11 February 2002: Plenary session 9
Technological
leapfrogging: the lure and the limits
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Prof. Umberto Colombo
Former Minister of Universities, Science and
Technology, Italy
"Hydrogen is just right for the future."
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Mr Somnath Bhattacharjee
Director, Energy-Environment Technology Division, TERI
"We need to adapt foreign technologies, keeping in
mind the deficiencies of the local technologies"
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Mr Eisa H Al-Majed
Director, Regional Office for Asia and the South West
Pacific, World Meteorological Organization, Geneva
"A new paradigm of scientific inquiry
needs to be invoked."
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Mr Shyamal Ghosh
Secretary, Ministry of Telecommunications and IT,
Government of India
"One talks of death and sustainable development in the
same breath."
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Mr Ashok Khosla
President, Development Alternatives, India
"More than half the people of this planet have been
left out of the mainstream."
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Dr Nebojsa Nakicenovic
Project Leader, Transitions to New Technologies,
International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis, Austria
"Let us start technological learning now."
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Dr Manju Sharma
Secretary, Department of Biotechnology, Ministry of
Science & Technology, Government of India
"Biotechnology can be defined as technology that earns
money from biology; it has great potential."
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Dr Hansvolker Ziegler
Chair of International Group of Funding Agencies for
Global Change Research and Deputy Director-General, Environmental and Social Research,
Federal Ministry of Education and Research, Germany
"What kind of science and technology is required for
overtaking without having to catch up?"
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| Session summary |
| Technological
leapfrogging implies skipping many, if not most, rungs of the technology development
'ladder' by directly adopting more advanced technologies. Most rural households cannot
access basic energy services and rely heavily on traditional means, which adversely affect
health and well being besides depleting the country's limited natural resource base.
Advancement in science and technology offers unprecedented opportunities for sustainable
development. Development and commercialization of
infrastructure is critical for technology to percolate to the grass roots. Affordability
of and access to this technology are key to ensuring and improving livelihoods.
Technology can be incremental (reduces cost, improves
performance) and radical/revolutionary (replaces traditional technology with modern).
Incremental technologies can help the small-scale sector
meet present challenges of efficiency improvement and environmental compliance. Radical
innovations increase people's welfare. In the IT sector, upgradation of existing wireline
services to increased bandwidth and new wireless technologies for remote access could help
overcome the digital divide. A new paradigm of scientific inquiry can address major global
environmental issues. Satellite-based monitoring and automated data processing systems
should be adapted and made affordable for developing countries.
Technological change helps improve performance, reduce
cost, and mitigate adverse impacts of human activities. The ideal balanced strategy would
aim at adoption of incremental changes in the short term and radical transitions in the
long-term planning process. Opportunities to nurture entrepreneurial spirit and human
ingenuity are essential. Appropriate legislative measures, financial support, and
international cooperation are required to ensure that developing countries do not follow
the developmental path traced by industrial countries. |
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