STUDY GUIDE

UNITEDNATIONS
DEVELOPMENTPROGRAMME

TOPIC:
TRANSFEROFTECHNOLOGYFORCREATING
WORLD'SSTABILIZATIONOFECONOMIC
DEVELOPMENT
Welcome, delegates!

It is an honour for us to welcome you in UN Development

Programme! We are so excited to serve you our hospitality
and making your pleasure as our highest priority. The
UNDP secretariat will attempt to please all delegates,
hoping that the conference will run smoothly and comfortable
for all delegates. We should make innovation as our strength,
improvement as our vision and progress as our main
expectation.
Hereby we publish the Study Guide of the UN
Development Programme 2016 and the topic is Transfer of
Technology for Creating World ' s Stabilization of Economic
Development . You will read below the study guide that we
have composed altogether and hopefully could be a useful tool
and resource as you begin to undertake your research.
If you have a question, don t hesitate to ask us at :
secretariat.sdctm @ gmail.com

Warm regards,

UNDP Secretariat
 2

We recognize the importance of strengthened national,

scientific and technological capacities for sustainable
development. This can help countries, especially developing
countries, to develop their own innovative solutions,
scientific research and new, environmentally sound
technologies, with the support of the international
community. To this end, we support building science and
technology capacity, with both women and men as
contributors and beneficiaries, including through
collaboration among research institutions, universities, the
private sector, governments, non - governmental
organizations and scientists. ( 273 of the Rio + 20 outcome
document )
Transfer technology refers to a broad set of processes,
covering flow of knowledge, experience, and equipment,
including hardware and software, for economy development
amongst stakeholders and between and amongst developed and
developing countries. The definition of transfer technology
includes technology cooperation and diffusion of technology.
Transfer technology is the set of capacities to plan for, catalyse,
sustain, and monitor and report on technology transfer and
development, in ways that are fully integrated with national
development priorities and achievement of the Sustainable
Development Goals.
 3

The technology facilitation mechanism supported by

the UN should have as its major function to build the
capacity of countries to transform their economies, in an
inclusive and equitable manner, towards long term
sustainability. This means that the capacity of countries at
the national and local levels needs to be built to make
informed policy and investment choices that redirect major
public and private financing - and thus the economy -
towards sustainable production and consumption processes
in an inclusive and equitable manner.

Transfer technology is a key factor strongly impacting

on economic growth both in the short and long term. The
access to technology and its usage in economic processes
to large extent decides as to the competitive position in the
international labour division. Innovation and transfer
technology are the key drivers of economic growth in
today s world economy. Thus an appropriate economic
policy should concentrate on strengthening these
processes throughout the country and easing the flow of
information and technology between the main players
innovators, companies, state agencies and financial
institutions.
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The History of Transfer of Technology

Technology, science and capacity building are major

pillars of the Means of Implementation of the Post - 2015
Agenda and of the Rio + 20 follow - up processes. The
research, development, deployment, and widespread
diffusion of environmentally sound technologies in the
context of a Green Economy is also closely linked to other
core elements and means of implementation, including
innovation, business opportunities and development, trade
of environmental goods and services, finance and
investment, and institutional capabilities.

In order to eradicate poverty and reorient current

unsustainable development trajectories over the period
2015 to 2030, affordable technological solutions have to be
developed and disseminated widely in the next fifteen
years. The Means of Implementation of the Post - 2015
Development Agenda and the Addis Ababa Action Agenda
could nevertheless provide an opportunity to address some
of the gaps hindering the facilitation and transfer of these
technologies.
 5

In 2012, the UN Conference on Sustainable Development

(Rio+20) called for identifying technology facilitation

mechanism. The Addis Ababa Action Agenda, in its paragraph

123, decided to establish a technology facilitation mechanism.
The mechanism will be launched at the United Nations summit for
the adoption of the post-2015 development agenda in order to
support the sustainable development goals.

