1st Quarterly Issue, May 2013 Center for Policy Studies CIIT Islamabad.
Policy Brief
Promoting Science, Technology, and Innovation Policy for Inclusive Develoment 1
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an science, technology, and innovation pave the way for economic growth and development that ensures poverty alleviation? What needs to be done in Pakistan during the next 10 years in science and technology to restrain economic underperformance and to achieve the socio-economic benefits and channelize them to underprivileged masses? This policy brief answers these questions in the light of the recently launched National Science, Technology, and Innovation (ST&I) Policy (2012) and stresses the need for “development-oriented” policy instruments for promotion of ST&I in the country. Three policy recommendations are drawn, keeping in view the present socio-economic challenges that Pakistan faces.
1. INTRODUCTION It has been widely recognized that the advancement in science and technology is the only way to ensure that masses, majority of which are extremely deprived, undernourished, and unemployed, get their due share in national economic growth and development. Being a developing country, with challenges mounting on yearly basis in terms of number, nature and their complexity, the panacea for economic problems in Pakistan certainly lies in building capabilities for sourcing external technical and scientific knowledge, its subsequent adaptation, and absorption for value addition in local production processes and simultaneously creating knowledge base for innovation. Such scientific and technical capabilities can help Pakistan increase productivity, reduce unemployment, and eliminate hunger, poverty, and disease, provided resources are channelized in achieving competence in selected areas that can benefit the poor, and most deprived people.
2. DISCUSSION: DO WE NEED TO DEVELOP TECHNOLOGY FRONTIERS? In general, innovation refers to a processes, product, or service that can improve people’s life by transforming knowledge into radically new or improved ways of doing things in a place where they have never been used before (Paunav, 2013). Regrettably, Pakistan has not been able to develop its capabilities to innovate, even in the sectors that the country has competitive strength for many years, like agriculture, livestock, information technology etc. According to the latest Global Innovation Index (GII) ranking, published every year by the INSEAD and the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), Pakistan ranking is 133rdout of 141 countries with meagre performance in knowledge creation, impact, diffusion, and innovative outputs – one of the important components in the GII (INSEAD, 2012). In October 2012, the Ministry of Science and Technology (MoST) launched its flagship policy document - the National Science, Technology,
Policy brief by Dr. Bilal Mirza
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and Innovation (ST&I) Policy 2012. Needlessly, the National Science, Technology, and by highly developed western countries with years of experience in research and development, well-established technical expertise, strong intellectual property regimes, and advanced international linkages that ensure high mobility among researchers and knowledge. Instead, the matter of fact is that developing countries are not expected to innovate at technology frontiers. In recent years, several countries have made remarkable economic and social progress by investing in education, technology and innovation capabilities, and industrialization. China’s Torch programme, implemented by Chinese government in 1986 is an excellent example of increasing rural income and rural household welfare through the implementation of programmes targeted at achieving agricultural productivity through education of farmers and introduction of modern agriculture technologies including ICT technologies (Fan & Watanabe, 2006). Adoption, adaptation, transformation, and innovation are turning out be a matter of survival for developed as well as developing countries. In technologically advanced nations, radical innovation with broader areas of interest is the common route to stay economically ahead, whereas in developing countries, incremental innovation ensures competitiveness in industry, services, and agriculture. Just in the last two decades, innovation with well-defined national innovation policy and enormous foreign investments has steered up economic growth and socio-economic development in several developing countries, including China, South Korea, Taiwan, Malaysia, Indonesia etc. Other notable examples include incremental innovations ones in agriculture, healthcare, information and communication technologies and mobile banking, have also improved the lives of masses Policy brief by Dr. Bilal Mirza
Innovation policy document targets several of those technology areas that are pursued in developing regions of Africa and Latin America and have resulted in generating employment opportunities that are inclusive – where employment is ensured for poor people regardless of their gender, ethnicity, age, disability, locality, and poverty. 3. POLICY RECOMMENDATIONS The National Science, Technology, and Innovation (ST&I) Policy (2012) presents a roadmap of aims and objectives under the areas of socio-economic development, human resource development, R&D infrastructure, and promotion of ST&I in the society. Undoubtedly, the MoST has defined the precincts for future ST&I related progress, where innovation is highlighted as a driver of economic activity, and the need to shift the paradigm from supply to demand, and a systematic effort to align ST&I policy with national policy in other economic sectors (see National ST&I Policy 2012). Nevertheless, as per the present socio-economic and technological state of the country, the exceptionally imperative policy document clearly disregards to address the issues of critical importance that can create a conducive environment for inclusive development - where science, technology and innovation congregate to contribute and address the needs of poor. In order to further tune up the National ST&I policy that can ensure realization of inclusive development objectives during the next decade, there are number of potential policy pathways that can be adapted in the context of present challenges confronted by Pakistan. However, in this policy brief, we shall stress the need to adopt three most essential and immediate action plans that the MoST along with other public organization need to adopt: 3.1 Focus on “Need Based Technologies”
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Firstly, there is a dire need of an unequivocal and profound understanding of the role of ST&I in alleviating multi-dimensional poverty in the country. Pakistan has performed abysmally in controlling the multi-dimensional povertyi, where according to the latest Human Development Report (2013), more than 49% people in Pakistan are classified as multidimensionally poor. In the absence of an overt focus on innovative activities with pro-poor factor, there might be a missed opportunity of improving the livelihoods of people, particularly those associated with agriculture in rural areas. The effective method, that could ensure the ST&I benefits decant through different economic classes and eventually reach and benefit the marginalized poor living in rural communities, is to promote the ‘need-based technologies’ that are identified through a meticulous assessment of thrust areas that Pakistan is ascertained to pursue during the next 10 years. This should be started by identifying the country’s present internal strengths that can tap external opportunities and meet the challenges on the science and technology front. Furthermore, public organizations, responsible for creating an enabling environment, need to pin down unambiguously the how, what, and why of the thrust areas that are identified. The National ST&I policy does refer to the problem of rural unemployment and tackling it through appropriate technologies and products based on locally available raw materialii. The policy action to develop simple technologies for relieving the major concerns of poor related to water, energy, housing, hygiene, etciii, is one of the essential steps in the right direction, however we still need to steer its direction towards the ‘need-based technologies’, that are imperative for economic growth and development.
