Science and Technology for the Future,Contents, Preface ...

SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY FOR THE FUTURE
- A FRESH LOOK AT INTERNATIONAL CO-OPERATION -
KLAUS-HEINRICH STANDKE
(EDITOR)
Proceedings of the High-level Colloquium
14-16 June 1989
UNESCO House
Paris
UNITED NATIONS EDUCATIONAL, SCIENTIFIC AND CULTURAL ORGANIZATION
PARIS, DECEMBER 1989
SECOND EDITION, MAY 1990
ISBN 92-3-102-654-2
TABLE OF CONTENTS
I.) THE ISSUES
CHANGING PERCEPTIONS
• Persistant Gaps
• The Survival of International Co-Operation
• Challenges and Reforms
• Science, Technology and Humanity
• Imperatives of Modern Science
• Revitalizing Development Dialogues
• Development Assistance Strategies
• The Dilemma
• Globalization of Problems
NEW DIRECTIONS: SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
• An Overview
• Basic Sciences
• Panel on Energy and New Materials
• Panel on Biotechnology
• Panel on Information Technology
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NEW CONCERNS: ENVIRONMENT
• An Overview
• The Oceans and Coastal Systems
• Panel on Terrestrial Ecosystems
• Panel on Earth and Water Sciences
NEW SOCIO-ECONOMIC CONTEXT
• An Overview
• Strategic Planning Considerations
CURRENT AND FUTURE STRATEGIES
• An Overview
• Human Resources Development
• Funding Science and Technology
• New Mechanisms for Co-operation
• International Co-operation in scientific research
• International Co-operation in Technological Research
CONCLUSION
II.) THE ACTORS AND THEIR TOPICS
Preface:
Introduction:
Federico Mayor, Director-General, UNESCO
Klaus-Heinrich Standke
Federico Mayor Director-General, UNESCO
Persistant Gaps
Frank Press President, National Academy of Sciences, USA
The Survival of International Co-Operation
G. I. Martchuk President, USSR Academy of Sciences
Challenges and Reforms
M.G.K. Menon President, International Council of Scientific Unions (ICSU),
Science Adviser to The Prime Minister of India
Science, Technology and Humanity
J. Auboin President, French Academy of Sciences
Imperatives of Modern Science
S. G. Trindade Assistant Secretary-General, Executive Director,
Centre for Science and Technology for Development,
United Nations
Revitalizing Development Dialogues
J. C. Wheeler Chairman, Development Assistance Committee, OECD
Development Assistance Strategies
C. Lafer Chairman, United Nations Intergovernmental Committee on
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Science and Technology for Development
The Dilemma
H. Curien Minister of Research and Development, France
Globalization of Problems
NEW DIRECTIONS: SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
PANEL ON BASIC SCIENCES
An Overview:
R. Sagdeev President, Committee of Soviet Scientists,
Director, Space Research Institute, USSR Academy of
Sciences, Member of Soviet Parliament
Chairman (Introduction and Summary):
W. Gordon Foreign Secretary, US National Academy of Sciences,
Vice-President of ICSU
Opinions:
S. Bergström President, Nobel Committee, Sweden,
Nobel Prize in Medicine 1980
H. Hogbé-Nlend Cameroon,
University of Bordeaux
C. Ponnamperuma Director
Institute of Fundamental Studies, Sri Lanka
A. Shibab-Eldin Director-General, Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research
PANEL ON ENERGY AND NEW MATERIALS
Chairman (Introduction and Summary):
H. Czichos President, Bundesanstalt für Materialforschung
Opinions:
V. Farinelli Scientific Counsellor, ENEA, Italy
O. Novick Managing Director, Econergics, Israel
M. Rodot Director, CNRS, Laboratory of Solid Physics
PANEL ON BIOTECHNOLOGY
Chairman (Introduction and Summary):
F. Gros Collège de France, Member of the Institute
Opinions:
A. Araoz Deputy Director-General, UNIDO
E. Edroma Chairman, Executive Committee, African Bioscience Network,
Kampala
C.G. Heden President, World Academy of Sciences
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PANEL ON INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
Chairman (Introduction and Summary):
A. Danzin Chairman, Intergovernmental Informatics Programme
(UNESCO), Vice-President, French Commission for UNESCO
Opinions:
A.M. Abdel-Bassit Director, National Scientific and Technical Information Network,
Academy of Scientific Research and Technology, Cairo
T.E.Frisk President, EuroPACE, former Vice-President, Science and
Technology, IBM Europe
B. Sendov President, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences,
Member, Executive Board of ICSU
NEW CONCERNS: ENVIRONMENT
AN OVERVIEW:
M.S.Swaminathan President, International Union fort the Conservation of Nature
PANEL ON THE OCEANS AND COASTAL SYSTEMS
Chairman (Introduction and Summary):
U. Lie Chairman, Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission
Director, Institute of Marine Biology, Blomsterdalen, Norway
Opinions:
B.R.Doos Deputy Director, Institute for Applied Systems Analysis, Vienna
K.F.Hasselmann Director, Max-Planck-Institut für Meteorologie, Hamburg
G. Hempel Director, Aölfred Wegener-Institut für Meeresforschung, Kiel
R.W. Stewart Deputy Minister for Science, Victoria, B.C., Canada
F. Talbot Director, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian
Institution, Washington, D.C.
