SciDev.Net

Technology transfer is considered instrumental in building capacity in developing countries, especially for meeting energy needs. This paper offers advice on how relationships between investors and communities can foster effective and efficient transfer of technologies.

Technology transfer must be relevant to local development; thus, community and business partners must establish their needs. The paper also illustrates how important assurance mechanisms, transaction costs and trust are in creating a successful technology transfer project. The key lessons include feasibility assessments, to minimise transaction costs while maximising assurance mechanisms, and to raise awareness of local politics.

This paper examines the dynamics of technological learning during the process of industrialisation. It focuses on the case of South Korea and draws policy implications for developing countries.

The paper shows that as South Korea transformed itself from an agrarian economy to a newly industrialised one, it relied initially in acquiring foreign technologies and then started duplicating these imported technologies. It then moved to more sophisticated creative imitations and only later was able to introduce original innovations. The paper concludes that developing countries have much to learn from South Korea by developing policy initiatives that integrate several elements of the Korean experience such as export promotion, human resources development programmes, and incentives for complementary technology transfer and indigenous R&D efforts.