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Science and Public Policy, 37(8), October 2010, pages 571–582
                                                            DOI: 10.3152/030234210X12767691861137; http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/beech/spp




           Weak knowledge demand in the South:
           learning divides and innovation policies

                               Rodrigo Arocena and Judith Sutz


                Many developing countries confront serious problems in benefitting from the advancement of
                knowledge; a main difficulty being to expand the learning processes. Related policies have been
                jeopardized by weak market demand for knowledge. Both supply-side and demand-side science and
                technology and innovation policies have thus been below expectations. This paper argues that to
                reverse this long trend, current policies can profitably be complemented by a set of innovation policies
                conceived as social policies, which can simultaneously answer a strong social demand for knowledge
                and expand endogenous innovative capabilities.




T      ODAY’S RICH COUNTRIES ARE the
       knowledge-rich countries: access to knowl-
       edge and use of knowledge are both wide-
spread, knowledge has been their ‘lever of riches’
(Mokyr, 1992). That is even more important today: a
                                                                        technology transfer. Since then, several developing
                                                                        countries have improved some knowledge-related
                                                                        indicators, like higher education enrollment and the
                                                                        number of researchers. However, many of them have
                                                                        not, most of them being within the UN Conference
‘knowledge-based and innovation-driven economy’                         on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) classifica-
(de la Motte and Paquet, 1996) has emerged in a set                     tion of ‘least developed countries’ (UNCTAD,
of countries frequently termed ‘developed countries’                    2007). In general terms, despite important differ-
or the ‘North’. In comparison, most other countries                     ences between the countries, the problem of
are more or less poor in terms of access to                             knowledge for development persists.
knowledge and use of that knowledge. This can be                           Two intertwined explanations for this persistence
termed the problem of knowledge for development.                        deserve particular attention. The first relates to the
The causes of the problem have been explored from                       prospects for learning, which are of utmost im-
different standpoints (Herrera, 1971; Cooper, 1973;                     portance if an economy wants to transform
Steward, 1977; Landes, 1998; Rosenberg and                              knowledge into one of its fundamental resources
Frischtack, 1985). During the second half of the 20th                   (Lundvall, 1992: 1). Such prospects are not brilliant
century it was recognized as a policy problem by                        in developing countries. Poor countries are stuck in
most developing countries. Policy instruments were                      poverty because, amongst other reasons, they spe-
put in place, ranging from measures to fortify the                      cialize in activities that are devoid of learning poten-
scientific infrastructure to those aimed at stimulating                 tial (Reinert, 2007: xxviii). The second explanation
                                                                        relates to the demand for knowledge, a main driver
                                                                        of the process of learning: such demand is weak in
Judith Sutz (corresponding author) is at the Comisión Sectorial         developing countries (Cimoli et al., 2009; Rodrik,
de Investigación Científica, Universidad de la República                2007). Analyzing these two issues in an interrelated
Jackson 1303, Código Postal 11200, Montevideo, Uruguay; E-              way can be an Ariadne’s thread leading to a better
mail: jsutz@csic.edu.uy; Tel: (598-2) 408 33 09. Rodrigo                understanding of the obstacles that deter a better use
Arocena is at the Rectorado de la Universidad de la República,          of knowledge for developmental purposes.
18 de julio 1824, Código Postal 11100. Montevideo, Uruguay;
                                                                           The analysis of this interrelatedness is based on a
E-mail: roar@oce.edu.uy; Tel: (598-2) 409 84 26.
   The authors wish to thank the anonymous referees and the ed-         re-examination of the concept of learning and of the
itor of this journal for their valuable comments on earlier             sources of knowledge demand. The social processes
versions of this paper.                                                 of advanced learning increasingly influence the



Science and Public Policy October 2010                  0302-3427/10/080571-12 US$12.00  Beech Tree Publishing 2010                           571
Knowledge demand in the South

                                                                 processes. Policies for science, technology and in-
  Rodrigo Arocena holds a doctorate in mathematics and in
  development studies from Venezuela’s Central University.
                                                                 novation that do not take this situation into account
  He has been a full professor of mathematics and is now a       are bound to increase such an imbalance. In the
  full professor of science and development at the University    words of Reinert:
  of the Republic, Uruguay. He has developed several related
  graduate and postgraduate teaching programs in Uruguay
  and other Latin American countries. His broad field of re-       …successful cases of economic development
  search is in development, science and technology. His cur-       prove the importance of simultaneously provid-
  rent research interests include: the relationship between        ing not only a flow of better educated people,
  technology and inequality in developing countries as well as
  the transformation of Latin American universities. Currently     but also jobs where their skills are demanded.
  he is the rector of the University of the Republic.              … Nations that only address the supply side of
                                                                   educated people end up educating for migra-
  Judith Sutz holds a doctorate in socio-economics of devel-
  opment from the Université of Paris 1; she is an electrical
                                                                   tion. (Reinert, 2007: 320–231, emphasis in the
  engineer and has a Master’s degree in developing planning        original)
  from Venezuela’s Central University. She is a full professor
  of science, technology and society at the University of the    Policies for science, technology and innovation are
  Republic, Uruguay and the academic coordinator of the uni-
  versity’s research council. Her research interests include:    limited in their capacities to fortify market knowledge
  the specific conditions for innovation in developing           demand, which depends primarily on the productive
  countries, and problems associated with the production and     structure and other factors beyond their reach. But
  social use of knowledge in such countries. She is a member
  of the scientific board of the Global Network on Economics     they can systematically combine efforts with other
  of Learning, Innovation and Competence-building Systems        public policies in order to foster the social demand for
  (Globelics).                                                   knowledge. This demand is extremely diverse: in
                                                                 developing countries the demand for ‘inclusive inno-
                                                                 vations’ is particularly important. These are charac-
                                                                 terized as solutions to problems that primarily affect
actual role of knowledge. Broadly speaking, these                deprived populations and are truly innovative, that is,
processes have two main aspects:                                 they exhibit some degree of newness and originality.
                                                                 Mobilizing learning by solving through this demand
 Learning by studying at high level in a way that               is one of the ways in which to cope with the problem
  makes it possible for a person to continue acquir-             of knowledge for development.
  ing knowledge throughout their life.                              The rest of this paper is divided into five sections.
 Learning by participating in knowledge-                        The first section deals with the characterization of
  demanding activities that include problem                      the above-mentioned processes of learning, and with
  solving.                                                       the ‘learning divide’ among countries that result
                                                                 from differences in the opportunities to perform such
Briefly speaking, these are learning by studying and             processes. The second section deals with the role
learning by solving. Knowledge-rich countries                    of knowledge demand in fostering learning pro-
are such because many people have opportunities                  cesses. The third section shows that learning by
to learn both by studying and by solving. Such op-               solving is particularly difficult to foster in develop-
portunities are distinctively less frequent in other             ing countries. The fourth section considers related
countries: thus a major ‘learning divide’ emerges.               lessons stemming from the experience of Latin
   Learning by studying is mainly related to knowl-              American policies for science, technology and inno-
edge supply: learning by solving is mainly related to            vation. It follows that policies should foster the so-
knowledge demand. The weakness of market knowl-                  cial demand of knowledge, particularly paying
edge demand in most developing countries makes it                attention to ‘inclusive innovations’. The final section
particularly difficult to foster learning by solving,            exemplifies this alternative.
giving rise to persistently unbalanced learning

                                                                      Learning divides in the 21st century

                                                                 Without the type of knowledge acquisition that
Learning by studying is mainly related                           comes from formal processes of studying, neither
to knowledge supply: learning                                    further knowledge production nor the application of
                                                                 knowledge is possible. Without the opportunity to
by solving is mainly related to                                  utilize the acquired knowledge, such knowledge
knowledge demand. Weaknesses in                                  looks like a library that continues purchasing new
most developing countries make it                                books, but is seldom used. Making mistakes and be-
                                                                 ing able to overcome them is a key component of
particularly difficult for them to foster                        any learning process: without the opportunity to
learning by solving                                              solve problems this key component is absent from
                                                                 the learning process at nation level. As Lall put it
                                                                 almost 20 years ago:


572                                                                                 Science and Public Policy October 2010
Knowledge demand in the South

   If physical capital is accumulated without                       built from innovation surveys, but is not available
   the skills or technology needed to operate it ef-                for the vast majority of developing countries. An-
   ficiently, NTC [nation technological capabili-                   other, more restricted, indicator is the percentage of
   ties] will not develop adequately; or if formal                  all researchers working in firms; again, it has serious
   skills are created but not combined with tech-                   problems with coverage. The ratio of gross expendi-
   nological effort, efficiency will not increase                   ture on R&D to gross domestic product (GDP) and
   dynamically. (Lall, 1992: 170)                                   the part financed by firms are very popular indica-
                                                                    tors of the importance given to science, technology
Lundvall and Soete (2002) also suggested a differen-                and innovation in a given country. The first of these
tiation between two types of learning:                              is widely available. It can be taken as a proxy for
                                                                    opportunities for learning by solving, even if a rather
   In national education systems people learn spe-                  indirect one, because it makes sense to infer that the
   cific ways to learn. In labour markets they ex-                  more a country invests in R&D in proportion to its
   perience nation specific incentive systems and                   wealth, the more opportunities knowledgeable peo-
   norms that will have an impact on how and                        ple will have to work in knowledge-demanding ac-
   what they learn. (quoted in Robertson et al.,                    tivities. In fact, as is elaborated later in this paper,
   2007: 160)                                                       one of the reasons why most developing countries
                                                                    continue to have dismal figures for R&D/GDP is be-
We refer to the process of acquiring knowledge and                  cause such knowledge-demanding activities are
skills through the formal process of studying at ter-               scarce.
tiary level as ‘learning by studying’. The process of                  Table 1 shows these indicators for several coun-
acquiring knowledge by systematically using ad-                     tries, some of which are known for having economies
vanced knowledge for solving problems is termed                     that are to a large extent innovation-driven. Others are
‘learning by solving’.                                              included for purposes of comparison.
   One good indicator of the opportunity for learning                  The figures in Table 1 are consistently high for
by studying is given by the enrollment in higher ed-                developed countries. In some cases, like Brazil and
ucation. Such information is available for most                     South Africa, the figure for R&D/GDP is not as low
countries. A different indicator of the supply of                   as in most developing countries, reaching a thresh-
knowledgeable people is the number of researchers                   old of 1%, but the rest of the indicators are much
(full-time equivalents) in relation to the population.              weaker. Argentina is relatively well placed in terms
As would be expected, these indicators are linked.                  of the enrollment in higher education and number of
Countries usually score high or low on both indica-                 researchers, but scores low in the proxies for learn-
tors (see Table 1 for some selected countries).                     ing by solving. China exhibits figures which are ful-
   The opportunities for learning by solving are dif-               ly comparable with those of developed countries in
ficult to approach by means of a single indicator. A                some indicators, but it still lags behind in others.
relatively good indicator would be the percentage of                However, its rhythm of change is impressive:
all human resources in science and technology                       between 1996 and 2006 its gross expenditure on
(S&T) working in businesses; this indicator can be                  R&D multiplied by six (Ministry of S&T of the


