SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNICAL INFORMATION IN DEVELOPMENT: THE SMALL SYSTEMS SYNDROME AND THE INVERTED BINOCULAR STRATEGY

Abstract

There is nowadays a fair consensus among politicians, theoreticians and practitioners involved in development strategies that a certain level of indigenous science and technology (S & T) is a prerequisite for satisfactory control of local production developments, and thereby reduced dependence on external interests. From this understanding derives the need for access to scientific and technical information (STI) and the extension to the entire spectrum of ‘know‐what, know‐how, know‐what‐for’ etc. that links basic research through technical R & D to industrial production and marketing. That ‘information transfer’ (scientific, technical, socio‐economic) is regarded as being of key importance is clear from the immense literature emanating from national and international bodies, reaching a peak in the Unisist II and UNCSTD conferences. No doubt this is a serious concern, even if it sometimes takes bizarre expressions, like the political weight given to the subtle distinction between whether STI is ‘a common property of humanity’ or only ‘an important asset’.