Developing countries profit from technology transfer and diasporas abroad
Developing countries embraced new technologies at twice the rate of developed countries during the 1990s, with much of the acceleration due to foreign investment and overseas diaspora, according to a new report from the World Bank. The bank finds that recent progress can be attributed to three trends: globalisation, which has exposed developing countries to foreign technology through imports; foreign direct investment, which is often accompanied with knowledge of important technologies and foreign markets; and highly skilled international diasporas, which expose developing countries to technology through trade and the return of former émigrés. While the technology gap between developing and developed countries such as those in Europe is thus closing, there remains much catching up to be done. A factor slowing down this catch-up is the poor capacity in many developing countries to absorb and make use of new technologies. The report blames weak domestic skills and competencies, as well as rigidities in the regulatory environment, for the low absorption capacity. When skilled people emigrate from developing country, the loss of skills can be a huge blow. But as the report points out, such mobility can lead to technology transfer in both directions. The skilled migrant is likely to have contacts back home, and to pass on knowledge and technology to them. 'Technology appears to diffuse more efficiently through culturally and nationally linked groups, and shared ethnicity appears to counteract the kind of home bias effects that underpin the geographic network or the cluster effects that give high-density R&D [research and development] zones an innovation advantage,' states the World Bank report, citing a study by Agrawal, Kapur and McHale from 2004. 'On average, the diaspora is much more skilled than the home-country population and represents an important concentration of expertise,' adds the World Bank. The domain of science and technology is particularly affected by emigration, as rates for scientists, engineers and those in the medical profession tend to be higher than for the general university-educated population. Emigration rates from India during the 1980s and 1990s are a particularly striking example of this phenomenon. Some 4% of those with a tertiary education left India, while the figure for those graduating from the elite Indian Institutes of Technology ranged from 20% to 30%. Whether or not the émigrés return home depends on a number of factors, including their home country's per capita income, research facilities, the density of research networks, the size of pre-existing diaspora and living conditions. Expatriate knowledge networks have been created in some countries in order to foster regular contact, the transfer of skills and opportunities for collaboration with researchers and entrepreneurs in the expatriate's home country. One study identified 41 such networks for 30 different countries. An obvious success story is Colombia's Red Caldas network, set up with government assistance in 1991. It has succeeded in promoting collaborative research between domestic scientists and Colombian researchers abroad through workshops and symposiums, joint research programmes, visiting researchers, publications and training. Other networks have failed, principally because they were too ambitious or support back home was lacking, says the report. Having recognised the value of European diasporas abroad, the EU recently launched activities to foster closer ties between them and researchers based within the EU. ERA-Link is a network of European researchers and scholars in the US. The members of the network are informed about EU research policies and made aware of career opportunities in Europe as well as opportunities for collaboration with Europe. Similar initiatives are planned for other countries to which European scientists have relocated, including Japan.