Private and public appropriation of biotechnology

Introduction and objectives
Biotechnology is one of the key enabling technologies and has become a driving force of dramatic changes of the innovation process in various sectors. Not surprisingly, the promotion of biotechnology has been on the agenda of nearly every European country since the 1990s.

The development and implementation of biotechnology is rather di-verse across countries and also within countries. This could be explained partly by his-torical, geographical, economic or demographic factors. However, governmental policy approaches are an important key for understanding why biotechnology shows such large differences in growth patterns between countries. (more…)

The regional workshop in Germany was held on June 27, 2006, in Bonn with stake-holders from 9 different organisations active in economic co-operation with and support of developing countries. The aim of the workshop was to increase the awareness of the organisations with regard to the specific role of universities in developing countries. The workshop was introduced by two presentations on the chances and limitations of knowledge-based strategies in developing countries. The following discussion showed that the attendants saw an increasing relevance of universities in developing countries and agreed on the need of a more pronounced support. An inventory of the existing instruments revealed that at present, the most effective instrument is the support of students and researchers from developing countries working in German research insti-tutions, in particular in universities. Furthermore new possibilities exist to support re-search projects in developing countries on-site. The attendants considered this ap-proach as very promising and see the necessity of a stronger focus on this type of sup-port. A substantial problem is still the general support of institutions in developing coun-tries without a link to specific research projects. This requires a reorientation of the pol-icy of German support institutions, on the one hand, but also a clear request from the site of the partner countries, on the other hand. Furthermore, the workshop showed a good potential of an improved co-ordination of the different German organisation en-gaged in the co-operation with developing countries in the field of research activities.

Germany Position Paper presented at UNIVERSIDAD06
Germany Power Point presented at UNIVERSIDAD06

Ulrich has made two small sub-contracts with researchers of the University of Bielefeld and of the University of Bonn for conducting the German case studies . Click on More to read the minutes from the meeting planning the work for these case studies.

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Report on the German System of Innovation

The report will describe the basic structures of the German System of Innovation in particular with regard to the role of scientific institutions. In addition to universities, the report will address the specific role of non-university research institutions, as their weight in Germany is considerable. The report will describe the specific challenges for the German system in view of the increasing international competition in technology. This first part will meet the requirements of point 1, mentioned in the introduction.

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Developing Universities
The Evolving Role of Academic Institutions in Economic Growth
Holding of a National Workshop in Germany

Responsible:
Dr. Ulrich Schmoch
Fraunhofer ISI
Karlsruhe, Germany
Tel: +497216809114
Fax: +497216809260
Email: Ulrich.schmoch@isi.fraunhofer.de

The workshop is projected for end of March/ beginning of April 2006. As to the organisation of a national workshop in Germany, it is less appropriate to or-ganise a meeting aiming at the discussion of the role of universities and other scientific institutions with the national system or the need of a reform of the present system with regard to future challenges. For since about five years, there is an ongoing debate on a substantial reorganisation of scientific institutions, in particular universities, accompa-nied by various conferences and workshops. Therefore, relevant stakeholders will not be ready to attend a further workshop in this context. However, the awareness of the relevance of universities in developing countries is rather low in Germany, although the relevance of this topic will increase in the coming years. On the one hand, the devel-opment aid should encompass the scientific institutions in addition to basic needs and agriculture, as the developing countries have to meet the requirements of knowledge society. On the other hands, many developing countries are already successfully im-proving their scientific competences, so that the traditional division of labour between industrialised and developing countries has to be readjusted. Against this background, we suggest a workshop with refers to the role of academic institutions, especially universities, in developing countries and the consequences of their increasing role for Germany.

For this workshop we will invite representatives of institutions which are primarily engaged in traditional ways of support for developing countries. We plan to invite representatives from the following organisations:
 Federal Ministry for Education and Research (BMBF). It is already engaged in the support of cooperation between German universities and universities in de-veloping countries.
 Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation (BMZ). Its main focus is the support of developing countries in the fields of poverty, debt release, peace, environ-ment, human rights, basic education, and health. Up to now, the support of higher education does not play any role.
 Society for Economic Cooperation (GTZ). It is the major executing organisation on behalf of the BMZ.
 Society for International Further Training and Development (Inwent). The soci-ety supports foreign students and experts with regard to further training in Ger-many and young German people to study and work abroad.
 Alexander von Humboldt Foundation. It supports the work of scientists from for-eign countries in Germany a large share whereof is from developing countries.
We intend to hold the workshop in Berlin in January or February 2006. As introduction, we project three presentations:
 Dr. Ulrich Schmoch (Fraunhofer ISI): The new role of academic institutions in developing countries in the context of knowledge economies
 Prof. Phil Shapira (Georgia Institute of Technology): The role universities in developing national systems of innovation. The example of Malaysia.
 Prof. Barbara Kehm (Wissenschaftliches Zentrum für Berufs- und Hochschul-forschung, Göttingen): Effective instruments for supporting universities in developing countries

Probably a further statement of a representative form the BMZ or the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation will be made. In any case, the presentations will be quite short in order to leave more time for discussing the role of academic institutions in national systems of innovation, in particular in developing countries and consequences for support schemes in Germany.

An original idea to invite representatives of SIDA or other Swedish organisations was given up, as it will already be precarious to reach a minimum level of agreement between the various German institutions. Against this background, the presence of a ‘foreign’ institution might inhibit an open debate. In any case, the workshop aims at initiating a discourse of the potentially relevant organisations in Germany on the role of academic institutions in developing countries.