SciDev.Net

In 2003, the Gates foundation infused new vigour into global health efforts by declaring that the 21st century's "grand challenges" included developing new vaccines and overcoming drug resistance. This new grand challenges initiative, launched by a collaboration of top global chronic disease experts, identifies priorities in tackling diseases like diabetes and cardiovascular disease, and explains in detail how research should be directed to meet each challenge (a challenge was defined as a critical barrier that if removed would help solve an important health problem).

To distill the range of opinions and priorities, the coordinators sought input from 155 stakeholders from different countries and disciplines. The initiative requires the participation of agencies like the WHO, individual governments, and non-governmental organisations as well as civil society and business if it is to succeed. The authors point out that the Gates initiative was linked to large funding, whereas this project will rely on multiple funding agencies to coordinate on these priorities.

This document presents the proceedings of a conference at the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences in December 2001. The conference papers deal with themes relating to the role of scientific research in the development of Northern countries and the need for North–South research cooperation. They document the experiences of research cooperation involving, among others, India, South Africa and a number of East African countries. Several papers deal with innovation and scientific cooperation, with case studies.

The report summarises the results of a survey of African Universities’ experiences in collaborating with scientists and institutions in developed countries. The study was carried out by the Association of Commonwealth Universities to provide background information to support the recent development thrust aimed at strengthening African universities through greater investment and North–South (and South–South) collaboration. It focuses primarily on social sciences and humanities research. The report presents empirical data on institutional goals, resource availability, prevalence and satisfaction with collaborative arrangements, challenges faced by individual researchers, capacity building as well as training and research support.

This paper presents a review of the challenges of international scholarly scientific collaboration. It looks at institutional constraints and points out that the challenges and problems multiply when collaborators come from different countries with differing conditions, resource endowments and institutional structures. It is easier to call for more and better forms of international collaboration than it is to design them. The report asserts that good design is helped by a better understanding of what collaboration is and how it has been carried out. It draws on social research insights to help reduce the transactional, financial, ethical and emotional costs of international linkages and exchange and provides a conceptual framework for thinking about international collaboration issues.

A special thematic edition of Cooperation South Journal that presents a collection of short articles written at the turn of the millennium on a variety of topics of relevance to South–South science and technology cooperation, including definitional issues, objectives, challenges, knowledge sharing and technology transfer. The articles represent a comprehensive attempt by leading administrators, thinkers and scholars to address the variety of challenges and issues confronting this growing type of scientific activity.

Commissioned by UK Office of Science and Innovation, the report looks at the trend of international scientific collaboration between the United Kingdom and its leading partners. It uses bibliometric data (co-authorship and citations of scientific articles) to capture international scientific collaboration in seven broad research fields, focusing on Australia, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Japan, UK and the US. The data deals with two time-periods, 1996–2000 and 2001–2005 and the report finds that publication of co-authored articles on scientific collaboration has increased considerably faster than the overall increase in research across the two time-periods. It also finds that countries vary in their ability to collaborate or to benefit from it. The results may have important implications for putting international scientific collaborative arrangements in place.

This report attempts to understand the growing trend of international scientific collaboration as a preferred method of building scientific capacity in developing countries. Before the effects of these trends can be documented, however, there is a need to better define scientific capacity itself. This is relevant not only as an end in itself but also as a means of identifying potential collaborators. The traditional dichotomy of developed and developing countries no longer seems to serve the purpose of increasing useful understanding of these trends. The report attempts to provide a new index of scientific capacity based on an aggregation of several national-level measures and creates a useful taxonomy of countries categorised by scientific capacity. The four classifications arising from this taxonomy are scientifically advanced, proficient, developing, and lagging countries. It examines the trends in output, productivity, collaboration and linkages between and among countries in each of these categories.

This draft report of the High-Level African Panel on Modern Biotechnology recommends that African governments prioritise biotechnology as a tool to promote development and integration. The panel advises African leaders on developments in biotechnology, capacity building needs, and measures for regional cooperation and regulatory harmonisation.

The report suggests measures to develop capacity, regulate biotechnology and improve North–South and South–South collaboration. It recommends a structure based on 'local innovation areas' where clusters of innovative companies, their suppliers and service providers, universities and research institutes are all concentrated in a small area.

This draft report is subject to ongoing consultation and is likely to undergo further development. It is an essential read for anyone tracking the evolution of high-level biotechnology policies in Africa.