According to the National Science Foundation (2002), in

1998 about 80 per cent of world innovation activity was
performed by only 7 developed countries. The United States
accounted for roughly 40 per cent of world Research &
Development (R&D) expenditures, spending as much as the rest
of the major advanced countries (G7) countries combined. Japan,
the second largest R&D investing country, is responsible for
about 18 per cent of world expenditure and the European Union
for approximately 30 per cent. In terms of GDP, in 2000 Japan
invested about 3 per cent in R&D, United States about 2.7 per
cent and the European Union around 1.9 per cent. The business
sector is the major R&D performer in each of the leading
economies: in 2000 the industrial sector performed more than 70
percent in the United States and Japan, whereas in the European
countries above 60 percent. Within the business sector,
manufacturing firms performs more than 90 per cent of industrial
R&D in Japan, more than 80 per cent in European Union and
almost 70 per cent in United States. Machinery and transport
equipment and, to a less extent, the chemical industry account by
far for the largest amount of R&D.
 6

Technology transfer, also called transfer of technology

( TOT ) , can be defined as a flow between technology

owner / holder and technology buyer / user. It is the process of

transferring ( disseminating ) technology from the places and
ingroups of its origination to wider distribution among more
people and places. Often it occurs by concerted effort to
share skills, knowledge, technologies, methods of
manufacturing, samples of manufacturing, and facilities
among governments or universities and other institutions to
ensure that scientific and technological developments are
accessible to a wider range of users who can then further
develop and exploit the technology into new products,
processes, applications, materials, or services. It enables
closing the gap in access to particular technology in
different ways: buying, renting, lending or licensing. An
important element strictly related to technology transfer is
the technology commercialisation which is a technology
transfer with a special emphasis on practical 4 usage of R & D
efforts ( e.g. closing a licence agreement with patent owner
to exploit technology of a specific product design ) .
 7

Technology transfer is a key factor strongly impacting on

economic growth both in the short and long term. The access to
technology and its usage in economic processes to large extent
decides as to the competitive position in the international labour
division. Structural changes of the entire economy are almost not
possible without an effective technology transfer and well -
defined country s innovation system. These two factors led the
spectacular ( despite current problems ) improvement in
competitiveness and economic success of the newly
industrialised Asian Pacific economies. Technology transfer is a
complicated process, which includes several closely related
elements like technology ( embodied and disembodied ; e.g.
subparts / machines, patents / licences ) and knowledge ( e.g.
organisational behaviour ) . Sometimes transfer technology is
being understood in parallel to innovation where the latter
embodies of specific knowledge of a product or service.

Most advanced technology transfer, especially in the low

and middle - income economies, is conducted through
international production co - operation, where the production
factors flow is most complex including machinery, semi - finished
goods and production factors ( workforce, technology and
capital ) . The spillover effects to other parts of the economy
related to this form of technology transfer are also the largest.
Foreign direct investments as one of most widely used channels
of international production co - operation to large extend decide
about the location and level complexity of technology transfer.
 8

Based on Resolution A / RES / 66 / 288 United Nations about

Technology number 269, it s stated that :

We emphasize the importance of technology transfer to

developing countries and recall the provisions on
technology transfer, finance, access to information and
intellectual property rights as agreed in the Johannesburg
Plan of Implementation, in particular its call to promote,
facilitate and finance, as appropriate, access to and the
development, transfer and diffusion of environmentally
sound technologies and corresponding know - how, in
particular to developing countries, on favourable terms,
including on concessional and preferential terms, as
mutually agreed. We also take note of the further evolution
of discussions and agreements on these issues since the
adoption of the Plan of Implementation.
 9

The Explanation about Economic Development and its

Implication with Transfer Technology

All countries in this world of course willing to pursue

good economy condition. That s why policy in each countries
are directed into sustainability economics development. But,
what s the meaning of sustainability economics development
actually? Sustainability economics development is a process
whereby the real percapita income of a country increases over
a long period of time - subject to the stipulations that the
number below an absolute poverty line does not increase and
that the distribution of income does not become more unequal.
Sustainable economic development is important for economic
growth, because it does not take into consideration the
pleasure of present generation alone but it also takes into
consideration the requirements of future generation.

