WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION   
WT/WGTTT/13 
16 November 2011 
 (11-5887) 
 
 
REPORT (2011) OF THE WORKING GR OUP ON TRADE AND TRANSFER OF  
TECHNOLOGY TO THE GENERAL COUNCIL 
 
 
I. INTRODUCTION 
1. At the Fourth Ministerial Conference in Doha in November 2001 Minister agreed to "an 
examination, in a Working Group under the auspi ces of the General Council, of the relationship 
between trade and transfer of technology, and of any possible recommendations on steps that might be 
taken within the mandate of the WTO to increase flows of technology to developing countries".1  
Paragraph 43 of the Hong Kong Mi nisterial Declaration of 18 December 2005 reaffirmed the 
Ministers' commitment to advance the work of th e Working Group and instructed the General Council 
"to report further to our next Session".   
2. Since the November 2009 Report of the Working Group on Trade and Transfer of 
Technology to the General Council, the Working Gr oup has held 8 Sessions during the period 2010 to 
2011.  The reports of the meetings are contained in documents WT/WGTTT/M/31, 
WT/WGTTT/M/32, WT/WGTTT/M/33, WT/WGTTT/M/34, WT/WGTTT/M/35, WT/WGTTT/M/36, WT/WGTTT/M/37 and WT/WGTTT/M/38
2.  As in the previous years, at these 
meetings, Members continued the analysis of th e relationship between trade and transfer of 
technology, as well as considered any possible reco mmendations on steps that might be taken within 
the mandate of the WTO to increases flows of  technology to developing countries.   
II. RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN TRADE AND TRANSFER OF TECHNOLOGY 
3. During the year 2010, Members continued their analysis of the relationship between trade and 
transfer of technology largely on the b asis of two presentations – the first entitled "The linkage 
between technology transfer and pr oductivity gains in agriculture''  by the Food and Agriculture 
Organization (FAO) and the second by UNCTAD, based on their report entitled " Technology and 
Innovation Report 2010:   Enhancing food security in Africa through science, technology and 
innovation ".  In addition, Switzerland provided briefi ngs and regular updates on the Lausanne Group 
Initiative – a private initiative that the École Polytechnique Fédéral de Lausanne (EPFL), in 
collaboration with SMEs and other actors in the fi eld of innovation and t echnology generation, had 
taken with a view to filling the gap between Swis s technology holder SMEs and firms in the LDCs 
and the developing countries.   
4. The FAO presentation highlighted the positive li nkage between technology transfer and gains 
in trade and productivity and the crucial role technol ogy played in increasing crop yields of a number 
of selected crops in developing countries.  It f ound that the Green Revolution (1965-2000) had helped 
increase per capita food availability by over 18 per cent, including improving crop yields as well as 
improving the livelihood of several million farmers.  However, despite these positive changes, one out 
of every six people in the world still went hungry every day.  The food crises and the economic downturn in the recent past had only served to exacerbate this situation.  The presentation also underlined the need for substantially improving cr op yields through improved technology in view of 
                                                      
