Major emphasis on technology transfer/learning from others

In the second half of the 20^th century technology has revolutionized the economic production processes and its outcomes. Related to this, the importance of global markets to national economic development has increased at an unprecedented magnitude. Countries that fail to cope with these advances will become increasingly marginalized, and their economies will either stagnate or decline (Ransom et al., 1993). Hence countries are trying all means possible to keep up with the changes in technology and global markets. In this process of trying to move in pace with the world, the intellectual skills of the labor force, especially in science and technology, has become the major determinant. Because the level of use of advanced technologies in an economy is highly dependent upon the general level of education and culture of labor, there is a growing connection between people's intellectual skills and their countries' development potential (Carnoy et al., 1982 cited in Castells, 1993).

Science and technology play a critical role as sources of economic productivity and competitiveness in the contemporary global economy. Emphasizing this, Castells (1993) analogized the importance of science and technology systems in the new global economy with the role of factories in the industrial age. This is not to suggest

41

that manufacturing will disappear, but the new manufacturing of the twenty-first century, as well as agriculture and advanced services, will only be able to efficiently perform on the basis of a new, highly developed cultural, scientific, and technological system.

Thus, technology has emerged an important development tool, but it is also one of the most unevenly distributed capacities in the world, and access to technology and/or technology transfer has become at the core of development policies.

Literature also shows some of the most common ways of technology transfer developing countries may benefit from. Bianchi et al., (1988) for instance have identified the following:

• Import of machinery with the instructions and training for using it;

• Acquisition of licenses to design and produce the necessary equipment;

• Acquisition of know-how by training scientific and technical personnel by sending students, scientists, and technicians abroad to universities, government institutions, or foreign companies;

• Acquisition of know-how by inviting foreign experts to national universities or scientific or industrial organizations;

• Acquisition of know-how by training national personnel in foreign companies located in the country;

• Location in the country of technologically advanced foreign companies that produce at least partly for the local market.

Seen from the perspective of the developing country each mode of technology transfer has its merits and demerits. Relying on import policy negatively affects the trade balance of the country. Sending students and technical personnel abroad risks that they may not return home since they are offered much better conditions of work in the host country. Similarly attracting multinational firms to the country, though is one of the most successful methods of technology transfer, has its own drawbacks.

First, multinational firms are not much willing to let their valuable technology get in to the hands of potential future competitors. Second, locating in a developing country is mostly decided based on the overall production structure of the company, than the market or industrial needs of the host country. Similarly, training of personnel is determined based on the firm’s internal needs (Castells, 1993).

Traditionally, the unindustrialized countries were dependent on the industrialized ones largely being users rather than producers of science and technology. However the successful developmental states realized that they cannot, in the long run, rely on others to produce all of the research that is needed for their emerging technologically based industries. At the early stages they opted for unsystematized and unreliable methods where technological inputs were purchased from abroad or were sometimes simply copied without regard to the legal niceties. Countries like South Korea, Taiwan Singapore and China were all violators of copyright, trademark and intellectual property, until each came to the point of adopting a more systemic approach including legal framework (Altbach, 1992). They started developing their own scientific system and academic institutions as well as building a research base

42

in order to effectively analyze, interpret, and use advanced research and technology from abroad.

Different countries used different combinations of methods and strategies of technology transfer and development, to be able to link up with the globally advanced production system. However this required a basic structure that can facilitate the process of receiving, supporting and using the know-how being transferred, which (Castells, 1993, p. 70) summarized in to the following five elements:

• An adequate system of communications and telecommunication linkages at the world level.

• An integrated productive structure, where suppliers and markets operate, at least for the advanced segment of the economy, at a similar technological level. In other words, a modern firm without an adequate network of suppliers and ancillary firms can only be an enclave, unable to contribute substantially to the country's development, and ultimately unable to be competitive.

• A skilled labor force of workers, technicians, engineers, and scientists able to adapt their skills continuously to the fast pace of technological change.

• A research system able to assimilate the discoveries taking place in the most advanced areas of the world, adapt them to the country's specific needs, and gradually be able to participate in international scientific networks.

• An institutional system able to link scientific research, technical applications, and training of the labor force in the context of a process of technology transfer.

Without these conditions fulfilled to sustain an endogenous process of technological development, the exogenous impulses received through technology transfer will not be assimilated.

Clearly, in this process, higher education has a crucial role to play in training the labor force and generating the knowledge and research (Ransome et al., 1993). In rapidly industrializing countries higher education institutions have been acknowledged for contributing significantly in not only assisting the technology transfer and adaptation but in the development of endogenous technology as well.

They provide the skilled labor force that is needed for the development as well as transfer of technology, both in terms of specific skills (for example, engineering) and in terms of general learning ability; they generate the scientific foundation and the research and development activities (except for Japan where research and development was more concentrated in the private sector than in higher education);

they adapt innovations produced in other contexts and for other needs; and they perform such tasks in close connection with the industrial structure.

43