Abstract
In most developing countries a gap separates the research establishment from the applied sector. As a consequence, results from indigenous research are not transferred to those who may be able to apply them in industry, health and agriculture, i.e. to the technology end-user. Two factors create and sustain the gap: (1) mechanisms that promote and facilitate technology transfer from laboratories to industry or farmers either do not exist or are poorly developed in these countries; and (2) obsolete but tenacious economic, legal, and social barriers exist that prevent university-industry co-operation. It is reasonable to assume that developing countries will be unable to benefit fully from biotechnology, in terms of economic development and problem solving, unless they are able to utilize results from indigenous biotechnological research. Bridging the gap between research and applications is therefore of vital importance. Accordingly, the aim of this paper is to consider what governments and international agencies can do to bridge this gap and to demarcate specific measures that they can implement relatively quickly and easily. The focus throughout this paper is on capability building in biotechnology, especially as it affects researchers and technology end-users in the Third World. This depends to a great extent on setting up technology-transfer units in universities and industries, staffed by professionals whose raison d'être would be to make certain that research results are indeed applied.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Anon. 1992 Record year for shrimp farming. INFOFISH International 2, 39.
Colwell, R.R. & Zilinskas, R.A. 1991 United States: Congress, States and Pharmaceutical Research. Biofutur 106, 87–91.
Kornberg, A. 1991 Biotech nightmare: Does Cetus own PCR? Science 251, 739.
Maryland Industrial Partnerships 1991 MIPS Report. College Park, MD: Engineering Research Center, University of Maryland.
Meyer, F.P. 1991 Aquaculture disease and health management. Journal of Animal Sciences 69, 4201–4208.
Office of Technology Assessment 1984 Commerical Biotechnology: An International Analysis. Washington DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.
Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development 1986 Recombinant DNA Safety Considerations—Safety Considerations for Industrial, Agricultural and Environmental Applications Derived by Recombinant DNA Techniques. Paris: OECD.
Polne-Fuller, M., Rogerson, A. & Gibor, A. 1991 Trichosphaerium I-7, a marine amoeba which digests polyethylene and “saran wrap”. Paper presented at the Second International Marine Biotechnology Conference, 15 October 1991, Baltimore, MD.
Sasson, A. 1988 Biotechnologies and Development. Paris: United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.
Trigo, E.J. & Jaffé, W. 1990 Biosafety regulations in the developing countries. Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology Monitor 30, 46–52.
United Nations Industrial Development Organization 1986 Capability Building in Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering in Developing Countries. Document No. UNIDO/IS.608. Vienna: UNIDO.
United Nations Industrial Development Organization 1991 Voluntary Code of Conduct for the Release of Organisms into the Environment. Vienna: UNIDO.
Zilinskas, R.A. 1988 Biotechnology and the Third World: The missing link between research and applications. Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology Monitor 24, 105–114.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Zilinskas, R.A. Bridging the gap between research and applications in the Third World. World J Microbiol Biotechnol 9, 145–152 (1993). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00327824
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00327824