SAB NewsWorldwide Technology Gap Concerns Scientists and PhysiciansPosted 2/23/2004 Fifty-eight percent of the 2,100+ respondents to a poll by The Science Advisory Board lament that access to technology is creating an unbridgeable gap between developed and developing countries. The remaining respondents were divided between 26% who thought technology access was not widening the divide between the “haves” and “have-nots” and 16% who were not sure about the status of global technology access to comment on it. It is obvious from this survey that researchers and allied health professionals are concerned about the imbalance of resources and information between developed and developing countries. To help remedy this situation, developing countries should focus on identifying the most pressing needs, building up key infrastructure, supporting local training, and providing outreach. “I believe that developing countries should concentrate on acquiring biomedical technologies that would be most valuable to them, are easily transferred and can be adapted to the realities local adoption requires,” comments Dr. Tamara Zemlo, Director of Scientific & Medical Communications for The Science Advisory Board. Developed countries can assist most directly in the transfer of biomedical technologies to their developing neighbors by directly investing in the countries themselves, fostering joint ventures and alliances, permitting licensing, providing technical service and supporting trade. Indirectly, these same countries can make valuable contributions by encouraging their talent to temporarily relocate in developing countries, offering special training opportunities, and securing access to technical information, e.g., publications, patents, etc. More controversial measures include “turning a blind eye” to reverse engineering and copying and compulsory licensing. Collectively, developed countries should also pay careful attention to international trade and other policies that might be inadvertently stymieing technology transfer from their countries to developing countries. |
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