UNU-INTECH is a major Research and Training Centre of United Nations University specializing in the role of new technologies and innovation in the development process. The Institute works in close collaboration with the Maastricht Economic Research Institute on Innovation and Technology, MERIT

SANJAYA LALL: AN APPRECIATION

One of Oxford University's leading economists, Professor Sanjaya Lall, died on 18 June 2005, aged 64. His innovative ideas on technology, competitiveness and government had a remarkable influence on academics, policymakers and students. UNU-INTECH research fellows Rajah Rasiah, Lynn Mytelka and Ganeshan Wignaraja pay tribute to the passing of an academic legend. More ...

Research in Focus

Innovating for the Environment: Towards Clean, Clever and Competitive Systems
As pressure mounts on the world's richest countries to take bold measures to address global environmental challenges, attention is increasingly being paid to the need to find solutions that are sustainable in ecological, economic and social equity terms, both in developed and developing countries. The integration of research activities at MERIT and UNU-INTECH is bringing together complementary work in a number of relevant sectors, including energy, transport, agriculture and biotechnology. In doing this, researchers at the two institutes aim to contribute to theory building, and empirical as well as policy related research, covering the full spectrum of social, economic and ecological sustainability related to globalization and technological change. More…

Pilot INTECH/ILRI Workshop Applies Innovation Systems Concept to Livestock Research
Agricultural research organizations in developing countries have been tasked with finding ways to improve their relevance and impact on key development indicators such as poverty reduction and equitable economic growth. Increasingly this requires a reconfiguring of patterns of interaction between scientists and the ever-changing and expanding range of actors, markets and policies, in which the processes of social and economic change are embedded. UNU-INTECH and the International Livestock Research Institute, ILRI, have begun to develop a collaborative programme to tackle this issue. More …

Recent Events

UNU-INTECH has contributed to the Global Design Team for the International Assessment of Agricultural Science and Technology (IAASTD). Co-sponsored by several UN agencies - FAO, UNDP, UNEP, UNESCO, WHO - and the World Bank, IAASTD seeks to bring the best available information to bear on policy and management decisions, and to build and enhance local and regional capacity to design, implement and utilize scientific assessments. More ….

The first meeting of the NEPAD Expert Working Group on Indicators took place in Pretoria, South Africa from 3 to 5 May 2005. The Working Group is charged with developing a comprehensive programme for African Science, Technology and Innovation Indicators (ASTII) that will generate an African Innovation Outlook. Professor Banji Oyelaran-Oyeyinka represents UNU-INTECH on the Working Group.

A study of the floriculture industry in Kenya – part of the recently completed UNU-INTECH joint project with Netherlands based Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Innovation (CTA) - was featured in a regional weekly newspaper, The East African (covering Kenya , Uganda , Tanzania and Rwanda ). Read full story (PDF 470kb). The study and its recommendations have also been covered by the Floriculture Magazine, the official journal of the Association of Kenya Floriculturalists (AKF).

PhD Programme
Participants in the 2003 PhD group recently presented a mid-term progress seminar prior to embarking on fieldwork. The four candidates are: Fernando Santiago Rodriguez (Mexico); Yoseph Getachew (Ethiopia); Marion Motari (Kenya); and Fransisco Toro (Venezuela). Read abstracts (PDF 54kb).

Fernando Javier Diaz Lopez, a Mexican national, has recently joined the UNU-INTECH PhD internship programme. He is based at the School of Development Studies, University of East Anglia, UK, and his research topic is: "Environment, Technological Change and Innovation: a Developmental Approach in the Mexican Chemical Industry." Three interns are currently participating in the three-month residential programme. More...

Call for Papers: The joint MERIT/UNU-INTECH  PhD Programme in Economics and Policy Studies of Technical Change invites the larger academic community in the Maastricht area to participate in a newly initiated PhD seminar series. The Student Seminar Series provides an opportunity for PhD students to present, discuss and gain feedback on their work.”   Details (PDF 179 Kb).

New Publications

Lal, Kaushalesh. 2005. "Determinants of the Adoption of E-business Technologies,"Telematics and Informatics , 22:3, pp. 181-199.

Oyelaran-Oyeyinka, Banji. 2005. "Systems of Innovation and Underdevelopment: An Institutional Perspective" (PDF 313 Kb). UNU-INTECH Discussion Paper 2005:1.

Velho, Léa. 2005. “S&T Institutions in Latin America and the Caribbean : An Overview”, Science and Public Policy , 32:2, pp.95-108.

Research and Networking Activities

Globelics Academy, Ph.D. school on National Systems of Innovation and Economic Development , organized by the Centre for Innovation, Technology and Policy Research/ Instituto Superior Técnico, Technical University of Lisbon, May 23-June 3.
Research presentations Marion Motari, Fernando Santiago Rodriguez and Bertha Vallejo and
Dr. Micheline Goedhuys (Faculty)

Cross-Country analysis on Globalization and SMEs. Field work in Malaysia and Costa Rica (4 – 14 April, and 21 – 31 May 2005, respectively. Coordinated by Dr. Kaushalesh Lal

Conference on Promoting Innovation and Competitiveness, The Hague , 27 – 28 April 2005. Opened by the Dutch Prime Minister J.P. Balkenende. Presentation by Luc Soete, UNU-INTECH Director

The New Technologies (NT) and Research on Knowledge Systems (RoKS) Exploratory programs of the International Development Research Centre (IDRC, Canada ). Seminar on The Biopharmaceutical Innovation System in Africa , 10 – 16 May 2005. Presentation of ongoing UNU-INTECH research on the Nigerian System of Innovation in Biopharmacy by Banji Oyelaran-Oyeyinka

Second - Agency Cooperation Network on Biotechnology in Geneva , 24 – 25 May 2005. Padmashree Gehl Sampath represents UNU-INTECH in the Network's activities.

Forthcoming Events