Table 1. Some indicators of capacities to produce and to use knowledge for diverse countries


Countries                   HE gross            Researchers           GERD/GDP           GERD % funded      Researchers working
                         enrolment ratio      (FTE) per million                           by business        in business firms
                                                 inhabitants                               enterprises           (% of total
                                                                                                                researchers)

USA                            82                   4.671                 2.67                 66.4               79.2
Sweden                         75                   6.139                 3.68                 63.9               72.8
South Korea                    96                   2.044                 3.47                 73.7               68.5
China                          22                   1.071                 1.49                 70.4               68.3
Japan                          58                   8.840                 3.45                 77.7               66.1
Denmark                        80                   5.431                 2.57                 59.5               65.1
Finland                        94                   7.382                 3.47                 68.2               56.8
France                         55                   3.440                 2.10                 52.4               55.5
UK                             59                   3.695                 1.84                 47.2               48.8
Spain                          68                   2.784                 1.28                 47.1               43.5
Brazil                         30                   629                   1.02                 47.9               37.4
Mexico                         26                   460                   0.50                 46.5               31.1 (2003)
India                          13                   137                   0.80                 19.8               16.8
Argentina                      62                   980                   0.51                 29.3               15.5
South Africa                   15                   382                   0.96                 43.9               …
Colombia                       33                   151                   0.18                 27.0                0.3

Source:   UIS, available at <http://stats.uis.unesco.org/unesco/TableViewer/document.aspx?ReportId=198&IF_Language=eng>, 2007
          reference year or latest year available; for South Africa, Southern Africa Regional Universities Association.



Science and Public Policy October 2010                                                                                          573
Knowledge demand in the South

People’s Republic of China, 2007); the enrollment in                            Many developing countries have experienced
higher education increased from 7% to 22% between                               periods of economic growth stemming from differ-
1999 and 2007 (UNESCO, 2010).                                                   ent combinations of the first three of these processes.
   We can put each country in a ‘map’ (see Figure 1)                            But backwardness has been substantially and per-
by using enrollment in higher education and                                     manently diminished only in the comparatively few
R&D/GDP, respectively, as proxies for learning by                               cases when the fourth process became relevant. Re-
studying and learning by solving.                                               markable examples have been provided during the
    Figure 1 schematizes a learning divide between                              20th century by the Scandinavian countries and by
developed countries and several other countries                                 East Asia where learning processes expanded
(Arocena and Sutz, 2000). This notion recalls how                               quickly.
difficult it is for many countries to cope with the en-                            Importing knowledge has been of paramount im-
rollment revolution and to use knowledge for devel-                             portance in every successful story of development.
opment, that is, to cross the learning divide.                                  But the problem of knowledge for development
Nevertheless, it can be crossed, as is shown by the                             could not be solved solely by importing knowledge.
differing positions of South Korea over time.                                   This is connected with the following assertions due
                                                                                to Lall (1990: 22):

      Why is knowledge still a weak lever for                                    Without investment capabilities ‘there is little un-
        development in many countries?                                            derstanding of the technology transferred, leading
                                                                                  to subsequent high costs of operation and a lack
Mokyr (1992: 4–6) asserts that economic growth                                    of upgrading’.
stems from four distinct processes:                                              Process innovation capabilities are necessary, par-
                                                                                  ticularly because ‘buying new technology may be
 investment, that is, increases in capital stock;                                quicker and less risky than innovation, but, to be
 trade and division of labor;                                                    successful and economical, also requires a high
 economies of scale or, more generally, size ef-                                 degree of technical skills’.
  fects; and                                                                     ‘Capabilities to follow trends in product develop-
 increases in the stock of human knowledge,                                      ment, (almost as difficult as independent innova-
  including technological and institutional changes,                              tion)’, are necessary because new technologies
  which are the source of the so-called Schumpet-                                 are often not transferable to independent
  erian growth.                                                                   firms.

                                                                                       Israel


                                                                                       Japan                Sweden          Finland South Korea
                                                                                                                                     (2007)
                                                                                           South Korea (1997)

                                                                         Germany Austria                            Denmark USA

                                                                                                                Australia
                                                                                           France
                                                                                              Canada
                                                                                            UK
                                                                                                                Norway

                                                                                                                                 Czech R.
                                          China
                                                               South Korea (1985)               Spain
                                                                                                  Italy         Russian Fed.

                                                     Brazil Tunisia
                                      South Africa       Turkey                                                   Lithuania
                  Pakistan        India                   Malaysia      Chile

                                                     Mexico                    Argentina
                     South Korea (1975)              Costa Rica          Uruguay

                                                               Bolivia
                                                                 Colombia
                        Vietnam                         Peru Ecuador

                                             Algeria
                    
           Figure 1. Illustration of the ‘learning divide’
           Notes:    Vertically, from bottom to top, R&D/GDP: <0.5, 0.5–1, 1–2, 2–3.5
                     Horizontally, from left to right, gross enrolment in tertiary education (%): <30, 30–50, 50–60, 60–75, >75
           Source: As for Table 1, Arocena and Sutz (2000)



574                                                                                                       Science and Public Policy October 2010
Knowledge demand in the South

Lall exemplifies the conscious building of these            …are uncertain in that their success depends on
capabilities in South Korea, and shows that Sub-            the ability and readiness of the actors operating
Saharan Africa is an example of the lack of such ef-        in the system to absorb and maximise the po-
forts. In Latin America importing industrially em-          tential of these incentives. Developing demand-
bodied knowledge was a failure if it was not                side policy instruments is of equal relevance
combined with endogenously generated knowledge              for European and national systems, and relate
(Fajnzylber, 1984). Nowadays technical cooperation          to policy actions designed to enhance the tech-
with least developed countries also faces the diffi-        nological competencies of the system by
culties of building long-term capacities and the like-      emphasising the role of the user.
lihood of limiting or inhibiting local alternatives
(Bell, 2007: 10).                                         A case study in an economically depressed part of
   Endogenous generation of knowledge is a neces-         France shows:
sary complement to the success of knowledge im-
ports, particularly when knowledge in the making is         …that it is not sufficient to legislate a policy
imported. A general feature of the changes in the           for making scientific and technological
production and use of knowledge is that both are in-        knowledge available in order to create a rela-
creasingly intertwined. Advanced learning, scientific       tionship of synergy between the development
research, technological innovation and economically         of universities and economic development. In
efficient diffusion of innovations become more en-          the case in point, the problem is the lack of de-
tangled. Thus, the last process becomes increasingly        mand on the part of the main economic actors
difficult if it is not closely connected with the other     (industrial firms). (Laperche, 2002: 168)
three.
   The need to cope with such issues ‘systemically’       A report on the state of S&T in Latin America indi-
has also been reinforced by their context-dependent       cates that the most important factor explaining the
aspects. Health and life sciences in Latin America        shortage of linkages between knowledgeable people
owe, in no small measure, their comparatively dis-        and institutions and production is still the weakness
tinguished history to that phenomenon. Some of the        of the knowledge demand from enterprises (RICYT,
main health problems in the continent were quite          2008: 22).
specific. They could not be solved by knowledge              Of late, demand has been a rather forgotten issue:
transfer alone: systemic building of research and in-
novation capabilities was needed. Today, generally          Imagine trying to cut a piece of paper with just
speaking, problems and disciplines with strong con-         one blade of a pair of scissors. It’s near impos-
text-dependent aspects are expanding their influence        sible. Yet that is what we try to do with innova-
in knowledge-related activities. Health, environ-           tion policy. (...) Innovations are the product of
ment, nutrition, and sanitation are all examples of         the creative interaction of supply and demand.
that. Related problems often have solutions that are        However, in focusing on how to increase the
affordable in the North in terms of research, devel-        supply of innovative businesses, policymakers
opment and production costs as well as in terms of          have lost sight of the importance of demand.
the purchasing power of the expected customers, but         (Georghiou, 2007: 1–2)
that are not affordable in poorer contexts. When only
unaffordable solutions exist, the problem is still        That is particularly worrying for developing
open and requires specific research (Srinivas and         countries. We conjecture that one of the main causes
Sutz, 2008).                                              of the learning divide is the weak knowledge de-
   Summing up, the new centrality of learning and         mand addressed to endogenous sources of
innovation processes gives new weight to an old           knowledge by the productive structure of developing
idea: to make knowledge a lever of development,           countries. In Latin America this has been and still is
‘massive’ endogenous capabilities and opportunities       a dominant trait.
for creatively using advanced knowledge are needed.
But that is quite difficult when demand for                 The Latin American and Caribbean production
knowledge is weak, in quantity and/or in quality.           pattern on the one hand, induces private sector
   The role of such demand has been frequently              and enterprises to express a meager demand
stressed. Porter (1990: 86) stated that home demand         for knowledge, and on the other hand, leads
conditions:                                                 domestic agents to mostly seek outward ori-
                                                            ented linkages, privileging foreign companies
  …shapes the rate and character of improvement             and research laboratories that already have
  and innovation by a nation’s firms                        sound reputation and worldwide recognized
                                                            experience in effective and efficient S&T ef-
Porter argued further that the quality of home de-          forts. Thus a mismatch ensues between de-
mand is more important than its quantity. Lundvall          mand-side needs and supply-side offerings,
and Borrás (1997: 123) stressed that the effects of         hampering policies’ impact. (Cimoli et al.,
supply-side policy instruments:                             2009: 12)