In the short term, the benefits of economic growth are many:

the more that businesses and nations grow and profit, the more
individuals have jobs, resources and quality of life. At this point
in human history, technology has enabled miraculous products,
global travel, rapid communication, astonishing efficiencies
and unimagined leisure. Economic growth derived from all
these technological marvels does indeed feed on itself, as
consumers demand more and more.
 10

In recent years, technology transfer from advanced economies

has been put forward as one of the fundamental pillars on which
to base the search for alternative routes leading to economic
growth in emerging economies through sustainable development.
Experience has shown that often the technology transferred and
used by transnational companies in emerging economies has
caused significant negative externalities in these countries.
Nevertheless, on occasion it is these very transnational which,
given the pressure exerted upon them by the reputation factor
in a globalized world, aim to be pioneers in the defence of the
environment. The focus of this study, however, is not on whether
the current path taken by technology transfer is the most
appropriate one or the best suited to the interest of emerging
economies. Nor do we intended to look in depth at the
implications that the globalization of technology could have for
these countries.

It is necessary to bear in mind that some technologies with a

consolidated role in the production systems of developed
countries are not necessarily optimal in environmental terms. The
phenomenon of technology lock - in can make it difficult to give up
a dominant technology, despite its demonstrated inferiority
compared with other available alternative technologies. Care
therefore needs to be taken when transferring the technology
patterns in force in advanced countries mimetically to emerging
economies, as emerging countries still have the chance to avoid
the mistakes made by developed ones.
 11

Study Cases of Transfer of Technology

1. Republic of Korea

Economic development in Republic of Korea were most

dominated by Japanese capital, dan Japanese direct investment
in 1965. Korean government planned to interfere in the
technological process to decrease the costs and improve the
conditions for Korean firms ( Choi and Cho, 1996 ) . Korean
goverment made a new policies to increace the externalised
technology transfer in order to sustain local capability
development. Technology from Japan was introduced in korea on
1980. With the activation of new policy of technology
introduction, between 1981 and 1990, technology transfer from
Japan to Korea gradually increased. During 1990s and the early
2000s, technology transfer from Japan came down due to the
result of Korea s effort to develop technology by themselves and
ready to independent of technology production. During 1981
2002, the case of technology transfer from Japan has been high
potraying the heavy dependence of Korea on Japanese
technology. Since then, Korea could be independent ;
established technology companies and started to produce its
own technology. As the result, Republic of Korea has advanced
technology products in the world.
 12

2. The Federative Republic of Brazil

Since 2005, Brazilian Innovation legislation was enacted that

every Public Research Institution ( PRI ) should build its
Tecnological Innovation Department ( TID ) . The function of TID
itself is responsible for the following activities: intellectual
property protection and portfolio management ; technological
transfer ( cooperative research and licensing ) ; technological
prospection and impact assessment of research outputs. In order
to develop their agriculture sector, government decided to
implement technology transfer in Embrapa Agricultural
Informatics, which located in Campinas. Embrapa has mission to
develop information technology solutions to promote the
sustainability of Brazilian agriculture. Their main research outputs
are software, databases, online web products, agricultural zoning
and various scientific studies related to climate change, land use
and environmental licensing. Since 2011, this research center of
Embrapa has been applying the Business Model Generation ( BMG )
approach to build Technology Transfer Models ( TTM ) associated
to its research out - puts ( software, databases, on - line web
products, agricultural zoning and various studies related to
climate change, land use and environmental licensing ) .
 13

