparity of income distribution between countries and within each country.

b) an increasing technological gap between countries which invest in innovation process and countries which could not or would not commit adequate resources in support of research and development (R&D). This technological gap has significant impact on the well being of nations concerned since it determines the differences in productivity and in income distribution within and between countries.

Such a technological gap was clearly identified by the Heads of the Governments of the region back in 1967, when they decided to create at the OAS a Regional Scientific and Technological Development Program for Latin America. "Latin America will share in the benefits of the current scientific and technological progress so as to reduce the widening gap between it and the highly industrialized nations in the areas of production techniques and of living conditions."^/ This gap has expanded to a point that it threatens to become an irrecoverable abyss, specially due to the fast paced advances in such high technology areas as informatics, micro-electronics, biotechnology, new materials, compressed digital communications technologies etc. These advances are not only science based but also require highly skilled personnel to operationalize these technologies. Thus, the gap is no more limited to development of appropriate technologies but has now expanded to the lack of capacity to apply "off the shelf" technologies. Recognition of this short fall by the region’s leaders is reflected in their strong support for S&T activities during the Summit of the Americas in Miami.

1.2 A Scientific and Technological Strategy for the Region

It will be impractical to aim for self reliance in the areas of Science and Technology for all Latin-American and Caribbean countries. This strategy has been attempted by some countries during the past decades but has proven to be impossible to achieve. Expenditure needed to accomplish such a goal is beyond the means of most countries. The modern trend among nations, as well as private firms is to undertake joint ventures at least to the point where the new knowledge generated has any proprietary value. It is of course possible for nations to identify a niche and do relatively well in that particular segment. Another policy which is being pursued by many countries is buying technologies or creating a favorable climate for international corporate investment. This policy, as means for technical change, has its own very serious drawbacks.

The simple act of buying technology requires a minimum knowledge of what is available, as well as knowledge of basic scientific principles on which the particular technology is based. Without this knowledge, the selection, adoption and adaptation of a technology to suite the local conditions, in order for it to function efficiently, will be very difficult to achieve.

On the other hand, transnational corporations require qualified labor at all levels, including the scientific one. One of the present strategies of international corporations is to focus their investments, specially the most productive ones, in countries which are able to offer a more capable scientific and technical labor force. The appropriate context for investment is not only macroeconomic stability, it includes a technical capacity at all educational and working levels.

1.3 Relationship between Science, Technology and Development

1.3.1 Need for a Solid Scientific Infrastructure and Control of Modern Technological Change.

There is ample evidence to show the importance of Science and Technology in the social and economic development of nations and communities. The Ministers of Foreign Affairs and Finance, gathered at the OECD Meeting, formally recognized this fact in their declaration on "Technology and Economic Program" issued in 1991.^/ ECLAC at about the same time, in its major report "Social Equity and Changing production Patterns: an integrated approach"^/ spelled out the same fundamental understanding of the role of technical change in promoting sustainable economic growth. During the September 1995 Meeting of Ministers of Industry of Latin America and the Caribbean, organized by UNIDO in Montevideo, the issues covered dealt mainly with areas which require important inputs from science and technology, such as the application of competitive clean technologies, and activities which require close interaction with scientific and technological methodologies such as quality, standardization and metrology. OECD summarizes this worldwide consensus:

a) "Technical change" is the most important contributory factor in economic growth.

b) Research and Development (R&D) is strongly associated with productivity growth in firms.

c) The fastest growing industries in the world economy, and the fastest growing categories of world trade, are technology intensive.

d) Shares of world trade are correlated with innovative activity.

The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) states that in the world where the command of technology is the clue for competitiveness, "...the challenge the countries of the region will face is to acquire and maintain the command of contemporary technological change."

1.3.2 Need for a National Innovation System

The IDB points out that in order to absorb and handle contemporary technological change, having the command of some technologies is not enough. It is necessary to count on "an institutional system" or "a national innovation system". The essence of "any efficient strategy will be, thus, the strengthening of systematic competencies." This refers not only to activities of the public sector, but to the cooperation of this sector with others, in order to set off and support the creative forces of society, generating a general context that facilitates and favors innovation. This system extends from technological services to productive sector, and from services such as metrology, standardization and quality control to capacity to adapt technologies and solve technical problems with new solutions.

To accomplish this, it is necessary to establish a sound scientific and technological infrastructure and have a research community which is knowledgeable about the state of the art in a broad base of scientific and technological areas. It is also necessary to develop a sustainable research and development (R&D) culture as well as R&D capacity in the priority areas. A high quality education system responsive to the needs of the productive sector is essential in order to fulfill the personnel requirements of the modern productive sector.

On the other hand, the existence of an adequate R&D base does not necessarily lead to social and economic development. This, however, was the general believe when the Regional Scientific and Technological Development Program was established in the OAS. Common wisdom during those days was based on a linear model of the innovation process, which assumed that if one did "good" science, technological development would follow almost automatically. This simplistic model however is not popular any longer. "The understanding of technological innovation has recently changed dramatically. Interactive models, differing significantly from the earlier linear approach, now emphasize the central role of industrial design, the feedback effects between downstream (market related) and upstream (technology related) phases of innovation and the numerous interactions between science, technology and other innovation-related activities within and among firms." ^/

The elected Heads of State and Government of the Americas in the Miami Summit and the Ministers Responsible for Science and Technology, in their Cartagena Declaration, have recognized "the strategic role that science and technology plays in economic and social development and environmental protection" and the need for a systemic approach to the matter.

They have also recognized that "the development of scientific and technological capabilities in the Hemisphere is an objective which requires a substantial investment effort by all countries."

1.4 Importance of Hemispheric Cooperation in S&T

Although the Ministers accepted the individual efforts of the member countries, they strongly recommended hemispheric cooperation in development of science and technology. They also noted that cost of scientific research requires the sharing of the "critical masses" and centers of excellence, and recognized the contribution of scientific networks in fostering research cooperation.^/

Collaboration in scientific and technological activities among countries and even between firms at present times is the norm rather than the exception. Cost is a factor in the area of "big science" such as high energy physics or the study of human genoma, however other necessary considerations would also include the availability of a "critical mass" of scientific manpower with complementary qualifications. The countries of the European Union recognized the need for such cooperation at an earlier stage. Their cooperative "Framework Programs" are serving as models for many initiatives of international cooperation, but they are not limited to the area of high technology. Internet (the Network of networks) is probably the most clear example of cooperation among scientific communities.

It is evident that cooperation in any field complements and multiplies individual efforts. However, perhaps there are no other fields in which collaboration has a greater impact and potential for substantial payoff as in the endeavors related to science and technology. This collaboration in scientific and technological activities leads to complementarity of each party’s expertise which could result in shortening the lead time for innovations. The Summit of the Americas and the Meeting of Ministers Responsible for Science and Technology, recognized this advantage when they recommended hemispheric cooperation in the fields of Science and Technology. Such cooperation, however, is rather expensive, such efforts are justifiable when they lead to "addition of value" i.e in cases where the outputs have greater present and/or future value than the total cost of the inputs.