innovation in nanotechnology an asia-pacific perspective - apctt

C. Address
Mr. K. Ramanathan, Head of APCTT-ESCAP, then addressed the gathering, welcoming
all present at the consultative workshop on promoting innovation in nanotechnology
and fostering its industrial application in the Asia-Pacific perspective. He said the
workshop was a very important component of APCTT-ESCAP’s continuing work on
national innovation systems and innovation systems for promoting highly emerging
technologies in the Asia-Pacific region. He expressed his deep gratitude to Prof. Tissa
Vitharana for kindly gracing the workshop with his presence. He pointed out that the
workshop had its origins in a discussion that he had with Prof. Vitharana several
month back. He said he was happy that resources could be harnessed to organize the
present workshop in Sri Lanka and that everybody could come together to take advantage
of what was taking place in technologically advanced nations, including those in the
Asia-Pacific, in areas such as biotechnology, nanotechnology, ICT, new and renewable
energy technology, and environmentally sustainable technology. These technologies
were not easy to be developed into commercially valuable form, he observed.
Nanotechnology was a highly multidisciplinary area and involved a number of fields –
such as applied physics, material sciences, supramolecular chemistry, mechanical
engineering, mechatronics, chemical engineering, bioengineering and electrical
engineering – with applications in diverse fields. To take advantage of developments in
these critically important technologies, nations needed to launch in a very committed
and focused manner initiatives that might be called technological leapfrogging into
important emerging areas.
However, the question that would crop up in everyone’s mind was how to realize this
leapfrogging effort in an effective and sustainable way. Mr. Ramanathan placed before
everybody’s consideration some views as to how this could be achieved. Firstly, among
the countries in the Asia-Pacific region there were some nations, such as the Republic
of Korea, that were reasonably advanced in the field of nanotechnology. It would be
invaluable if an ICT-based South-South network of technological knowledge in this field
were to be formed to share information such as national policies, institutions working
in the chosen area, technologies available for sale and IP protection and utilization.
Such information would also enable countries to make benchmarking, and the network
would help them gain access to technologies that would enable them to leapfrog into
the intermediate levels of technology.
Mr. Ramanathan said it was well known that generation of those technologies through
R&D was expensive. Unlike the rich nations of the world, many countries of the South
did not have the kind of resources (2-3 per cent of their GDP) to spend on R&D. One
possible approach to overcome this would be to form a South-South network of R&D
institutions within which the members could share information on research institutions
and their research focus, researchers, and intellectual property (IP) that has been
generated. This information could facilitate the launch of collaborative efforts. The IP
thus generated through collaboration could be all jointly disseminated, he said. Mr.
Ramanathan added that he was truly delighted that the ministers of different countries
in the South wished to launch collaborative efforts to move forward. Perhaps the richer
countries in the South could consider providing some support to launch this South-
South initiative.
Before concluding, Mr. Ramanathan expressed his deep appreciation to the Secretary
General and the secretary of ESCAP for providing generous funding that enabled the
organizers to bring together international resources persons and country delegates to
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