M. Vanucci Coordinator, UNESCO Asian Mangrove Project, New Delhi
PANEL ON TERRESTRIAL ECOSYSTEMS
Chairman (Introduction and Summary):
W. Li President, Intergovernmental Council of the Man and the
Biosphere Programme (UNESCO),
Member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences
Opinions:
F. di Castri Director of Research, CNRS, Montpellier
S. Evteev Assistant Executive Director, UNEP
B. Long Director of Environment, OECD
E.von Weizsäcker Director, Institute for European Environmental Policy, Bonn
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PANEL ON EARTH AND WATER SCIENCES
L.J.Mostermann
Chairman (Introduction and Summary):
Honorary Fellow, International Institute for Hydraulic and
Environmental Engineering, Delft
Former Chairman, United Nations Committee on Science and
Technology for Development
Opinions:
T. Chambolle Director of Research and Technological Developments, Société
Lyonnaise des Eaux, France
G. Young Chairman, Intergovernemental Council of the International
Hydrological Programme (UNESCO),
Director, Cold Regions Research Centre, Wilfried Laurier
University, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada
A.J. Naldrett Chairman of the Board, International Geological Correlation
Programme, University of Toronto, Canada
NEW SOCIO-ECONOMIC CONTEXT
AN OVERVIEW:
A. King President, Club of Rome
J. Ripert Former Director-General for Development and International
Economic Co-operation, United Nations
Chairman (Introduction and Summary):
A. King President, Club of Rome
Opinions:
Strategic Planning Considerations
F. Sagasti Chief, Strategic Planning Division, The World Bank, Washington,
Chairman, United Nations Advisory Committee for the
Application of Science and Technology to Development
CURRENT AND FUTURE STRATEGIES
AN OVERVIEW
W. Rosenblith Former Foreign Secretary, US National Academy of Sciences,
Convenor, ICSU Conference on International Science and its
Partners
PANEL ON HUMAN RESOURCES DEVELOPMENT
Chairman (Introduction and Summary):
O. Odhiambo Director, The International Centre of Insect Physiology and
Ecology, Nairobi,
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President, African Academy of Sciences
Opinions:
J. Boright Director, Division of International Programmes,
US National Science Foundation
J. R. Gass Director, Education, Manpower and Social Affairs, OECD
J.C. McKenzie Secretary, Institute of British Civil Engineers,
Secretary-General, World Federation of Engineering
Organizations
J. Tear Director, International Foundation for Science
PANEL ON FUNDING SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
Chairman (Introduction and Summary):
R. Lalkaka Director, United Nations Fund for Science and Technology for
Development
PANEL ON INTERNATIONAL CO-OPERATION IN SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH:
NEW MECHANISMS FOR CO-OPERATION
Chairman (Introduction and Summary):
A. Salam Director, International Centre for Theoretical Physics, Trieste,
President, Third World Academy of Sciences,
Nobel Prize in Physics 1979
PANEL ON INTERNATIONAL CO-OPERATION IN TECHNOLOGICAL RESEARCH:
NEW MECHANISMS FOR CO-OPERATION
Chairman (Introduction and Summary):
R. Lesgards President, City of Sciences and Industry, Paris
Opinions:
M. Macioti Principal Counsellor, Science, Research and Development,
Commission of the European Communities
J.P.Massué Scientific Counsellor, Parliamentary Assembly, Council of Europe
R. Sagdeev President, Committee of Soviet Scientists,
Director, Space Research Institute, USSR Academy of
Sciences, Member of Soviet Parliament
S. Okamura Tokyo Denkin University
President, Japan Society for the Promotion of Science,
Chairman, Natural Science Section, Japanese National
Commission for UNESCO
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CONCLUSION:
KLAUS-HEINRICH STANDKE
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PREFACE
BY FEDERICO MAYOR
DIRECTOR-GENERAL OF UNESCO
From 14-16 June 1989 Unesco organized a colloquium at its Headquarters in Paris
on the Theme “Science and Technology for the Future: A Fresh Look at International
Co-operation”. This colloquium contributed to the end-of-decade review of the Vienna
Programme of Action on Science and Technology for Development undertaken by
the United Nations for the period 1979-1989.