Science and Public Policy October 2010                                                                        575
Knowledge demand in the South

The mismatch between demand and supply and, par-                      Fostering knowledge demand needs specific and
ticularly, the problem of the knowledge outward ori-               context-dependent policies. It cannot be assumed
ented linkages, was already well understood by the                 that the same policies will be efficient where such
Latin American scholars of S&T 40 years ago                        demand is rather strong and also where it is weak.
(Sabato and Botana, 1968). It leads to a sort of glob-                Concerning the developing world, what is assert-
alization of the sociology of science concept, the                 ed is the weakness of market demand for knowledge.
Matthew effect famously proposed by Merton                         According to Rodrik, the explanation is that entre-
(1968): those knowledge and innovation producers                   preneurs think that, on average, innovative activities
that receive the knowledge demand from developing                  offer low profits. Usual policies for fostering
countries get stronger in terms of their ability to sat-           knowledge demand focus on firms. So the problem
isfy such demand; conversely, those that even hav-                 requires a more diversified set of policies. Further
ing the knowledge skills to solve problems are not                 support for this assertion will be given in the section
called to solve them in their own countries, will                  of this paper devoted to a brief review of the
change profession, migrate or exploit their skills                 achievements and limitations of Latin American
well below their possibilities.                                    knowledge policies. Now we turn to another reason
   Consequently, as Rodrik (2007: 101) has                         for focusing on knowledge demand: the most diffi-
commented:                                                         cult aspects of learning processes are directly de-
                                                                   pendent on the level of such demand.
  …innovation in the developing world is con-
  strained not on the supply side but in the de-
  mand side. That is, it is not the lack of trained                       Two aspects of fostering learning
  scientists and engineers, absence of R&D labs,                          processes: a difficult and a more
  or inadequate protection of intellectual proprie-                                difficult task
  ty that restricts the innovations that are needed
  to restructure low-income economies. Innova-                     Learning by studying is less difficult to achieve than
  tion is undercut instead by lack of demand from                  learning by solving, the latter being directly related
  its potential users in the real economy – the en-                to the level of knowledge demand. The former pro-
  trepreneurs. And the demand for innovation is                    cess is not at all easy. Although enrollment in higher
  low in turn because entrepreneurs perceive new                   education is steadily growing globally, in most de-
  activities to be of low profitability.                           veloping countries this growth is far from enough to
                                                                   redress the gap. Nevertheless, even if results are
Knowledge supply per se does not create knowledge                  slow to achieve, and moreover some processes, like
demand. This has been recently recognized in India,                emigration, can jeopardize them, the move towards
where around one-third of all graduates are in scien-              increasing the opportunities to study at tertiary level
tific fields but 66% of those holding advanced de-                 is distinguishable (see Figure 2). Understanding why
grees and unemployed are also in those fields                      this is so helps us to better grasp the difficulties of
(Bagla, 2005).                                                     fostering learning by solving.




                Figure 2. Tertiary gross enrollment ratio by geographical region, 2000 and 2007
                Note:     data includes all post-secondary students (ISCED4, 5 and 6)
                          Taken from Altbach et al. (2009: v)



576                                                                                      Science and Public Policy October 2010
Knowledge demand in the South

   People’s motivations to seek access to higher          On Latin American science, technology and
education can be relatively independent of market                    innovation policies
situations. Even if increasing pressures are exerted
upon universities to transform them into more             Supply-side policies in Latin America started as
market-dependent organizations, they still have a         classical science policies: in some cases they became
relative autonomy from purely market considera-           more elaborate S&T policies. Resources and posi-
tions. Universities are seen as enabling organiza-        tion in the government agenda rose and fell in dif-
tions par excellence in the knowledge economy:            ferent periods. On average they have hardly ever
expanding them is usually considered a legitimate         been high, but the balance differs greatly from
aim of public policy. The advancement towards a           country to country. Nevertheless, they have contrib-
higher rate of enrollment in higher education in de-      uted to the building of a fairly significant research
veloping countries has an increasingly positive citi-     structure. During the period 1996–2006 the number
zenry valuation. Thus the move towards learning           of full-time equivalent researchers in Latin America
through studying, including at higher levels, has a       and the Caribbean grew 85%, reaching 234,661. The
growing level of political support. So, it can be ex-     weight of the region in terms of researchers at global
pected that this leg of the learning opportunities,       level also grew significantly during that period, from
notwithstanding all the difficulties involved, will on    2.9% to 3.8% (RICYT, 2008: 16, 17).
average, become steadily stronger (see Altbach et            The outcomes of supply-side policies in terms of
al., 2009).                                               research capacities have been highly influenced by
   We now turn to the other leg of the learning op-       three factors. One is the already stressed weak mar-
portunities. Learning by solving usually involves         ket demand for endogenous knowledge generation.
some sort of human group, where learning is fos-          Lack of continuity and weakness of public policies
tered by the cross-fertilization of what different peo-   have also been relevant, Brazil being a partial excep-
ple in the group know. Even if each person learns in      tion. We see different combinations of periods of
this way, the most productive result is that the group    almost complete neglect with periods of mild atten-
as such learns.                                           tion to these issues and with some short periods of
                                                          fairly strong official push. Those two ‘external’ fac-
  It is important to distinguish between the con-         tors help to explain the relevance of a third factor:
  cepts of ‘learning community’ and ‘collective           the internal dynamics of organized research. The
  of learning individuals’. Learning communities          Latin American research structure has been shaped
  demonstrate as such learning behavior, i.e.             to a large extent by claims stemming from some
  as a whole they have the ability to construc-           large public universities and by the different and
  tively interact with change at a level that trans-      changing levels of self-organizing capabilities, of in-
  cends the simple sum of the various                     ternational connections and of the national lobbying
  individuals who constitute the community.               power of networks of researchers, mainly working in
  (Visser, 1999: 7)                                       those universities.
                                                             OECD innovation policies have provided the ra-
The strength of ‘learning communities’, stemming          tionale for the Latin American wave of innovation
from systematic processes of applying knowledge to        policies. Some of its mechanisms were frequently
problem solving, is strongly dependent on the level       adopted, like tax reductions for innovation-related
of knowledge demand.                                      investments and competitive funds to promote asso-
   Any group where learning by solving occurs re-         ciative innovation efforts. Others were scarcely
quires searching how to solve problems. Searching         adopted, for instance those directed towards the in-
is always costly and time consuming, be it by:            ternal transformation of the absorptive capacities of
                                                          firms, like support of small- and medium-sized en-
  …looking up the answer in a source known to             terprises (SMEs) for hiring their first employee with
  contain the answer, or an extended search for a
  problem solution that may not exist. (Nelson
  and Winter, 1982: 64)

The propensity to search depends on the perceived         In 1996–2006 the number of full-time
rewards of finding solutions to unsolved or not satis-    equivalent researchers in Latin
factorily solved problems. Such rewards need to be
sufficiently attractive to overcome inertia and the re-   America and the Caribbean grew
luctance to incur the different costs that searching      85%, reaching 234,661. During that
involves. Again, the opportunities for searching, a       period the region’s share of
key component of learning by solving, are strongly
dependent on the level of knowledge demand. Even          researchers at global level grew from
if fostering learning by studying is not an easy task     2.9% to 3.8%
in developing countries, learning by solving is even
more difficult.


Science and Public Policy October 2010                                                                        577
Knowledge demand in the South

