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

Research in Focus

Ownership structure a major inhibiting factor to firm growth and ICT diffusion
A recent survey of Malaysian SMEs has confirmed the importance of ownership structure in the diffusion of new technologies. Interviews conducted with owners of SMEs and managers of support organizations revealed that the fear of ‘growth' discourages SMEs from adopting measures to expand their operations. “While fully aware of the benefits of new technologies, there is a fear of changing ownership rights the moment a firm exceeds the investment limit for SMEs, or crosses the sales turnover limit,” notes Dr. Kaushalesh Lal, coordinator of the project. These findings are in line with INTECH research in other developing countries. More ...

Towards the World Summit on the Information Society
As part of the preparatory process towards the second leg of WSIS, United Nations University, the Government of Japan and ITU are co-hosting a thematic meeting on the "Ubiquitous Network Society" in Tokyo on 16-17 May. MERIT researchers Huub Meijers and Theo Dunnewijk are analysing empirical data on the role, conditions and impact of information technology, governance and economic structure on local income per capita in the world, for the Tunis meeting. More ....

Training and Capacity Building

The MERIT/UNU-INTECH PhD Programme has launched a Student Seminar Series aimed at providing an opportunity for PhD students to present, discuss and receive feedback on their work. More ...

Two new interns are participating in the UNU-INTECH PhD Internship Programme between April and July 2005. Rakhi Rashmi ( Jawaharlal Nehru University, India) is carrying out research on “Biopharmaceutical Patents Under Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) Agreement of WTO: Case study on Biopharmaceutical industry.” A second intern, Luke Okumu, a Ugandan national studying at Stellenbosch University , South Africa will be joining the programme in May.

Capacity Building for Policymakers
A UNU-INTECH-led Science, Technology Innovation Policy (STIP) Review in Iran , which was designed to support the Iranian Ministry of Science, Research and Technology in its efforts to conceptualize effective policy measures to stimulate innovation, has been formally adopted by the Iranian government and a number of its recommendations have already been implemented. The Iranian Government will present the outcome at the UN Conference on Science and Technology for Development, in Geneva on 25 May. UNU-INTECH recently completed a similar review on the Nigerian biopharmaceutical innovation system and is providing technical backstopping in the implementation phase.

Recent Events

Can Money Grow on Trees? Experts Debate Strategies for Sustainable Bioprospecting (UN Headquarters, New York , 19 April).
To mark the launch of the UNU Press book: Regulating Bioprospecting: Institutions for Drug Research, Access and Benefit-Sharing, authored by INTECH researcher Padmashree Gehl Sampath, a distinguished panel of experts debated a broad range of issues raised by the book. The speakers included: Gordon Cragg , Former Director, Natural Products Branch, US National Cancer Institute; David Newman , US National Institutes of Health; Philippe Cullet, Programme Director for Europe, International Environmental Law Research Centre; Graham Dutfield, Senior Research Fellow, Queen Mary and West Field College, University of London; Daniel Maagraw, President and Chief Executive Officer, Centre for International Environmental Law (CIEL) Washington; and A.H. Zakri, Director of UNU Institute of Advanced Studies (UNU-IAS) Tokyo. More...

UNU-INTECH Policy Seminars
14 April: John Young (RAPID - Research and Policy in Development Programme, ODI, UK) presented an analytical framework that can help in unpacking the complex range of factors influencing research uptake, and help research institutions to maximize the impact of their work in development interventions. The seminar drew on theoretical and case-study research and practical work carried out by RAPID, and the GDN Bridging Research and Policy project over the past three years. Dr. Young explained some of the evidence behind the framework and approach itself, how it has been used in different "political contexts", and some of the communication tools that can be used to strengthen 'links' between researchers and policy makers.
More Information: RAPID Briefing Paper (pdf 107 kb) " Bridging Research and Policy in International Development: An Analytical and Practical Framework ", ODI, October 2004.

28 April. Pedro Roffe, Programme Director, UNCTAD-ICTSD Capacity Building Project on IPRs, presented a historical perspective of the evolution of intellectual property regimes and their integration in the global trading system. Focusing on the recent proliferation of bilateral free trade treaties, he expressed concern that these developments were crowding out the policy ‘space' provided for in the TRIPS Agreement and confirmed in the Doha Ministerial Declaration on Intellectual Property and Health, which aimed at building in some flexibilities for poorer developing countries to adjust to the new rules of the game. He characterized this ‘TRIPS-plus world” as one in which the international property regime appears to increasingly serve the role of protecting the investments of key players, rather than protecting intellectual assets.
More information: Pedro Roffe, 2004. “ Bilateral agreements and a TRIPS-plus world: The Chile-USA Free Trade Agreement ”, TRIPS Issues Paper 4, Quaker International Affairs Programme, Ottawa and Geneva.
Download the full version of the ICTSD guide Resource Book on TRIPS and Development: An authoritative and practical guide to the TRIPS Agreement .

Forthcoming Events