Background Paper for the Workshop on Science, Technology, and Innovation in Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria
In the last five decades, there has been a rapid growth in the effort to coordinate scientific research. Improvements and advances in science and technology are now considered a major force in accelerating growth and improving living standards. Though technological progress can arise from accidental discoveries, it is crucially dependent on intentional investments of resources (be they human/intellectual or financial) by governments, profit-seeking firms and individuals as well as various institutions (academic, research and so on). Research and technological advances can be driven by various motives (from military purposes to the pursue of fame), but the catalytic role of commercial returns and economic incentives to industrial innovation cannot be overrated. Approximately 80 per cent of all R&D is conducted in developed economies. In turn, some of the knowledge of these countries flows into and creates the stimulus for new ideas in less developed and less R&D intensive economies through technology transfers. The degree of R&D intensity in an economy is determined by a number of factors that range from macroeconomic stability and sound public policies, to the development of human capital and an openness to ideas. In a constantly changing international environment, countries need to find their own ways to innovative in order to remain competitive. Even resource abundant economies are now seeking to diversify economic resources, and an important aspect of this drive is building the capacity to tap into a continuously growing stock of global knowledge and, in doing do, tailoring it to meet local needs.