tertiary education. Instruments related to demand-        Table 2. Comparison between groups of innovative firms in
                                                                   Uruguay and in Europe
side innovation policies were hardly ever adopted,
like the most pro-active mechanisms of technologi-
cal public procurement. Innovation policies have not                                  Percentage of      Percentage of
achieved great success. Innovative firms continue to                                 innovative firms  innovative firms
                                                                                        based on        that excel in all
be a small proportion of all firms. Their main inno-                                   endogenous          aspects of
vation efforts are still importing machinery and                                    competences that innovative process
equipments. The capacities built through the supply-                               have characteristic      that have
                                                                                     indicated in row    characteristic
side S&T policies are still under-utilized by firms,                                 (Uruguay, 2006)   indicated in row
which continue to constitute a marginal labor market                                                     (statistics for
for researchers and, in the case of SMEs, even for                                                     Europe in 2004)
university graduates.
                                                          Innovative                      89.8               88.4
   The above assertions can be illustrated by the         technologically in
case of Uruguay. In 1985 the country recovered            product and
democratic rule, after 12 years of dictatorship. S&T      processes
supply-side policies have been implemented since          Performing internal             64.1               70.9
then, backed by international organizations. A pre-       R&D
viously dismal situation has been moderately im-          Receiving public                  0.5              28.5
                                                          support for innovation
proved in terms of the number and training of
researchers, research infrastructure and salaries,        Source: based on Bianchi et al. (2009)
grants, mobility and research quality. Those poli-
cies, mainly supported by public money, have not
been accompanied by a really intensive demand for         usefulness of the available knowledge supply. Inno-
local research and knowledge capabilities from in-        vation policies of the type implemented so far in
dustry or services. Policy instruments aimed at fos-      Uruguay have not advanced much towards this kind
tering innovation at firm level were implemented,         of outputs. For example, 80% of small firms do not
but it was tacitly assumed that a main reason why         have any employee with a background in S&T ter-
firms do not rely on knowledge and are not too in-        tiary education, a trend first measured in 1986
novative is that they lack sufficient money to do         (Argenti et al., 1989) and confirmed in the last in-
so. Consequently different types of financial in-         dustrial innovation survey of 2006 (Bianchi et al.,
struments were developed, from tax alleviation to         2009).
co-financing for innovation projects. These instru-          To date, innovation policies that could foster the
ments were not extensively used. Even between             productive use of endogenous knowledge capabili-
Uruguayan innovative firms the reliance on the            ties in Uruguay and other Latin American countries
available public support was quite low when com-          have had limited success. Such policies are frequent-
pared with such reliance in Europe.                       ly defined as a sort of ‘cut and paste’ from the poli-
   To establish a meaningful comparison we take           cies of developed countries, so local specificities
two groups of firms, in Uruguay and in Europe,            are not sufficiently taken into account. Information
characterized by being the most innovative within         about the innovativeness of firms and related issues
the universe of all industrial firms. The definition of   is frequently gathered through surveys aimed more
such firms is, for Uruguay: ‘Innovative based on the      at establishing international comparisons than an-
endogenous competences of the firm’, representing         swering relevant questions in a given context.
7.1% of all industrial firms (Bianchi and Gras,           Competitive funds for innovation would be de-
2006). For Europe the definition was: ‘companies          manded by many firms only if the prevailing high
(that) shine in all aspects of the innovative process     innovative passivity is redressed to some extent by
and support this activity through the requesting of       some ‘localized’ instruments that are more pro-
advice from experts as well as hiring new graduates       active and even customized. If this does not hap-
from universities at home and abroad’ (European           pen, only those few firms that already know that
Commission, 2004), representing 20% of the sam-           local knowledge is important will apply for funds.
ple. Table 2 shows that the two groups of firms are       Demonstration effects are needed to build stronger
quite similar regarding innovation, while it also         bridges between the relatively weak knowledge
shows how they differ in relation to their utilization    demand from firms and national knowledge supply.
of public support for innovation.                         Policies could identify some important and para-
   On the other hand, indicators of achievement for       digmatic problems affecting groups of firms and
an innovation policy can include an increase in the       support specific programs to search solutions. These
proportion of firms that employ knowledgeable peo-        ‘tailored demand-side’ innovation policies are
ple as well as a widening of their relations with         scarcely seen in manufacturing. The situation is dif-
knowledge producers. Given that no business would         ferent in agriculture, where the information about
make investments in this direction unless it consid-      production problems in need of knowledge is per-
ers it profitable, such outputs can be reasonably con-    manently updated through different types of institu-
sidered to be a shift towards recognition of the          tional arrangements.


578                                                                                Science and Public Policy October 2010
Knowledge demand in the South

   There is surely ample room for improvement for           cultural consequences. In particular, it will foster a
different kinds of demand-side policies directed to         better match between national problem-solving
firms’ innovative behavior. It is worth bearing in          capabilities and demands for knowledge and innova-
mind, however, that such improved policies will             tion in society at large.
probably face a high wall of a structural nature,              If these assertions are likely to be correct, one can
namely the type of productive activities in which           envisage breaking the vicious circle and starting a
national firms are engaged and the main sources of          virtuous one. Increasing demand can be a self-
profits obtained by the entrepreneurs that own and          sustained process if, when demand increases, it is
govern such firms.                                          met by a satisfactory supply, that fosters further de-
   The question has two parts: first, if the knowledge      mand and also enhances supply. That outline of a
demand of businesses is difficult to foster due to          strategy for mobilizing knowledge demand towards
structural reasons; and second, without the strong          national capabilities is based on inclusive innova-
fostering of knowledge demand the learning divides          tions. Thus the potential role of such innovations
will not be overcome, then what sectors of social life      needs to be assessed.
would be adequate to stem knowledge demand                     That potential stems, first of all, from the fact
through new types of innovation policies well               that some problems faced by deprived people have
adapted to promote processes of human and sustain-          not gained insights from knowledge because they
able development?                                           have not been addressed by modern S&T. In some
                                                            cases this is due to commercial reasons, but in other
                                                            cases such problems are ‘below the radar’ (Clark, et
        Policies to foster social demand                    al., 2009) of present mainstream research and inno-
                  of knowledge                              vation. Helping R&D agendas as well as business-
                                                            es’ innovation agendas to pick up some of these
Improving the innovative capabilities of firms is           problems and to give them full attention may have a
essential for development. In many developing               positive impact on the achievements of social poli-
countries structural obstacles position the perceived       cies. Some of these problems are of tantalizing
risk threshold for starting innovative efforts at too       complexity, like many in the realm of health, where
high a level. This is particularly true for those inno-     the non-existence of solutions may be related to in-
vative efforts related to a more intensive use of           sufficient knowledge. In other cases the lack of so-
advanced knowledge. Consequently, knowledge                 lutions can be traced back to an unposed question or
demand stemming from business continues to be               a problem which was not highlighted. A Uruguayan
weak, especially the part of such demand directed to        example of a solution found once the problem it
local supply. Thus supply-side S&T policies lack            solved received attention is the potable water auton-
legitimacy, as is seen in the endless re-negotiation of     omous unit, a transportable engine able to clean
the amounts of the public investment on R&D. Such           mud and other physical contaminants from water. It
investment is difficult to legitimize if society at large   is small and light enough to be transported in an or-
does not make an extensive use of endogenous                dinary truck. It proved particularly useful for serv-
knowledge-based capabilities. If those capabilities         ing communities after different types of climatic
are not expanded then development is jeopardized,           disturbance, or to provide drinkable water to small,
which perpetuates a vicious circle.                         isolated communities, where the distance to urban
   We posit that one way to break such a vicious cir-       centers makes the expansion of water services too
cle is to widen the approach and the scope of inno-         expensive. The problem was highlighted when Uru-
vation policies, while also conceiving them as social       guayan soldiers serving under the UN in Africa
policies. Innovation policies as social policies are        were frequently moving from place to place, none
those that point at detecting and fostering knowledge       of which had drinkable water available. The innova-
demand that is both socially very justified, and is         tion was developed by engineers from the army
addressed to endogenous providers of knowledge.             and the public enterprise devoted to water supply
Inclusive innovations are the expected outputs of           and sanitation. The device is now used in several
such policies. They are required to improve the well-       countries.
being of the most deprived part of the population.             This is simply an anecdote, it illustrates that in
The needs that social policies should fulfill and that      some cases posing a problem can lead to research,
research and innovation could try to solve are huge.        development and innovation efforts that achieve a
In Latin America at least, after the disastrous social      successful solution. A systematic effort to highlight
effect of the economic policies guided by the ‘Wash-        social problems and to make them the focus of a
ington consensus’ recommendations, social policies          specific branch of innovation policies could turn an-
have been widely recognized as a legitimate and im-         ecdotes like this and many others into trends. If this
portant sphere of public intervention. If innovation        is achieved, more solutions could be found for the
policies are able to show that they are strategic for       type of problems we are discussing. Of course, hav-
the implementation of social policies, they will re-        ing solutions does not mean that they will be used
ceive stronger support. If innovation policies as so-       effectively: the issue is that solutions must exist
cial policies are successful, that will have ample          before they can be used effectively.


Science and Public Policy October 2010                                                                           579
Knowledge demand in the South

   Another reason to consider that inclusive innova-          people. The term import substitution is valid because
tions are vital for the well-being of the most de-            these innovations solve problems that could eventu-
prived part of the population is the high cost in the         ally be solved through imports. The term competi-
international market of existing solutions to some            tive is valid because these innovations provide better
types of problem. In many cases, the problem of af-           solutions than the imported ones, due to their cost,
fordability is the result of political issues – i.e. intel-   adaptability to local conditions or both factors.
lectual property rights (IPR) protection and World                     Several examples of this kind of inclusive
Trade Organization regulations: several vaccines are          and competitive import substitution from Uruguay
examples of that. However, in some cases, lack of             can be given. We shall briefly mention one in the
affordability may be related to genuinely high costs          realm of health, which is actually used in several
of production. Turning things upside down and de-             public hospitals in Uruguary. The problem posed in
veloping a radically different way of looking into the        technical terms was that the halogen lamps to treat
problem, which can lead to a radically different              severe jaundice through photo-therapy used in the
method of production, can be a good alternative to a          intensive care divisions of the maternity wards of
heavy subsidy of the existing solutions.                      public hospitals had a high rate of failure due to the
   In the case of the Haemophilus influenzae type             short life of the light bulbs. Replacement bulbs were
b (Hib), responsible for meningitis and different             very expensive, thus several lamps were not operat-
kind of sepsis in small children, full-immunization           ing. This photo-therapy involves directing a very
schemes were in place in most industrialized                  precise beam of blue light onto the baby in order to
countries by 1991, following the innovation that de-          allow the expulsion of the bilirubin molecule, whose
livered a workable vaccine. The Global Alliance for           concentration causes the jaundice. The problem
Vaccines and Immunization started support for ac-             posed in social terms is that premature babies have a
quiring Hib vaccines in 17 low-income countries in            higher probability of being affected by severe jaun-
2005.                                                         dice. Such babies are frequently from the most de-
                                                              prived sector of the population and are treated in
  Middle-income and developing countries have                 public hospitals. At the international level, the exist-
  been hesitant to introduce the vaccine because              ing solution was lamps made from light emitting di-
  of its relatively high price. (Akumu et al.,                odes (LEDs), semiconductor devices that have a
  2007:1)                                                     very long life. These lamps were expensive, mainly
                                                              because LEDs are low intensity devices, so many of
  So far (...) immunization against this disease has          them are required to reach the necessary level of in-
  reached only a fraction of the children living              tensity. The new solution was based on the design of
  in low-income countries. (WHO, 2006: 451)                   an optical device to be incorporated into the lamp
                                                              that concentrates the light, obtaining the same inten-
One road towards inclusive innovation strategy is to          sity with a much smaller number of LEDs. The in-
try to develop alternative solutions to the existing          novation was due to a young electrical engineer and
ones, combining the needed technical characteristics          atomic physicist at the Universidad de la República.
with affordable costs. In the case of the vaccine             The new lamp (commercially named BiliLed) was
against Hib this strategy was followed in Cuba, in            produced by a national electronic firm. It was in-
cooperation with a Canadian university. The alterna-          vented because a physician was enraged by the prob-
tive consisted of developing a synthetic vaccine, that        lems with the existing lamps, and he commented on
is, a purely chemical vaccine, whose production               the problem to a researcher who was able to relate
costs would be considerably lower than those of the           the problem to experimental work in his academic
current, biological vaccine. It took more than a dec-         laboratory (Geido et al., 2007). Again, this is an an-
ade to achieve success as the R&D part of the pro-            ecdote, told in an extremely stylized way, without
cess was tantalizing complex (Vérez-Bencomo et                entering into the many difficulties that paved the
al., 2004). But, at the end of 2004 one million doses         way to the final device. The point is that anecdotes
of this new vaccine, whose effectiveness is fully             are useful to foresee possible trends: we posit that
recognized by the WHO, were inoculated into those             the trend that this anecdote suggests is not only
Cuban infants who were aged less than two months.             necessary but also possible.
         In the last paragraphs we referred, first, to
innovations oriented towards ‘not-yet-existing-
solutions’, and then to innovations geared towards                                Conclusion
what can be termed ‘inclusive and competitive im-
port substitution’. The latter refers to problem-             General comparisons (enrollment in higher educa-
solving innovative efforts that follow to some extent         tion, percentage of researchers in the working popu-
a different heuristic path than that used to achieve          lation etc.) show that the knowledge supply is
the existing solutions. The term innovation is valid          quantitatively weaker in developing countries than
because we are talking about different solutions. The         in the North. Nevertheless, indicators like the
term inclusive is valid because it is attempted to            amount of investment in knowledge production and
provide solutions to problems which affect deprived           the number of knowledgeable people hired by firms,