The primary aim of the event was to seek a better understanding of the objectives,
achievements and failures of intergovernmental co-operation in science and
technology. The colloquium was attended by eighty-four distinguished individuals and
representatives of organizations within and outside the United Nations system: They
included outstanding experts in specialised fields of science and technology from
major intergovernmental organizations, presidents of national and regional
academies of science and presidents and/or secretaries-general of the main science
and technology international non-governmental organizations.
The colloquium provided a forum for debate on the pervasive role of science and
technology over a broad spectrum of human endeavour and the implications of
emerging socio-economic and technological trends for international of the science
and technology co-operation in the coming decade.
As well as presenting the views expressed at the colloquium, the brochure highlights
the salient issues raised and the trends identified. To all those who contributed to this
stimulating endeavour, I extend Unesco’s most warm thanks.
“PERSISTENT GAPS”
OPENING STATEMENT BY
FEDERICO MAYOR
DIRECTOR-GENERAL OF UNESCO
The United Nations and its Specialized Agencies have come a long way since the
first United Nations Conference on Science and Technology for the benefit of the
least developed areas, which took place in 1963 in Geneva under the chairmanship
of Professor Thacker of India, and with Professor Chagas of Brazil serving as
Secretary-General.
Sixteen years later, two other distinguished representatives of these countries were
to play a prominent role at the second United Nations Conference on Science and
Technology for Development in Vienna in 1979. I am talking, of course, of Professor
Menon of India, Chairman of the Conference Preparatory Committee and Vice-
Chairman of the Conference, present here at this Colloquium as President of ICSU,
and of Mr. da Costa of Brazil, who acted as the Conference Secretary-General.
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We are also fortunate to have with us here the first Chairman of the United Nations
Committee on Science and Technology for Development, Professor Mostermann of
the Netherlands, as well as the present Chairman of this Committee, Mr. Lafer of
Brazil, who will preside over the ten-year Review Session in August 1989 in New
York.
It is also a pleasure for me to greet the Chairman of the United Nations Advisory
Committee on Science and Technology for Development, Dr. Sagast from Perou and
the Chairman of the United Nations Inter-Agency Task Force on Science and
Technology for Development, Mr. Araoz, Deputy Director-General of UNIDO and Dr.
Trindade, Executive Director, UNCSTD.
With the presence of so many highly experienced colleagues, I am confident that this
colloquium will achieve its aim: to help us all better understand the aspirations,
possibilities and also the disappointments of multilateral intergovernmental cooperation
in science and technology.
The aim of the colloquium is to make a useful contribution to the overall discussions
by sparking off new dialogue and encouraging the international community as a
whole to take a ‘fresh look’ at the status of science and technology co-operation on
the eve of the closing decade of this century. A new momentum can and must be
generated and I believe this meeting can provide interesting food for thought.
This is the first time that we have brought together in one room, outside of the
framework of the General Conference, representatives from practically all scientific
disciplines. An increased interdisciplinary approach to Unesco’s various science
programmes is one of my main aims in the years to come. Another is an accent on
future-oriented works because I believe that prospective studies are essential within
our fields of competence, where change is so rapid.
Another special feature of this Colloquium is the presence of key representatives
from other intergovernmental organizations inside and outside the United Nations
System that are stakeholders in multilateral co-operation in science and technology,
as wll as in environmental issues (United Nations, UNIDO, UNEP, OECD, Council of
Europe, etc.).
Furthermore, I do hope that the presence of representatives from UNDP, UNEP, the
World Bank and some of the most bilateral donor agecies specializing in science and
technology issues will lead to an interesting debate on financing science and
technology for development. In this context, the statement of Mr. J. Wheeler,
Chairman of the Development Assistance Committee (DAC) of the OECD, is likely to
be of particular interest.
The involvement of leading representatives from industry is also vital to such a
debate. I intend to set up soon a high-level industry-university consultation group to
foster closer interaction between these two important sectors of society and Unesco’s
programmes.
I am very glad to see here the Presidents of the Academies of Sciences of our hosty
country, France the United States, the Soviet Union, India and Bulgaria. My particular
thanks go to Drs. Frank Press and Guri Martchuk, whose presence in our midst is
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particularly significant and a visible demonstration that the world science community
is a single and united one.
