History and Past Activities
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History and Past Activities |
ESA Conference: Ageing Societies, New Sociology
September 23-26, 2003 in Murcia, Spain
Two streams of sessions of the
Research Network 18: Sociology of Science and Technology (SSTNET)
Convenors:
Raymund Werle: Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies, Köln, Germany (werle@mpi-fg-koeln.mpg.de)
Marja Häyrinen Alestalo: Dept. of Sociology, University of Helsinki, Finland (marja.alestalo@helsinki.fi)
Luísa Oliveira: DINÂMIA/ISCTE, Lisboa, Portugal (luisa.oliveira@iscte.pt)
Maarten Mentzel: 38 Johan de Wittstraat, 2334 AR Leiden, The Netherlands (m.a.mentzel@planet.nl)
First Stream: Governing Science and Technology in the Era of Globalization
Thursday Sept. 25
14.30 - 16.30 session 6 (Campus de La Merced)
Chair: Marja Häyrinen-Alestalo
6.4. Author(s): Ulmanen, Johanna/Box, Louk de la Rive
Institution: Maastricht University, Department of Technology and Society Studies (TSS)
Professional Category: Research Assistant (Ulmanen, Johanna), Professor of International Cooperation (de la Rive Box, Louk)
City: Maastricht
Country: Netherlands
E-mail: J.Ulmanen@TSS.unimaas.nl, Louk.delaRivebox@TSS.unimaas.nl
DIFFERENT, STILL COMPLEMENTARY?
A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF DONOR POLICIES ON BIOTECHNOLOGY AND DEVELOPMENT — THE CASES OF THE NETHERLANDS AND SWEDEN.
The new era of globalisation, characterized by privatisation, multinational firms, property rights on products and production processes and the production of ever more complex technologies with shorter lifecycle, poses an increasingly bigger problem for less developed countries (LDCs) to catch up with the developed world.
As stated by the Human Development Report 2001, one of the essential issues is to enable LDCs to develop new technologies, such as modern biotechnologies. These have been considered as tools that can improve food production and food quality as well as produce relevant pharmaceuticals.
In this paper we investigate two pioneering donor policies in supporting the development of modern biotechnology in LDCs. First, the Dutch DGIS, chosen for its novel approach following the trend of local problem based participatory and bottom-up research and technology development. The second case is the Swedish SAREC, widely known in the development community for its scientific and technological research cooperation.
We find that the respective policies are quite different, yet can be seen as complementary. Overall lessons learned are first, the importance of a sufficient science base and second, the relevance of participatory practices with equal participation of all stakeholders when developing products for industry and agriculture. Conclusions are drawn on the continuing relevance of bilateral aid programmes in a context of increasing globalisation.
Sociology of Science and Technology NETwork - last update: April 2006