580                                                                              Science and Public Policy October 2010
Knowledge demand in the South

suggest that weak knowledge market demand is a                            2009. Available at: <http://conferences.library.gatech.edu/
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tween capabilities already acquired and opportuni-                        innovation policies in global open economies: reflections from
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582                                                                                            Science and Public Policy October 2010
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Weak Knowledge Demand in the South: Learning Divides and Innovation Policies

  • 1. Science and Public Policy, 37(8), October 2010, pages 571–582 DOI: 10.3152/030234210X12767691861137; http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/beech/spp Weak knowledge demand in the South: learning divides and innovation policies Rodrigo Arocena and Judith Sutz Many developing countries confront serious problems in benefitting from the advancement of knowledge; a main difficulty being to expand the learning processes. Related policies have been jeopardized by weak market demand for knowledge. Both supply-side and demand-side science and technology and innovation policies have thus been below expectations. This paper argues that to reverse this long trend, current policies can profitably be complemented by a set of innovation policies conceived as social policies, which can simultaneously answer a strong social demand for knowledge and expand endogenous innovative capabilities. T ODAY’S RICH COUNTRIES ARE the knowledge-rich countries: access to knowl- edge and use of knowledge are both wide- spread, knowledge has been their ‘lever of riches’ (Mokyr, 1992). That is even more important today: a technology transfer. Since then, several developing countries have improved some knowledge-related indicators, like higher education enrollment and the number of researchers. However, many of them have not, most of them being within the UN Conference ‘knowledge-based and innovation-driven economy’ on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) classifica- (de la Motte and Paquet, 1996) has emerged in a set tion of ‘least developed countries’ (UNCTAD, of countries frequently termed ‘developed countries’ 2007). In general terms, despite important differ- or the ‘North’. In comparison, most other countries ences between the countries, the problem of are more or less poor in terms of access to knowledge for development persists. knowledge and use of that knowledge. This can be Two intertwined explanations for this persistence termed the problem of knowledge for development. deserve particular attention. The first relates to the The causes of the problem have been explored from prospects for learning, which are of utmost im- different standpoints (Herrera, 1971; Cooper, 1973; portance if an economy wants to transform Steward, 1977; Landes, 1998; Rosenberg and knowledge into one of its fundamental resources Frischtack, 1985). During the second half of the 20th (Lundvall, 1992: 1). Such prospects are not brilliant century it was recognized as a policy problem by in developing countries. Poor countries are stuck in most developing countries. Policy instruments were poverty because, amongst other reasons, they spe- put in place, ranging from measures to fortify the cialize in activities that are devoid of learning poten- scientific infrastructure to those aimed at stimulating tial (Reinert, 2007: xxviii). The second explanation relates to the demand for knowledge, a main driver of the process of learning: such demand is weak in Judith Sutz (corresponding author) is at the Comisión Sectorial developing countries (Cimoli et al., 2009; Rodrik, de Investigación Científica, Universidad de la República 2007). Analyzing these two issues in an interrelated Jackson 1303, Código Postal 11200, Montevideo, Uruguay; E- way can be an Ariadne’s thread leading to a better mail: jsutz@csic.edu.uy; Tel: (598-2) 408 33 09. Rodrigo understanding of the obstacles that deter a better use Arocena is at the Rectorado de la Universidad de la República, of knowledge for developmental purposes. 18 de julio 1824, Código Postal 11100. Montevideo, Uruguay; The analysis of this interrelatedness is based on a E-mail: roar@oce.edu.uy; Tel: (598-2) 409 84 26. The authors wish to thank the anonymous referees and the ed- re-examination of the concept of learning and of the itor of this journal for their valuable comments on earlier sources of knowledge demand. The social processes versions of this paper. of advanced learning increasingly influence the Science and Public Policy October 2010 0302-3427/10/080571-12 US$12.00  Beech Tree Publishing 2010 571
  • 2. Knowledge demand in the South processes. Policies for science, technology and in- Rodrigo Arocena holds a doctorate in mathematics and in development studies from Venezuela’s Central University. novation that do not take this situation into account He has been a full professor of mathematics and is now a are bound to increase such an imbalance. In the full professor of science and development at the University words of Reinert: of the Republic, Uruguay. He has developed several related graduate and postgraduate teaching programs in Uruguay and other Latin American countries. His broad field of re- …successful cases of economic development search is in development, science and technology. His cur- prove the importance of simultaneously provid- rent research interests include: the relationship between ing not only a flow of better educated people, technology and inequality in developing countries as well as the transformation of Latin American universities. Currently but also jobs where their skills are demanded. he is the rector of the University of the Republic. … Nations that only address the supply side of educated people end up educating for migra- Judith Sutz holds a doctorate in socio-economics of devel- opment from the Université of Paris 1; she is an electrical tion. (Reinert, 2007: 320–231, emphasis in the engineer and has a Master’s degree in developing planning original) from Venezuela’s Central University. She is a full professor of science, technology and society at the University of the Policies for science, technology and innovation are Republic, Uruguay and the academic coordinator of the uni- versity’s research council. Her research interests include: limited in their capacities to fortify market knowledge the specific conditions for innovation in developing demand, which depends primarily on the productive countries, and problems associated with the production and structure and other factors beyond their reach. But social use of knowledge in such countries. She is a member of the scientific board of the Global Network on Economics they can systematically combine efforts with other of Learning, Innovation and Competence-building Systems public policies in order to foster the social demand for (Globelics). knowledge. This demand is extremely diverse: in developing countries the demand for ‘inclusive inno- vations’ is particularly important. These are charac- terized as solutions to problems that primarily affect actual role of knowledge. Broadly speaking, these deprived populations and are truly innovative, that is, processes have two main aspects: they exhibit some degree of newness and originality. Mobilizing learning by solving through this demand  Learning by studying at high level in a way that is one of the ways in which to cope with the problem makes it possible for a person to continue acquir- of knowledge for development. ing knowledge throughout their life. The rest of this paper is divided into five sections.  Learning by participating in knowledge- The first section deals with the characterization of demanding activities that include problem the above-mentioned processes of learning, and with solving. the ‘learning divide’ among countries that result from differences in the opportunities to perform such Briefly speaking, these are learning by studying and processes. The second section deals with the role learning by solving. Knowledge-rich countries of knowledge demand in fostering learning pro- are such because many people have opportunities cesses. The third section shows that learning by to learn both by studying and by solving. Such op- solving is particularly difficult to foster in develop- portunities are distinctively less frequent in other ing countries. The fourth section considers related countries: thus a major ‘learning divide’ emerges. lessons stemming from the experience of Latin Learning by studying is mainly related to knowl- American policies for science, technology and inno- edge supply: learning by solving is mainly related to vation. It follows that policies should foster the so- knowledge demand. The weakness of market knowl- cial demand of knowledge, particularly paying edge demand in most developing countries makes it attention to ‘inclusive innovations’. The final section particularly difficult to foster learning by solving, exemplifies this alternative. giving rise to persistently unbalanced learning Learning divides in the 21st century Without the type of knowledge acquisition that Learning by studying is mainly related comes from formal processes of studying, neither to knowledge supply: learning further knowledge production nor the application of knowledge is possible. Without the opportunity to by solving is mainly related to utilize the acquired knowledge, such knowledge knowledge demand. Weaknesses in looks like a library that continues purchasing new most developing countries make it books, but is seldom used. Making mistakes and be- ing able to overcome them is a key component of particularly difficult for them to foster any learning process: without the opportunity to learning by solving solve problems this key component is absent from the learning process at nation level. As Lall put it almost 20 years ago: 572 Science and Public Policy October 2010
  • 3. Knowledge demand in the South If physical capital is accumulated without built from innovation surveys, but is not available the skills or technology needed to operate it ef- for the vast majority of developing countries. An- ficiently, NTC [nation technological capabili- other, more restricted, indicator is the percentage of ties] will not develop adequately; or if formal all researchers working in firms; again, it has serious skills are created but not combined with tech- problems with coverage. The ratio of gross expendi- nological effort, efficiency will not increase ture on R&D to gross domestic product (GDP) and dynamically. (Lall, 1992: 170) the part financed by firms are very popular indica- tors of the importance given to science, technology Lundvall and Soete (2002) also suggested a differen- and innovation in a given country. The first of these tiation between two types of learning: is widely available. It can be taken as a proxy for opportunities for learning by solving, even if a rather In national education systems people learn spe- indirect one, because it makes sense to infer that the cific ways to learn. In labour markets they ex- more a country invests in R&D in proportion to its perience nation specific incentive systems and wealth, the more opportunities knowledgeable peo- norms that will have an impact on how and ple will have to work in knowledge-demanding ac- what they learn. (quoted in Robertson et al., tivities. In fact, as is elaborated later in this paper, 2007: 160) one of the reasons why most developing countries continue to have dismal figures for R&D/GDP is be- We refer to the process of acquiring knowledge and cause such knowledge-demanding activities are skills through the formal process of studying at ter- scarce. tiary level as ‘learning by studying’. The process of Table 1 shows these indicators for several coun- acquiring knowledge by systematically using ad- tries, some of which are known for having economies vanced knowledge for solving problems is termed that are to a large extent innovation-driven. Others are ‘learning by solving’. included