I am also delighted that we have with as the Presidents of the World Academy of
Sciences and the African and the European Academy of Sciences, as well as the
Presidents of the European Science Foundation, the Club of Rome, the World
Federation of Scientific Workers as well as the Deputy Director of IIASA.
I am sure that the results of this Colloqium will be of value to Dr. Rosenblith, in the
preparation of ICSU’s Conference on ‘International Science and its Partners’.
For Unesco’s partnership with the world engineering community through the World
Federation of Engineering Organizations and the Union of International Technical
Associations, is equally important. The Presidents and Secretaries-General of both
organizations as well as the Secretary-General of the European Industrial Research
Management Association (EIRMA) are with us.
We have intentionally opened the doors of this colloquium to the media and to the
scientific attachés and advisers of delegations in Paris to UNESCO, the OECD and
the Government of France. They can all serve as important relays in the
dissemination of the message this colloquium will define.
My own ‘message’, based on the experience gained in the decade since the Vienna
Conference is threefold:
• First, the ‘knowledge gap’, not only between developed and developing
countries but among the developing countries themselves, ist fast increasing.
In order to prevent a further delinking of more than two-thirds of the countries
of the world from the dynamics of science and technology, a special United
Nations system-wide effort is needed, calling for concerted action on the
United Nations specialized agencies in close co-operation with UNDP, the
World Bank, the regional development banks and, last but not least, the
bilateral agencies.
• My second point relates to human resources development, which should be
central to our deliberations. There is, in most nations, developed and
developing alike, a shortage of scientists and engineers. The promotion of
basic science education and advanced training to prepare future generations
of scientists, engineers and technical personnel, and the drive to enhance
international mobility among such people, should have the highest possible
support. The systematic expansion of existing networks between the
universities and between the scientists of the world would be a most effective
approach.
Ten years ago at the Vienna Conference, the creation of endogenous
capacities for science and technology as well as a massive transfer of financial
resources was the main focus of the discussions.
These issues have not lost one iota of their importance in the time-span since
Vienna; quite the contrary.
• A third element has emerged since, which is the need for a scientifictechnological
underpinning of all issues concerning the ‘global commons’. I
cannot over-emphasise the importance of ensuring that decision-makers are
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provided with the latest sound and verifiable scientific data on which to base
their decisions, particularly in such fields as education and the environment.
After all, within all societies, as well as on a world-wide scale, we witness the gap
between the ‘have’s’ and the ‘have-not’s’ as well as that separating the ‘know’s’ from
the ‘know’s not’. And of increasing importance, is finally the gap that wxists between
those who have work and those who do not.
My hope is that our sights can be set on the turn of the century and through our
activities over the coming years better prepare the world for free, prosperous,
educated and environmentally sound life in the twenty-first century.
We must share our planet and we must also provide access to learning, not only for
certain privileged countries or people but for everybody, so that alle are able to
benefit from knowledge and its applications. I agree that in the ethical context, there
are many terms of reference, not only the economic ones; such as ecological and
development ones, and the full enjoyment of human rights.
What can we do in order to find a way out of the labyrinth in which we find ourselves?
I like to recall one statement by Albert Einstein: “In a moment of crisis only
imagination is more useful than knowledge”. We need knowledge, but we also need
imagination. We need to dare. It is for this reason that we gave this colloquium the
title ‘a fresh look’. Indeed, we need to have a new approach that can help humanity
at this crucial moment on the threshold of a new millennium.
INTRODUCTION
BY KLAUS-HEINRICH STANDKE
In the Decade since the United Nations Conference on Science and Technology for
Development, which took place in August 1979 in Vienna, there have been significant
changes in the perception of international cooperation in science and technology.
Following on from the accepted concept of ‘globalization of science’ there is now
notion of the ‘globalization of technology’. Within an increasingly multipolar world
economy, a number of successful new patterns for international scientific and
technological co-operation have been developed, including governments, industry
and the scientific community. Although a more favourable environment is currently
emerging for both South-North and East-West dialogue on the role of objectives of
development co-operation in general and on the nature of scientific and technological
co-operation in particular, there are also increasing risks of a further isolation of the
least developed countries from the dynamics of science and technology.
At the end of this difficult time-span, Unesco’s Colloquium on Science and
Technology for the Future, held in Paris from 14 to 16 June 1989, attempted to
facilitate a ‘fresh look’ at international co-operation at the eve of the last decade of
this century..
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It was felt that holding of a high-level Science and Technology Colloquium of this type
could help identify common focuses for the many activities planned in this area,
mobililize the science and technology community as well as government authorities in
Member States, and give a new momentum to multilateral scientific and technological
co-operation within the United Nations System. Such a meeting, it was hoped, could
contribute to defining new ways of financing science and technology activities for
development.