Policy brief by Dr. Bilal Mirza
For instance, the National ST&I policy identifies 16 different thrust areas, without any specification of those that we foresee as our core strengths in the near future. Keeping in view the current socio-economic circumstances in sight, deciding upon three major areas of national interest may prove to be a better strategy than targeting 16, but mastering none. The thrust areas must include agriculture, livestock, and ICT as the core thrust areas with special emphasis on energy & water, pharmaceuticals & biotechnology, and textiles. This can eventually lift up the ST&I policy in right direction with emphasis on challenges that not only need immediate consideration, but can also ensure a sustainable and strong economic foothold that the country requires during the 10 years. Without uncertainty, the immediate need is to focus consistently on agricultural innovations that can improve the yields per hectare and varieties that are pest-resistant, as scientific and technological advancements in agriculture are always pro-poor in nature. Due to poor infrastructure, skewed landholdings, colossal soil degradation, natural calamities (floods, droughts, and earthquakes), and high urbanization trends, Pakistan has witnessed significant decline in agricultural production and per unit productivity during recent years. In such grim state of affairs, the role of information and communication technologies with innovations that can harness the mobile communication infrastructure and the human resource capabilities become foreseeable where rural communities can have all the related agricultural, weather, soil and market information (price fluctuations, supplies, etc.) in real-time and help them to make decisions that are timely and well-informed. This can help the farmers to build-up social platforms that are swift, well connected with other communities, agricultural experts, researchers, enterprises, and even consumers. 3|Page
3.2 Governance of Innovation Secondly, weak economic, political, and legal institutions in the country are also augmenting the intensity of economic crisis, where policies are usually learnt through experimentation. The institutions responsible for development and diffusion of knowledge are also experience poor governance capabilities, coordination, accountability, and merit. To streamline governance issues and develop coherence and consistency in policies adopted by different organizations that may cultivate a culture that promotes innovation across different sectors, there is a dire need for establishing a separate council, namely the National Innovation Council of Pakistan. We propose that the National Innovation Council (NIC), in collaboration with the Pakistan Council for Science and Technology (PCST) and National Commission on Science and Technology (NCST), should engage researchers with relevant qualification and experience from research institutes, think tanks, and R & D organizations. The foremost step by the proposed organization should be to instigate the foundation of periodic Community Innovation Surveys (CIS) that are acknowledged worldwide as a standard tool for assessing the innovativeness of national sectors and markets. Such surveys are already been executed in several Latin American, Asian and African countries, including China, India, Malaysia, Mexico, South Africa, Tunisia and many others. In Pakistani context, the proposed CIS can assist the public policy institutes, research organizations, universities, and private sector to identify bottlenecks in innovative performance of economy and to devise the strategies for policy that can be executed keeping in view the data gathered from the surveys.
