Bridging the gap between research and applications in the Third World

In most developing countries a gap separates the research establishment from the applied sector. As a consequence, results from indigenous research are not transferred to those who may be able to apply them in industry, health and agriculture, i.e. to the technology end-user. Two factors create and sustain the gap: (1) mechanisms that promote and facilitate technology transfer from laboratories to industry or farmers either do not exist or are poorly developed in these countries; and (2) obsolete but tenacious economic, legal, and social barriers exist that prevent university-industry co-operation. It is reasonable to assume that developing countries will be unable to benefit fully from biotechnology, in terms of economic development and problem solving, unless they are able to utilize results from indigenous biotechnological research. Bridging the gap between research and applications is therefore of vital importance. Accordingly, the aim of this paper is to consider what governments and international agencies can do to bridge this gap and to demarcate specific measures that they can implement relatively quickly and easily. The focus throughout this paper is on capability building in biotechnology, especially as it affects researchers and technology end-users in the Third World. This depends to a great extent on setting up technology-transfer units in universities and industries, staffed by professionals whose raison d'être would be to make certain that research results are indeed applied.