for purposes of comparison. One good indicator of the opportunity for learning The figures in Table 1 are consistently high for by studying is given by the enrollment in higher ed- developed countries. In some cases, like Brazil and ucation. Such information is available for most South Africa, the figure for R&D/GDP is not as low countries. A different indicator of the supply of as in most developing countries, reaching a thresh- knowledgeable people is the number of researchers old of 1%, but the rest of the indicators are much (full-time equivalents) in relation to the population. weaker. Argentina is relatively well placed in terms As would be expected, these indicators are linked. of the enrollment in higher education and number of Countries usually score high or low on both indica- researchers, but scores low in the proxies for learn- tors (see Table 1 for some selected countries). ing by solving. China exhibits figures which are ful- The opportunities for learning by solving are dif- ly comparable with those of developed countries in ficult to approach by means of a single indicator. A some indicators, but it still lags behind in others. relatively good indicator would be the percentage of However, its rhythm of change is impressive: all human resources in science and technology between 1996 and 2006 its gross expenditure on (S&T) working in businesses; this indicator can be R&D multiplied by six (Ministry of S&T of the Table 1. Some indicators of capacities to produce and to use knowledge for diverse countries Countries HE gross Researchers GERD/GDP GERD % funded Researchers working enrolment ratio (FTE) per million by business in business firms inhabitants enterprises (% of total researchers) USA 82 4.671 2.67 66.4 79.2 Sweden 75 6.139 3.68 63.9 72.8 South Korea 96 2.044 3.47 73.7 68.5 China 22 1.071 1.49 70.4 68.3 Japan 58 8.840 3.45 77.7 66.1 Denmark 80 5.431 2.57 59.5 65.1 Finland 94 7.382 3.47 68.2 56.8 France 55 3.440 2.10 52.4 55.5 UK 59 3.695 1.84 47.2 48.8 Spain 68 2.784 1.28 47.1 43.5 Brazil 30 629 1.02 47.9 37.4 Mexico 26 460 0.50 46.5 31.1 (2003) India 13 137 0.80 19.8 16.8 Argentina 62 980 0.51 29.3 15.5 South Africa 15 382 0.96 43.9 … Colombia 33 151 0.18 27.0 0.3 Source: UIS, available at <http://stats.uis.unesco.org/unesco/TableViewer/document.aspx?ReportId=198&IF_Language=eng>, 2007 reference year or latest year available; for South Africa, Southern Africa Regional Universities Association. Science and Public Policy October 2010 573
  • 4. Knowledge demand in the South People’s Republic of China, 2007); the enrollment in Many developing countries have experienced higher education increased from 7% to 22% between periods of economic growth stemming from differ- 1999 and 2007 (UNESCO, 2010). ent combinations of the first three of these processes. We can put each country in a ‘map’ (see Figure 1) But backwardness has been substantially and per- by using enrollment in higher education and manently diminished only in the comparatively few R&D/GDP, respectively, as proxies for learning by cases when the fourth process became relevant. Re- studying and learning by solving. markable examples have been provided during the Figure 1 schematizes a learning divide between 20th century by the Scandinavian countries and by developed countries and several other countries East Asia where learning processes expanded (Arocena and Sutz, 2000). This notion recalls how quickly. difficult it is for many countries to cope with the en- Importing knowledge has been of paramount im- rollment revolution and to use knowledge for devel- portance in every successful story of development. opment, that is, to cross the learning divide. But the problem of knowledge for development Nevertheless, it can be crossed, as is shown by the could not be solved solely by importing knowledge. differing positions of South Korea over time. This is connected with the following assertions due to Lall (1990: 22): Why is knowledge still a weak lever for  Without investment capabilities ‘there is little un- development in many countries? derstanding of the technology transferred, leading to subsequent high costs of operation and a lack Mokyr (1992: 4–6) asserts that economic growth of upgrading’. stems from four distinct processes:  Process innovation capabilities are necessary, par- ticularly because ‘buying new technology may be  investment, that is, increases in capital stock; quicker and less risky than innovation, but, to be  trade and division of labor; successful and economical, also requires a high  economies of scale or, more generally, size ef- degree of technical skills’. fects; and  ‘Capabilities to follow trends in product develop-  increases in the stock of human knowledge, ment, (almost as difficult as independent innova- including technological and institutional changes, tion)’, are necessary because new technologies which are the source of the so-called Schumpet- are often not transferable to independent erian growth. firms. Israel Japan Sweden Finland South Korea (2007) South Korea (1997) Germany Austria Denmark USA Australia France Canada UK Norway Czech R. China South Korea (1985) Spain Italy Russian Fed. Brazil Tunisia South Africa Turkey Lithuania Pakistan India Malaysia Chile Mexico Argentina South Korea (1975) Costa Rica Uruguay Bolivia Colombia Vietnam Peru Ecuador Algeria  Figure 1. Illustration of the ‘learning divide’ Notes: Vertically, from bottom to top, R&D/GDP: <0.5, 0.5–1, 1–2, 2–3.5 Horizontally, from left to right, gross enrolment in tertiary education (%): <30, 30–50, 50–60, 60–75, >75 Source: As for Table 1, Arocena and Sutz (2000) 574 Science and Public Policy October 2010
  • 5. Knowledge demand in the South Lall exemplifies the conscious building of these …are uncertain in that their success depends on capabilities in South Korea, and shows that Sub- the ability and readiness of the actors operating Saharan Africa is an example of the lack of such ef- in the system to absorb and maximise the po- forts. In Latin America importing industrially em- tential of these incentives. Developing demand- bodied knowledge was a failure if it was not side policy instruments is of equal relevance combined with endogenously generated knowledge for European and national systems, and relate (Fajnzylber, 1984). Nowadays technical cooperation to policy actions designed to enhance the tech- with least developed countries also faces the diffi- nological competencies of the system by culties of building long-term capacities and the like- emphasising the role of the user. lihood of limiting or inhibiting local alternatives (Bell, 2007: 10). A case study in an economically depressed part of Endogenous generation of knowledge is a neces- France shows: sary complement to the success of knowledge im- ports, particularly when knowledge in the making is …that it is not sufficient to legislate a policy imported. A general feature of the changes in the for making scientific and technological production and use of knowledge is that both are in- knowledge available in order to create a rela- creasingly intertwined. Advanced learning, scientific tionship of synergy between the development research, technological innovation and economically of universities and economic development. In efficient diffusion of innovations become more en- the case in point, the problem is the lack of de- tangled. Thus, the last process becomes increasingly mand on the part of the main economic actors difficult if it is not closely connected with the other (industrial firms). (Laperche, 2002: 168) three. The need to cope with such issues ‘systemically’ A report on the state of S&T in Latin America indi- has also been reinforced by their context-dependent cates that the most important factor explaining the aspects. Health and life sciences in Latin America shortage of linkages between knowledgeable people owe, in no small measure, their comparatively dis- and institutions and production is still the weakness tinguished history to that phenomenon. Some of the of the knowledge demand from enterprises (RICYT, main health problems in the continent were quite 2008: 22). specific. They could not be solved by knowledge Of late, demand has been a rather forgotten issue: transfer alone: systemic building of research and in- novation capabilities was needed. Today, generally Imagine trying to cut a piece of paper with just speaking, problems and disciplines with strong con- one blade of a pair of scissors. It’s near impos- text-dependent aspects are expanding their influence sible. Yet that is what we try to do with innova- in knowledge-related activities. Health, environ- tion policy. (...) Innovations are the product of ment, nutrition, and sanitation are all examples of the creative interaction of supply and demand. that. Related problems often have solutions that are However, in focusing on how to increase the affordable in the North in terms of research, devel- supply of innovative businesses, policymakers opment and production costs as well as in terms of have lost sight of the importance of demand. the purchasing power of the expected customers, but (Georghiou, 2007: 1–2) that are not affordable in poorer contexts. When only unaffordable solutions exist, the problem is still That is particularly worrying for developing open and requires specific research (Srinivas and countries. We conjecture that one of the main causes Sutz, 2008). of the learning divide is the weak knowledge de- Summing up, the new centrality of learning and mand addressed to endogenous sources of innovation processes gives new weight to an old knowledge by the productive structure of developing idea: to make knowledge a lever of development, countries. In Latin America this has been and still is ‘massive’ endogenous capabilities and opportunities a dominant trait. for creatively using advanced knowledge are needed. But that is quite difficult when demand for The Latin American and Caribbean production knowledge is weak, in quantity and/or in quality. pattern on the one hand, induces private sector The role of such demand has been frequently and enterprises to express a meager demand stressed. Porter (1990: 86) stated that home demand for knowledge, and on the other hand, leads conditions: domestic agents to mostly seek outward ori- ented linkages, privileging foreign companies …shapes the rate and character of improvement and research laboratories that already have and innovation by a nation’s firms sound reputation and worldwide recognized experience in effective and efficient S&T ef- Porter argued further that the quality of home de- forts. Thus a mismatch ensues between de- mand is more important than its quantity. Lundvall mand-side needs and supply-side offerings, and Borrás (1997: 123) stressed that the effects of hampering policies’ impact. (Cimoli et al., supply-side policy instruments: 2009: 12) Science and Public Policy October 2010 575
