Nanotechnology, Firm Innovation and University-Industry Networks

Nanotechnology is becoming a transformative element for the manufacturing sector into the knowledge economy. Access to relevant knowledge is a critical factor in this transformation as manufacturing firms cluster in peripheral suburbs away from the knowledge intensive ring of central business districts. Results from a project conducted in South-West Sydney shows that informal university-industry networks raise the awareness of firms to the potential of nanotechnology applications, their willingness to invest in nanotechnology R&D and the number of university-industry cooperation initiatives and business-to-business partnerships. Results from the project also suggest that, despite the importance for firms of being involved in global networks, access to local knowledge and local networks is significant for the innovation process of small and medium enterprises (SMEs).

Emerging Technology Penetration

Considering the huge wastage associated with the present energy production and consumption pattern in Nigeria, solar electricity (SE) is acclaimed to be of great potentials as a viable alternative to fossil fuels and is being considered by policy makers to contribute to improving energy efficiency, security and environmental protection. The veracity of such claim is being ascertained in this study through analysis of solar electricity utilization for lighting, refrigeration, ventilation, water pumping and others by just 5% of about 100 million Nigerian rural dwellers who lack access to national grid. The study deduced that increase in rural access to SE will yield tremendous carbon credits for Nigeria under the clean development mechanism and that generating more SE at cheaper cost will enhance policy support for green energy. This connotes a great future for microelectronics and nanotechnology in processing high efficiency multi-junction solar cells and nanosolar utility panel being optimized for utility-scale solar electricity systems.

Trade Policies and Development of Technology in Africa

Trade between nations is very crucial in the process of economic and technological growth. Directly or indirectly, trade facilitates the process of technology innovation, transfer and diffusion. It offers the trajectory to evaluate and understand how technology penetrates economies and remains a good indicator to measure national progress on technology creation and assimilation. The growth link between international trade and economic development could be traced to the classical trade theory of Adam Smith, and David Ricardo and the modern neoclassical trade model of Heckscher-Ohlin (H-O). While there is no single model that captures the route to economic development, this chapter explores how African countries working closely can harness and utilize technological advancements to improve their share of global trade so as to accelerate their overall economic growth and development.

Technological Innovations and Africa's Quest for Development in the 21st Century

Technology is generally seen as a significant tool for development while technological innovations connote better ways of achieving results. This chapter assesses different areas countries can experience technological innovations and notes that most African countries are lagging below expectations in this regards using secondary data sourced from International Telecommunication Union (ITU), United Nations Statistical Divisions (UNSTAT), among others. From the analytical perspective, the chapter established that the low levels of technological innovations in Africa is one of the major reasons why the continent remains in the low developmental echelon compared to other regions of the world. Thus, this chapter submits that adequate efforts should be placed on functional education, health system and technology related innovation programs. Besides, Africa and indeed all developing world must revamp their infrastructures, especially transportation, power and communication towards development in the 21st century.

Technology Transfer and Diffusion in Developing Economies

The early years of the green revolution heralded a new era of technology adoption and increasing productivity in agriculture. This momentum has not been sustained, giving rise to food shortages and widespread poverty in developing countries. This chapter reviews processes and models of technology transfer in agriculture in developing economies and concludes that previous efforts were not demand driven and therefore lacked the ingredients for diffusion. The drivers of technology transfer are discussed. A number of factors responsible for the low rate of technology transfer especially the absence of public policies on technology transfer are identified and linked to the transfer of emerging technologies, mainly biotechnology and nanotechnology. The chapter recommends the development of public policies, development of the private sector, establishment of partnerships between the two sectors and development of infrastructures especially in rural areas.

Technology Adoption and Economic Development

Africa’s economic development will result from conscious efforts directed towards diversification and increased productivity in its low-performing agricultural sector. Technology development, transfer and uptake, which are low for now, are indispensible necessities in this respect. The purpose of this chapter is to review the characteristics, importance, constraints and technology adoption process of African agriculture to identify factors that enhance or hinder technology uptake. This is with a view to isolating lessons for developers or packagers of new agricultural or other technologies for Africa, especially nanotechnology and microelectronics which are evolving and transformational. The attributes of technologies that have made desired impact in African agriculture included cheapness, simplicity, observability, visibility of results, usefulness, compatibility with existing technologies and farm- or farmer-specific socio-economic or socio-cultural conditions. Case studies of the welfare-enhancing impacts of adopted agricultural technologies were examined under use of fertilizers, improved varieties and biotechnology. Useful lessons for development and transfer of nanotechnology and micro-electronics to Africa were highlighted.

Technological Change and the Transformation of Global Agriculture

This chapter discusses the economic impact of science-based research in agriculture. Global agriculture was transformed in the 20th century by the Green Revolution that resulted from applying Mendelian genetics to crop and animal breeding. Developments of biotechnology in the last 20 years marked the dawn of a gene revolution that is thought to replace Mendelian genetics as the driver of technical change in agriculture. In recent years and still far from reaching the full potential impact of biotechnology in agriculture, developments in nanotechnology promise to further push the research and innovation frontier in agriculture. In this new environment, the private sector emerges as the main actor in agricultural R&D displacing the public sector, which played a central role during the Green Revolution period. However, more public investment in R&D rather than less and new institutions will be needed in developing countries if they are to benefit from the new technologies.

Potential Ethical Concerns in Nanotechnology

Nanotechnology is science at the size of individual atoms and molecules. At that size scale, materials have different chemical and physical properties than those of the same materials in bulk. Research has shown that nanotechnology offers opportunities to create revolutionary advances in product development. It also has the potential to improve assessment, management, and prevention of environmental risks. There are however, unanswered questions about the impacts of nanomaterials and nanoproducts on human health and the environment. This chapter describes state-of the-science review, exposure assessment and mitigation, and potential macro ethical issues that must be considered to mitigate risk implications of emerging technologies such as nanotechnology.

Emissions Distribution in Post–Kyoto International Negotiations

An abundant scientific literature about climate change economics points out that the future participation of developing countries in international environmental policies will depend on their amount of pay offs inside and outside specific agreements. Though these contributions represent a corner stone in the research field investigating future plausible international coalitions and the reasons behind the difficulties incurred over time to implement emissions stabilizing actions, they cannot disentangle satisfactorily the role that equality plays in inducing poor regions to tackle global warming. Scholars recently outline that a perceived fairness in the distribution of emissions would facilitate a wide spread participation in international agreements. In this chapter the authors overview the literature about distributional aspects of emissions by focusing on those contributions investigating past trends of emissions distribution through empirical data and future trajectories through simulations obtained by integrated assessment models. They will explain methodologies used to elaborate data and the link between “real data” and those coming from simulations. A particular attention will be devoted to the role that technological change will play in affecting the distribution of emissions over time and to how spillovers and experience diffusion could influence equality issues and future outcomes of policy negotiations.

Taking the Lead

In this chapter, the author argues that the countries in the Global South can gain from stringent own climate policies. This is so, as in the current situation, the south tends to be dominated by the climate policies of northern countries and climate finance largely supports single projects and technology transfer that are not embedded in a broader policy framework in southern countries. Adopting own stringent policies could help to counteract this and to channel these financial means to their most beneficial use. This could help southern countries to follow an agenda that is different from the fossil fuel based development path of the north. Such a “green new deal” could be a promising economic and technological development strategy. Stringent climate policies would strengthen the southern countries in the international climate negotiations and southern countries could take the lead in the climate change mitigation debate. Technology transfer and the carbon finance sector would play a crucial role for this. Climate policy and climate finance could thus be used to set a new stage, where the south is not at a disadvantage with respect to the north.