Policy brief by Dr. Bilal Mirza
Other concerns of the NIC may also include developing the relevant initiatives in collaboration with the Intellectual Property Organization of Pakistan that eventually create venture capital markets to spur entrepreneurial activities in the country. Until recently, new businesses, including highly innovative ones, are typically financed with credit from family and friends with possibility of financing from banks and other financial institutions, provided the venture enters in subsequent stages, thus leaving out the likelihood of intermediate equity financing by seed money and venture capital. Under the auspices of the NIC, the National Innovation Fund should also be created, targeting the earlier mentioned thrust areas, the government can support innovative activities through equity financing, thus also encouraging private venture capitalists, enterprises, banks and other financial institutions to support and facilitate indigenous innovative solutions that can eventually scaled-up for socio-economic benefit. Furthermore, the NIC may also provide a networking platform for the technologies that are already being endorsed through a patent by the Intellectual Property Organization of Pakistan and are seeking early stage equity financing through seed and venture capital. 3.3 Coping with Brain-Drain Last but certainly not the least, Pakistan needs a national strategy to compensate the rising braindrain. The core strength in the advancement of science and technology for any country is its human capital.The human capital, with the stateof-the-art knowledge, experience, exposure and education can play inevitable role in realizing the dream to achieve science and technology objectives highlighted in the policy document. However, Pakistan, with its economic and security challenges, has faced significant brain drain during the last two decades, forming Pakistani diaspora in North America and Europe. Previously, Higher Education 4|Page
Commission (HEC) started few programs targeting highly skilled expatriates, including Foreign Faculty Hiring program, collaborative research funding, and many others, and engaged them in local universities and research institutes. With its predominant effects on the quality of higher education and research, such exchange programs still lack the broader socio-economic benefits that one can expect, keeping in view the magnitude of the allocated public funds. As a step ahead, there is a pressing need to devise strategies that directly target brain gain from Pakistani diasporas for ST&I development and promotion and create incentives to run technology-based organizations that form linkages with international networks and entities. This can facilitate to achieve the targets set out by the National Innovation Council, whereby talented, highly skilled, and wellconnected highly skilled expats can make use of National Innovation Fund, and create employment opportunities, ensure technology transfer and licensing, stimulate knowledgebased and skill-intensive innovative activities with higher socio-economic returns. To integrate of socio-economically deprived people in rural as well as urban communities through science, technology, and innovation, an immediate step should be developing necessary human resource capacities in such areas with relevant skills and knowledge to improve agricultural productivity using modern methods. Massive post harvest losses need to be prevented with the introduction of new preservation and packaging technologies and improvement of infrastructure i.e. farm to market roads, cold storage, infrastructure etc. 4. CONCLUSIONS The recent debates on development have highlighted immense economic benefit of propoor growth, however an important question to Policy brief by Dr. Bilal Mirza
ponder for a developing country like Pakistan is how to harness the benefits of science, technology and innovation for underprivileged segments of society that have limited disposable income. No doubt, investments in science, technology, and innovation are the only way forward for Pakistan, however a cautious approach in selecting what specific technologies the country intends to master and be recognized as its core strength in next 5-10 years is highly desirable. We need to seriously contemplate whether we can still afford to support the “growth-oriented” ST&I policy document for another decade or so and marginalized the needs of the poor or a serious and objective effort is requisite The need of an hour is a national science, technology, and innovation policy that is coherent, inclusive and can ensure meeting the multi-dimensional poverty alleviation targets. Indeed, the role of the ST&I policy is to provide a conducive policy framework and an environment that fosters entrepreneurial activities at grassroots level with an active involvement between science and technology research institutes with incentives for private entities to develop solutions that might reap the benefits of inclusive development in long run. Coupled with the proposed structural alignments those govern innovation activities across the country, Pakistan need to identify key weaknesses of its innovation system. Without an appropriate diagnosis of the weaknesses in the system, the new ST&I policy document, like the previous documents, will continue to add up useless efforts at national level. Without addressing the current weaknesses of the system, Pakistan may not be able to build the innovation system and exploit its key technological strengths and eventually, may miss yet another opportunity that could 5|Page
have otherwise put the country in a path of sustainable economic and social development.
poor depending on the number of deprivations his or her household experiences. This data are then aggregated into the national measure of poverty.
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According to Oxford Poverty and Health Initiative (OPHI) at the University of Oxford (UK), the Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) identifies multiple deprivations at the individual level in health, education and standard of living. It uses micro data from household surveys, and—unlike the Inequalityadjusted Human Development Index—all the indicators needed to construct the measure must come from the same survey. Each person in a given household is classified as poor or non-
References
see 5.3/71,72 p.29, National ST&I Policy 2012
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Policy action: A37, National Science, Technology, and Innovation Policy 2012. Dr. Bilal Mirza, Assistant Professor, Centre for Policy Studies, COMSATS Institute of Information Technology, Faculty Block I, Park Road, Chak Shahzad, Islamabad – 44000, PAKISTAN Email:
[email protected] The Global Innovation Index 2012: Stronger Innovation Linkages for Global Growth. 2012, INSEAD, France.
Fan, P., & Watanabe, C. (2006). Promoting industrial development through technology policy: Lessons from Japan and China. Technology in Society,28(3), 303-320. National Science, Technology, and Innovation Policy 2012. Ministry of Science and Technology, Government of Pakistan Naude, W., Szirmai, A., Goedhuys, M., (2011), “Innovation and Entrepreneurship in Developing Countries”.UNU-WIDER Policy Brief Number 1. Paunav, C., (2013), “Innovation and Inclusive Development: A Discussion of the Main Policy Issues”. OECD Science, Technology and Industry Working Papers 2013/01, OECD Publishing. Power, W. W., Snellman, Kaisa (2004), “The Knowledge Economy”. Annual Review of Sociology 30:199-220
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