  • 6. Knowledge demand in the South The mismatch between demand and supply and, par- Fostering knowledge demand needs specific and ticularly, the problem of the knowledge outward ori- context-dependent policies. It cannot be assumed ented linkages, was already well understood by the that the same policies will be efficient where such Latin American scholars of S&T 40 years ago demand is rather strong and also where it is weak. (Sabato and Botana, 1968). It leads to a sort of glob- Concerning the developing world, what is assert- alization of the sociology of science concept, the ed is the weakness of market demand for knowledge. Matthew effect famously proposed by Merton According to Rodrik, the explanation is that entre- (1968): those knowledge and innovation producers preneurs think that, on average, innovative activities that receive the knowledge demand from developing offer low profits. Usual policies for fostering countries get stronger in terms of their ability to sat- knowledge demand focus on firms. So the problem isfy such demand; conversely, those that even hav- requires a more diversified set of policies. Further ing the knowledge skills to solve problems are not support for this assertion will be given in the section called to solve them in their own countries, will of this paper devoted to a brief review of the change profession, migrate or exploit their skills achievements and limitations of Latin American well below their possibilities. knowledge policies. Now we turn to another reason Consequently, as Rodrik (2007: 101) has for focusing on knowledge demand: the most diffi- commented: cult aspects of learning processes are directly de- pendent on the level of such demand. …innovation in the developing world is con- strained not on the supply side but in the de- mand side. That is, it is not the lack of trained Two aspects of fostering learning scientists and engineers, absence of R&D labs, processes: a difficult and a more or inadequate protection of intellectual proprie- difficult task ty that restricts the innovations that are needed to restructure low-income economies. Innova- Learning by studying is less difficult to achieve than tion is undercut instead by lack of demand from learning by solving, the latter being directly related its potential users in the real economy – the en- to the level of knowledge demand. The former pro- trepreneurs. And the demand for innovation is cess is not at all easy. Although enrollment in higher low in turn because entrepreneurs perceive new education is steadily growing globally, in most de- activities to be of low profitability. veloping countries this growth is far from enough to redress the gap. Nevertheless, even if results are Knowledge supply per se does not create knowledge slow to achieve, and moreover some processes, like demand. This has been recently recognized in India, emigration, can jeopardize them, the move towards where around one-third of all graduates are in scien- increasing the opportunities to study at tertiary level tific fields but 66% of those holding advanced de- is distinguishable (see Figure 2). Understanding why grees and unemployed are also in those fields this is so helps us to better grasp the difficulties of (Bagla, 2005). fostering learning by solving. Figure 2. Tertiary gross enrollment ratio by geographical region, 2000 and 2007 Note: data includes all post-secondary students (ISCED4, 5 and 6) Taken from Altbach et al. (2009: v) 576 Science and Public Policy October 2010
  • 7. Knowledge demand in the South People’s motivations to seek access to higher On Latin American science, technology and education can be relatively independent of market innovation policies situations. Even if increasing pressures are exerted upon universities to transform them into more Supply-side policies in Latin America started as market-dependent organizations, they still have a classical science policies: in some cases they became relative autonomy from purely market considera- more elaborate S&T policies. Resources and posi- tions. Universities are seen as enabling organiza- tion in the government agenda rose and fell in dif- tions par excellence in the knowledge economy: ferent periods. On average they have hardly ever expanding them is usually considered a legitimate been high, but the balance differs greatly from aim of public policy. The advancement towards a country to country. Nevertheless, they have contrib- higher rate of enrollment in higher education in de- uted to the building of a fairly significant research veloping countries has an increasingly positive citi- structure. During the period 1996–2006 the number zenry valuation. Thus the move towards learning of full-time equivalent researchers in Latin America through studying, including at higher levels, has a and the Caribbean grew 85%, reaching 234,661. The growing level of political support. So, it can be ex- weight of the region in terms of researchers at global pected that this leg of the learning opportunities, level also grew significantly during that period, from notwithstanding all the difficulties involved, will on 2.9% to 3.8% (RICYT, 2008: 16, 17). average, become steadily stronger (see Altbach et The outcomes of supply-side policies in terms of al., 2009). research capacities have been highly influenced by We now turn to the other leg of the learning op- three factors. One is the already stressed weak mar- portunities. Learning by solving usually involves ket demand for endogenous knowledge generation. some sort of human group, where learning is fos- Lack of continuity and weakness of public policies tered by the cross-fertilization of what different peo- have also been relevant, Brazil being a partial excep- ple in the group know. Even if each person learns in tion. We see different combinations of periods of this way, the most productive result is that the group almost complete neglect with periods of mild atten- as such learns. tion to these issues and with some short periods of fairly strong official push. Those two ‘external’ fac- It is important to distinguish between the con- tors help to explain the relevance of a third factor: cepts of ‘learning community’ and ‘collective the internal dynamics of organized research. The of learning individuals’. Learning communities Latin American research structure has been shaped demonstrate as such learning behavior, i.e. to a large extent by claims stemming from some as a whole they have the ability to construc- large public universities and by the different and tively interact with change at a level that trans- changing levels of self-organizing capabilities, of in- cends the simple sum of the various ternational connections and of the national lobbying individuals who constitute the community. power of networks of researchers, mainly working in (Visser, 1999: 7) those universities. OECD innovation policies have provided the ra- The strength of ‘learning communities’, stemming tionale for the Latin American wave of innovation from systematic processes of applying knowledge to policies. Some of its mechanisms were frequently problem solving, is strongly dependent on the level adopted, like tax reductions for innovation-related of knowledge demand. investments and competitive funds to promote asso- Any group where learning by solving occurs re- ciative innovation efforts. Others were scarcely quires searching how to solve problems. Searching adopted, for instance those directed towards the in- is always costly and time consuming, be it by: ternal transformation of the absorptive capacities of firms, like support of small- and medium-sized en- …looking up the answer in a source known to terprises (SMEs) for hiring their first employee with contain the answer, or an extended search for a problem solution that may not exist. (Nelson and Winter, 1982: 64) The propensity to search depends on the perceived In 1996–2006 the number of full-time rewards of finding solutions to unsolved or not satis- equivalent researchers in Latin factorily solved problems. Such rewards need to be sufficiently attractive to overcome inertia and the re- America and the Caribbean grew luctance to incur the different costs that searching 85%, reaching 234,661. During that involves. Again, the opportunities for searching, a period the region’s share of key component of learning by solving, are strongly dependent on the level of knowledge demand. Even researchers at global level grew from if fostering learning by studying is not an easy task 2.9% to 3.8% in developing countries, learning by solving is even more difficult. Science and Public Policy October 2010 577
  • 8. Knowledge demand in the South tertiary education. Instruments related to demand- Table 2. Comparison between groups of innovative firms in Uruguay and in Europe side innovation policies were hardly ever adopted, like the most pro-active mechanisms of technologi- cal public procurement. Innovation policies have not Percentage of Percentage of achieved great success. Innovative firms continue to innovative firms innovative firms based on that excel in all be a small proportion of all firms. Their main inno- endogenous aspects of vation efforts are still importing machinery and competences that innovative process equipments. The capacities built through the supply- have characteristic that have indicated in row characteristic side S&T policies are still under-utilized by firms, (Uruguay, 2006) indicated in row which continue to constitute a marginal labor market (statistics for for researchers and, in the case of SMEs, even for Europe in 2004) university graduates. Innovative 89.8 88.4 The above assertions can be illustrated by the technologically in case of Uruguay. In 1985 the country recovered product and democratic rule, after 12 years of dictatorship. S&T processes supply-side policies have been implemented since Performing internal 64.1 70.9 then, backed by international organizations. A pre- R&D viously dismal situation has been moderately im- Receiving public 0.5 28.5 support for innovation proved in terms of the number and training of researchers, research infrastructure and salaries, Source: based on Bianchi et al. (2009) grants, mobility and research quality. Those poli- cies, mainly supported by public money, have not been accompanied by a really intensive demand for usefulness of the available knowledge supply. Inno- local research and knowledge capabilities from in- vation policies of the type implemented so far in dustry or services. Policy instruments aimed at fos- Uruguay have not advanced much towards this kind tering innovation at firm level were implemented, of outputs. For example, 80% of small firms do not but it was tacitly assumed that a main reason why have any employee with a background in S&T ter- firms do not rely on knowledge and are not too in- tiary education, a trend first measured in 1986 novative is that they lack sufficient money to do (Argenti et al., 1989) and confirmed in the last in- so. Consequently different types of financial in- dustrial innovation survey of 2006 (Bianchi et al., struments were developed, from tax alleviation to 2009). co-financing for innovation projects. These instru- To date, innovation policies that could foster the ments were not extensively used. Even between productive use of endogenous knowledge capabili- Uruguayan innovative firms the reliance on the ties in Uruguay and other Latin American countries available public support was quite low when com- have had limited success. Such policies are frequent- pared with such reliance in Europe. ly defined as a sort of ‘cut and paste’ from the poli- To establish a meaningful comparison we take cies of developed countries, so local specificities two groups of firms, in Uruguay and in Europe, are not sufficiently taken into account. Information characterized by being the most innovative within about the innovativeness of firms and related issues the universe of all industrial firms. The definition of is frequently gathered through surveys aimed more such firms is, for Uruguay: ‘Innovative based on the at establishing international comparisons than an- endogenous competences of the firm’, representing swering relevant questions in a given context. 7.1% of all industrial firms (Bianchi and Gras, Competitive funds for innovation would be de- 2006). For Europe the definition was: ‘companies manded by many firms only if the prevailing high (that) shine in all aspects of the innovative process innovative passivity is redressed to some extent by and support this activity through the requesting of some ‘localized’ instruments that are more pro- advice from experts as well as hiring new graduates active and even customized. If this does not hap- from universities at home and abroad’ (European pen, only those few firms that already know that Commission, 2004), representing 20% of the sam- local knowledge is important will apply for funds. ple. Table 2 shows that the two groups of firms are Demonstration effects are needed to build stronger quite similar regarding innovation, while it also bridges between the relatively weak knowledge shows how they differ in relation to their utilization demand from firms and national knowledge supply. of public support for innovation. Policies could identify some important and para- On the other hand, indicators of achievement for digmatic problems affecting groups of firms and an innovation policy can include an increase in the support specific programs to search solutions. These proportion of firms that employ knowledgeable peo- ‘tailored demand-side’ innovation policies are ple as well as a widening of their relations with scarcely seen in manufacturing. The situation is dif- knowledge producers. Given that no business would ferent in agriculture, where the information about make investments in this direction unless it consid- production problems in need of knowledge is per- ers it profitable, such outputs can be reasonably con- manently updated through different types of institu- sidered to be a shift towards recognition of the tional arrangements. 578 Science and Public Policy October 2010