BMG approach has been employed to build an

strategic reasoning to structure technology transfer
initiatives, called TTM. This method allows TTO teams to
develop some hypothesis regarding a possible TTM, and
then confirming or refuting it by consulting with potential
clients, partners and suppliers. In case of refutation, the
team can build and test as many strategies as necessary, in
order to define a final TTM with greater chances of success.
One of the main advantages of this approach is the learning
process promoted during the development of a TTM. The
activities of information gathering and interaction with
market agents, developed during validation process, allows
to increase the experience of TTO teams regarding market
conditions and specifics. Learning is crucial to TT
processes ; as TTO teams become more experienced and
mature regarding the technological sector, market
expectations and demands and portfolio management, less
hypothesis are needed in order to build a coherent TTM.
 14

3. The United Mexican States

The Mexican economy has been slow to reach the stage

whereby it can be considered to be in transition. The
implementation of the North American Free Trade
Agreement ( NAFTA ) on 1 January 1994, and admission to the
OECD precipitated basic changes in the Mexican economy. The
industrial sector in Mexico is slow in developing, adapting,
adopting and investing in technology. The large multinational
companies that have chosen Mexico as a production hub ( known
as the maquiladora industry ) , largely attracted by the
inexpensive labour costs, are not a fundamental contributor to
promoting and increasing the Mexican national innovation
capacity. These companies perform most of their R & D activities in
their country of origin or in countries where conditions for
innovation are more conducive. This has resulted in a domestic
industrial sector that is characterised by medium and small
companies, lacks financial stability, extremely low levels of labour
specialisation and a rudimentary means of production. Over 96 %
of firms in Mexico employ fewer than ten people Mexican
domestic industry generally ignores the need to incorporate high
technology into business operations given the low rates of R & D
investment
 15

A second consideration is the gap that exists between

government entities, the scientific community and the private
sector. Although Mexico has an established network of R & D
institutions, many of which have made efforts to bridge the gap
between academia and industry, there is still a general impression
that both the scientific and innovative capacity in the country is
immature and that the few S & T outputs fail to provide tangible
solutions or commercial opportunities. Research and development
activities in Mexico are performed mainly by government actors
with minimal technological or knowledge mobilisation to the
private sector. The transfer of technologies in the form of patents
is one indicator that measures the dynamism of a country s
innovation system. In contrast with those nations, Mexico is
ranked last in the rate of growth of triadic patent families.
Furthermore, most patent applications in Mexico are made
by non - residents, a manifestation of the poor interaction between
R & D providers and the business sector. This has a twofold effect.
First, the absence of any significant IP limits the potential to
generate resources to further basic research. Second, Mexico s
dependence on external S & T resources limits choices in moving
forward.
The lack of success from the 2001 2006 plans in many ways
amplifies and exacerbates the long - standing lack of trust in
government by the Mexican society and its economic sectors. The
industry - government gap has to be addressed if transitioning
economies are to develop and advance.
 16

QARMAs
Question a Resolution Must Answers

1. What is the obstacle of each country regarding transfer of

technology for economic development?

2. What is the best solution to make transfer of technology

acceptable for all countries?

3. What is the role of International Institution regarding

transfer of technology?
 End

REFERENCES

https: / / www.weforum.org / agenda / 2013 / 04 / five - ways - technology -

can - help - the - economy /

Bambini, Martha Delphino. 2013. Technology Transfer Models in

Brazil : Case Study of Embrapa Agricultural Informatics . Research
Gate, Conference Paper

Hermosillia, et al. 2003, Technology Transfer and Sustainable

Development in Emerging Economies: The Problem of Technology
Lock - In

Meier, 1976 p.6 cited at Barbier 2016 Concept of Sustainable

Economic Development

Shim, Jae Seung and Moosung Lee. 2016. The Korean Economic
System : Governments, Big Business and Financial Institutions .
Routledge.

Smyth, Stuart dkk. 2014. Technology Transfer in Transitional

Economies : The Case of Mexico. International Journal of
Technology Policy and Management.