Science and Technology Policy for Sustainable Development/Nam S&T Centre

Developing countries greatly suffer from the absence of a meaningful science and technology policy for stimulating the process of economic development by appropriate use of the S&T resources. They also lack appropriate human resources with adequate expertise in S&T policy formulation and implementation. In order to correct these imbalances, it is necessary to have consultations between the governments, institutions and industry by taking into account the specific technological needs and resources of each individual country. The decision makers in developing countries should be provided more and better information for the formulation and implementation of S&T polices which would include the data on S&T statistics, human resources devoted to R&D, education of R&D personnel, measurement of technological innovation and S&T outputs like publications, patents, technologies developed and commercialised etc., so that new policies may be formulated and required modifications in the policies if already existing may be made in order to ensure the sustainable growth of the country without compromising on its present resources and keeping it prepared to face the future challenges. This publication reflects an exchange of the views and collectively evolves the ideas and practices to be followed while executing the S&T policy programmes within the developing countries, concerned organisations and agencies through a collection of 19 research papers including country status reports from nine countries. This volume is chiefly based on the discussions and presentations during the International Workshop on Science and Technology Policy for Sustainable Development that was organised in Tehran, Iran during 5-7 January, 2011 jointly by the NAM S&T Centre and the National Research Institute for Science Policy (NRISP), Ministry of Science, Research and Technology of Iran. The information presented herein would hopefully serve as a valuable material not only for the scientists, policy makers and executives, but also for the concerned authorities of the developing countries in taking appropriate policy measures.