  • 9. Knowledge demand in the South There is surely ample room for improvement for cultural consequences. In particular, it will foster a different kinds of demand-side policies directed to better match between national problem-solving firms’ innovative behavior. It is worth bearing in capabilities and demands for knowledge and innova- mind, however, that such improved policies will tion in society at large. probably face a high wall of a structural nature, If these assertions are likely to be correct, one can namely the type of productive activities in which envisage breaking the vicious circle and starting a national firms are engaged and the main sources of virtuous one. Increasing demand can be a self- profits obtained by the entrepreneurs that own and sustained process if, when demand increases, it is govern such firms. met by a satisfactory supply, that fosters further de- The question has two parts: first, if the knowledge mand and also enhances supply. That outline of a demand of businesses is difficult to foster due to strategy for mobilizing knowledge demand towards structural reasons; and second, without the strong national capabilities is based on inclusive innova- fostering of knowledge demand the learning divides tions. Thus the potential role of such innovations will not be overcome, then what sectors of social life needs to be assessed. would be adequate to stem knowledge demand That potential stems, first of all, from the fact through new types of innovation policies well that some problems faced by deprived people have adapted to promote processes of human and sustain- not gained insights from knowledge because they able development? have not been addressed by modern S&T. In some cases this is due to commercial reasons, but in other cases such problems are ‘below the radar’ (Clark, et Policies to foster social demand al., 2009) of present mainstream research and inno- of knowledge vation. Helping R&D agendas as well as business- es’ innovation agendas to pick up some of these Improving the innovative capabilities of firms is problems and to give them full attention may have a essential for development. In many developing positive impact on the achievements of social poli- countries structural obstacles position the perceived cies. Some of these problems are of tantalizing risk threshold for starting innovative efforts at too complexity, like many in the realm of health, where high a level. This is particularly true for those inno- the non-existence of solutions may be related to in- vative efforts related to a more intensive use of sufficient knowledge. In other cases the lack of so- advanced knowledge. Consequently, knowledge lutions can be traced back to an unposed question or demand stemming from business continues to be a problem which was not highlighted. A Uruguayan weak, especially the part of such demand directed to example of a solution found once the problem it local supply. Thus supply-side S&T policies lack solved received attention is the potable water auton- legitimacy, as is seen in the endless re-negotiation of omous unit, a transportable engine able to clean the amounts of the public investment on R&D. Such mud and other physical contaminants from water. It investment is difficult to legitimize if society at large is small and light enough to be transported in an or- does not make an extensive use of endogenous dinary truck. It proved particularly useful for serv- knowledge-based capabilities. If those capabilities ing communities after different types of climatic are not expanded then development is jeopardized, disturbance, or to provide drinkable water to small, which perpetuates a vicious circle. isolated communities, where the distance to urban We posit that one way to break such a vicious cir- centers makes the expansion of water services too cle is to widen the approach and the scope of inno- expensive. The problem was highlighted when Uru- vation policies, while also conceiving them as social guayan soldiers serving under the UN in Africa policies. Innovation policies as social policies are were frequently moving from place to place, none those that point at detecting and fostering knowledge of which had drinkable water available. The innova- demand that is both socially very justified, and is tion was developed by engineers from the army addressed to endogenous providers of knowledge. and the public enterprise devoted to water supply Inclusive innovations are the expected outputs of and sanitation. The device is now used in several such policies. They are required to improve the well- countries. being of the most deprived part of the population. This is simply an anecdote, it illustrates that in The needs that social policies should fulfill and that some cases posing a problem can lead to research, research and innovation could try to solve are huge. development and innovation efforts that achieve a In Latin America at least, after the disastrous social successful solution. A systematic effort to highlight effect of the economic policies guided by the ‘Wash- social problems and to make them the focus of a ington consensus’ recommendations, social policies specific branch of innovation policies could turn an- have been widely recognized as a legitimate and im- ecdotes like this and many others into trends. If this portant sphere of public intervention. If innovation is achieved, more solutions could be found for the policies are able to show that they are strategic for type of problems we are discussing. Of course, hav- the implementation of social policies, they will re- ing solutions does not mean that they will be used ceive stronger support. If innovation policies as so- effectively: the issue is that solutions must exist cial policies are successful, that will have ample before they can be used effectively. Science and Public Policy October 2010 579
  • 10. Knowledge demand in the South Another reason to consider that inclusive innova- people. The term import substitution is valid because tions are vital for the well-being of the most de- these innovations solve problems that could eventu- prived part of the population is the high cost in the ally be solved through imports. The term competi- international market of existing solutions to some tive is valid because these innovations provide better types of problem. In many cases, the problem of af- solutions than the imported ones, due to their cost, fordability is the result of political issues – i.e. intel- adaptability to local conditions or both factors. lectual property rights (IPR) protection and World Several examples of this kind of inclusive Trade Organization regulations: several vaccines are and competitive import substitution from Uruguay examples of that. However, in some cases, lack of can be given. We shall briefly mention one in the affordability may be related to genuinely high costs realm of health, which is actually used in several of production. Turning things upside down and de- public hospitals in Uruguary. The problem posed in veloping a radically different way of looking into the technical terms was that the halogen lamps to treat problem, which can lead to a radically different severe jaundice through photo-therapy used in the method of production, can be a good alternative to a intensive care divisions of the maternity wards of heavy subsidy of the existing solutions. public hospitals had a high rate of failure due to the In the case of the Haemophilus influenzae type short life of the light bulbs. Replacement bulbs were b (Hib), responsible for meningitis and different very expensive, thus several lamps were not operat- kind of sepsis in small children, full-immunization ing. This photo-therapy involves directing a very schemes were in place in most industrialized precise beam of blue light onto the baby in order to countries by 1991, following the innovation that de- allow the expulsion of the bilirubin molecule, whose livered a workable vaccine. The Global Alliance for concentration causes the jaundice. The problem Vaccines and Immunization started support for ac- posed in social terms is that premature babies have a quiring Hib vaccines in 17 low-income countries in higher probability of being affected by severe jaun- 2005. dice. Such babies are frequently from the most de- prived sector of the population and are treated in Middle-income and developing countries have public hospitals. At the international level, the exist- been hesitant to introduce the vaccine because ing solution was lamps made from light emitting di- of its relatively high price. (Akumu et al., odes (LEDs), semiconductor devices that have a 2007:1) very long life. These lamps were expensive, mainly because LEDs are low intensity devices, so many of So far (...) immunization against this disease has them are required to reach the necessary level of in- reached only a fraction of the children living tensity. The new solution was based on the design of in low-income countries. (WHO, 2006: 451) an optical device to be incorporated into the lamp that concentrates the light, obtaining the same inten- One road towards inclusive innovation strategy is to sity with a much smaller number of LEDs. The in- try to develop alternative solutions to the existing novation was due to a young electrical engineer and ones, combining the needed technical characteristics atomic physicist at the Universidad de la República. with affordable costs. In the case of the vaccine The new lamp (commercially named BiliLed) was against Hib this strategy was followed in Cuba, in produced by a national electronic firm. It was in- cooperation with a Canadian university. The alterna- vented because a physician was enraged by the prob- tive consisted of developing a synthetic vaccine, that lems with the existing lamps, and he commented on is, a purely chemical vaccine, whose production the problem to a researcher who was able to relate costs would be considerably lower than those of the the problem to experimental work in his academic current, biological vaccine. It took more than a dec- laboratory (Geido et al., 2007). Again, this is an an- ade to achieve success as the R&D part of the pro- ecdote, told in an extremely stylized way, without cess was tantalizing complex (Vérez-Bencomo et entering into the many difficulties that paved the al., 2004). But, at the end of 2004 one million doses way to the final device. The point is that anecdotes of this new vaccine, whose effectiveness is fully are useful to foresee possible trends: we posit that recognized by the WHO, were inoculated into those the trend that this anecdote suggests is not only Cuban infants who were aged less than two months. necessary but also possible. In the last paragraphs we referred, first, to innovations oriented towards ‘not-yet-existing- solutions’, and then to innovations geared towards Conclusion what can be termed ‘inclusive and competitive im- port substitution’. The latter refers to problem- General comparisons (enrollment in higher educa- solving innovative efforts that follow to some extent tion, percentage of researchers in the working popu- a different heuristic path than that used to achieve lation etc.) show that the knowledge supply is the existing solutions. The term innovation is valid quantitatively weaker in developing countries than because we are talking about different solutions. The in the North. Nevertheless, indicators like the term inclusive is valid because it is attempted to amount of investment in knowledge production and provide solutions to problems which affect deprived the number of knowledgeable people hired by firms, 580 Science and Public Policy October 2010
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