Biotechnology and the Third World: the missing link between research and applications

A United Nations University study investigated the activities of four major United Nations agencies that focussed on helping developing countries gain advanced capabilities in biotechnology. Relevant program and project documents were scrutinized at agency headquarters and managers were interviewed. Then, projects underway in three case countries (Egypt, Thailand, and Venezuela) were examined. The resulting information was used to assess whether United Nations projects were fulfilling these countries' needs and (or) advancing their capabilities in biotechnology. The minute, United Nations originated assistance available was directed solely at increasing capabilities in research and thus benefited bioscientists and their institutes. However, as virtually no linkage exists between the research establishment and the industrial--marketing sector, results from indigenous research does not reach industrialists or health workers. Consequently, biotechnology is neither advancing economic development in the case countries nor helping solve national problems. This situation is likely to persist because corrective systemic changes will be difficult to implement. Major implications of these findings are discussed, particularly as they bear on the United Nations system.