The deliberations of the Colloquium, set on purpose in an informal framework, hence
presented an opportunity to focus on emerging issues of relevance, not only to
Unesco’s science and technology programmes but also to other agencies of the
United Nations system and to the non-governmental science and technology
community at large. It is hoped that the Colloquium will have some impact on the
orientation of UNDP’s next development cycle (1991-1995) and on the new role
which both human-resources development and science and technology issues play
in the multilateral loan policies of the World Bank and of the Regional Development
Banks as well as in the framework of bilateral co-operation.
The findings of this meeting were presented by me on behalf of Unesco to the Tenth
session of the United Nations Intergovernmental Committee for Development, held in
New York from 21 August to 1 September 1989.
CONCLUSION
BY KLAUS-HEINRICH STANDKE
Ten years after the United Nations Conference on Science and Technology for
Development held in Vienna in 1979 it becomes evident that diplomatically
negotiated ‘Grand Designs’ for international co-operation on a world scale have lost
most of their original meaning and momentum. It is in this context an alarming
phenomenon witnessed by organizations of the United Nations System that a high
number of developing countries – particularly the least developed countries – are
absent from the debates on science and technology issues.
The Unesco Colloquium organized in connection with with the end-of-decade review
of the Vienna Programme of Action has demonstrated that most of the international
co-operation mechanism created since UNCSTD in 1979 are operating outside the
multilateral United Nations System. There is a real danger that the traditional
industrialized countries, together with the newly industrialized developing countries,
linked with a multitude of strong bilateral agreements on the governmental as well as
on industrial levels are creating de-facto an informal international science and
technology co-operation system from which the vast majority of developing countries
is being left out.
For the last decade of this century the following co-operation modalities can be said
to be emerging: They have been highlighted as possible common options by the
findings of the Unesco Colloquium in June 1989, by the tenth session of the United
Nations Intergovernmental Committee on Science and Technology for Development
in August 1989, as well as by the ‘Panel of Eminent Persons’ invited by the
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Secretary-General of the United Nations on the occasion of the Special Session of
the UN General Assembly to commemorate the tenth anniversary of the Vienna
Conference:
1. Since not more than approximately thirty developing countries are partners in
special scientific and technological bilateral co-operation agreements with the
industrialized countries, the vast majority of developing countries is more than
ever dependant on multilateral co-operation, A collective efforts of the United
Nations System as a whole is thus needed to extend systematically the
benefits of science and technology to the high number of economically
disadvantaged countries of the world.
2. The human resource dimension of all economic and social development
aspects will need a greater political attention in the years to come. For the
creation of the necessary endogenous capacities in science and technology in
developing countries the availability of scientist, engineers and technicians in
adequate numbers is an indispensable perequisite.
3. Another new focus for the multilateral co-operation in science and technology
in the 1990s will stem from the growing awareness of the global and regional
deterioration of the environment. This complex issue was not an item for a
major debate at the Vienna Conference (UNCSTD) ten years ago, but has
since moved into the centre of the world’s attention.
4. In the absence of special multilateral funding mechanisms for science and
technology, UNDP, the World Bank and the regional development banks as
well as ‘multi-bi’ funds-in-trust arrangements will, as in the period before
UNCSTD, remain the main sources. What seems to be called for is a new
dialogue with these funding institutions in order to reach a better
understanding of the specificity of the funding of science, technology and
environmental issues which are all, by definition, of a long-term-nature.
5. As an extension to the classical bilateral co-operation instruments, scientific
and technological networks continue to offer the best effective international cooperation
framework. A blending of intergovernmental, governmental and nongovernmental
institutions seems to offer very positive results. Twinning
arrangements between two academic institutions, university-industry cooperation
arrangements and international fellowships are all well tested cooperation
mechanisms.
6. As very few topics are of the same importance for each country in the world, it
appears to be promising to organize scientific and technological co-operation
schemes whenever possible around common interests or around common
interests or around common geopolitical considerations, for example,
Technological Co-operation among Developing Countries (TCDC), regional or
sub-regional approaches, special situations of landlocked or island countries,
common problems of least developed countries (LDC’s), and so on.
7. It can be predicted that the international co-operation in science and
technology in the 1990s will call for a new interaction between multilateral and
bilateral relations in which the regional intergovernmental organizations will, in
addition to the worldwide operating Specialized Agencies of the United
Nations System, such as Unesco – provided that they are prepared to meet
the new challenges - emerge as important new actors.
8. It can furthermore be predicted that in international co-operation the role of
scientific and technological non-governmental organizations, such as ICSU, as
well as that of the private sector, will on a world scale – rapidly increase.
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