1 Paragraph 37 of WT/MIN/(01)/DEC/1. 
2 To be issued. WT/WGTTT/13 
Page 2  
 
  the future growth in food dema nd which was expected to increase by 70 per cent.  Some Members 
also stated that the dramatic transformation of so me countries in Asia, particularly in East and 
South-East Asia, that had climbed a steep industriali zation curve in a very short span of time, could 
provide good lessons for developing countries to emulate.   
5. Sharing its experience as a beneficiary of the Green Revolution, Pakistan provided concrete 
examples of the positive impact the Green Revoluti on had had on its crop yields such as rice, maize 
and wheat.  Active collaboration with international research organizations like the Consultative Group 
on International Agriculture Research (CGIAR) a nd effective bilateral cooperation with USAID had 
resulted in achieving positive results in terms of productivity as well as in the availability of plant 
nutrients (fertilizer).  Notwithstanding these achieveme nts, challenges remained for policy makers in 
Pakistan in ensuring availability of plant nutri ents, quality seed, mechanization of farms and in 
bridging the gap between progressive farmer and average yield.   
6. The US highlighted its efforts in building capacity in developing countries in the agricultural 
sector through research, training and exchange prog rammes for scientists and educators.  In that 
context, the US particularly mentioned the US De partment of Agriculture's (USDA) "cold chain" 
programme, which provided technical assistance to emerging economies in building their capacity to 
move perishable agricultural products from farm to  consumers, and maintaining safety and quality of 
these products through temperature control.   
7. In their periodic briefings during the year, Switzerland informed the Working Group on the 
salient features of the Lausanne Group Initiative,
 a private initiative that the École Polytechnique 
Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) had take n on innovation and t echnology generation.   The Lausanne 
Group initiative focused on Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in Switzerland that were 
specialized in developing technological solutions and encouraged them to modify and transfer 
technology to developing countries, especially the LD Cs, at low costs.  SMEs in the least-developed 
world, often, found it difficult to find a foreign partner to provide the needed technology.  Consequently, one of the main areas  of work for the Lausanne Group was to bring together the SMEs 
that needed technology with those Swiss SMEs th at could provide the same.  The Group was also 
working on how to help both sides overcome the obs tacles of the pre-commercial phase in order to be 
able to organize the cooperation as efficiently as possible.  In order to understand the mismatch 
between a private company's demand in LDCs and a private company's offer in developed countries, 
and the needed remedies, the Lausanne Group ha d initiated a ''pilot case study'' with a Tanzanian 
company on the use of appropriate technology to process waste wood from forestry operations.  The 
''pilot case study'' would also demonstrate the impo rtance of identifying potential issues related to 
innovation and technology transfer in the LDCs a nd the developing countries as well as building 
inter-linkages and supporting the whole process of  knowledge exchange and know-how through an 
appropriate funding and coaching mechanism.   
8. The UNCTAD presentation on " Technology  and Innovation Report 2010:   Enhancing food 
security in Africa through science, technology and innovation " focused on the challenges of 
improving agricultural performance in Africa and the role that technology transfer and innovation had 
played in raising agricultural production and incomes of all farmers, including small-scale farms.  It 
raised key issues relating to the development of  African agriculture farming and post-harvesting 
techniques and argued that the main challenge facing the agriculture sector in Africa was to strengthen 
the innovation capabilities of agricultural systems as  a means of addressing poverty, improving food 
security and achieving broader economic growth and development.  The presentation emphasized the 
importance of focusing on the full range of issu es that affect agricultural development, from 
increasing agricultural productivity in the field to  supporting good governance and policy reform in 
capitals.    WT/WGTTT/13 
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  9. During the year 2011, Members continued their analysis of the relationship between trade and 
transfer of technology largely on the basis of OECD presentation on '' Innovation, Technology 
Transfer and STI Cooperation to address Global Challenges " and a presentation by the Director 
General of WIPO on the work that his organiza tion had undertaken in the area of innovation and 
technology transfer.  
10. The OECD presentation on '' Innovation, Technology Transfer and STI Cooperation to 
address Global Challenges " highlighted the vital relevance of  innovation, research and development 
(R&D), technology generation and its transfer fo r socio-economic policy within the OECD countries, 
as well as in the broader global context.  The pr esentation found that much of the innovation was 
driven by investments in intangibles such as tradem arks and patents.  Investments in intangibles and 
multi-factor productivity growth accounted for between two-thirds and three-quarters of 
labour-productivity growth.  The global map on R&D outlay had also undergone significant transformation over the years as new players in R&D were fast emerging.  Research and innovation activities were being externalized more and more  characterizing international cooperation, in 
particular within OECD countries, as well as among those with linked value chains or close 
proximity.  While internationalisation of R&D was vital to the global development agenda, foreign 
direct investment (FDI), trade and mobility of hum an resources, among others , were also important 
sources of technology transfer and knowledge spill-overs.  The discussion on the presentation 
highlighted the importance of open and non-discr iminatory investment regime and regulatory 
framework, enabling environment, good governance,  open trade regime, absorptive capacity, local 
skills and human capital in promoting research  and innovation and technology transfer.   
11. In his presentation, the Director General of WI PO highlighted three areas in which WIPO has 
focused its work on technology transfer:  (i) acc ess to static technologies;  (ii) development of 
platform for participation in dynamic technologies;   and (iii) technical assistance and capacity 
building.  He stated that WIPO was developi ng necessary tools (such as linguistic tools and 
machine-assisted translation as globally one th ird of new technology was produced in Chinese, 
Japanese and Korean) and training modules for devel oping countries, especially the LDCs, to ensure 
that countries had access to and understood the availa ble data and informati on embedded in patents, 
commercial and scientific periodicals and other speci alized patent applications.  A consortium of 
providers shared their intellectual property, data  and know-how on the exploration of neglected 
tropical diseases and discovery of medicines under the WIPO's platform for dynamic technologies.  A large part of WIPO's developmen t agenda was devoted to training and improving the capacity of the 
developing countries and to ensure that their R&D had commercial application.  Members appreciated 
WIPO's efforts in improving access to technical info rmation and databases and expressed interest in 
knowing more on WIPO's work on South- South c ooperation in the area of technology transfer, its 
tools on measuring the technology transfer and its impact.  Questions were asked whether WIPO was 
doing anything to assist LDCs to seek meaningful  implementation of Article 66.2 of the TRIPS 
Agreement.  Responding to Members questions, th e Director General of WIPO informed that 
discussions on WIPO's Development Agenda on South-South cooperation were progress in the 
direction where this agenda was likely to be agreed in the near future.  On development of indicators 
to measure technology transfer and evaluate its e ffectiveness, WIPO was in the process of developing 
tools that would carefully monitor various aspect s of technology transfer and its effectiveness 
including, among others, the deals finalized among th e technology providers and the recipients.  He 
also stated that, as part of WIPO's general de velopment agenda, its programme for LDCs on the 
implementation of Article 66.2, w as very useful and effective.  
 WT/WGTTT/13 
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  III. ANY POSSIBLE RECOMMENDATIONS ON THE STEPS THAT MIGHT BE 
TAKEN WITHIN THE MANDATE OF THE WTO TO INCREASE FLOWS OF TECHNOLOGY TO DEVELOPING COUNTRIES 
12. During the year 2010, Members proceeded with their discussion of an earlier submission by 
India, Pakistan and the Philippines entitled '' Facilitating Access to Information on Appropriate 
Technology Sourcing ''.   
13. The discussion underscored the importance of access and dissemination of information on 
appropriate technologies as the cornerstone of the tr ansfer of technology process and its adaptation to 
suit national needs for the purposes of its effective a pplication.  Some Members felt that the promise 
of development through sharing and transferring the fruits of technology, coul d only be materialized 
through sustained international c ooperation and the participation of the public and private sectors.  
These Members reiterated their earlier request that the WTO develop a web-page on technology, its transfer requests and on specific technology needs and/or technology offers, as well as links to intellectual property clearinghouses, etc.  While cautioning against substituting the expertise other 
WTO bodies had built up over many years in the area of technology, some other Members reiterated 
their reservations about the creation of a WTO web- page on technology transfer on the grounds that 
the establishment of such a web-portal on technol ogy transfer would raise a host of legal and 
commercial issues and that such a website would be outside the core functions of the WTO as a "rule 
maker" on trade issues.   
14. Some Members also felt that while the Worki ng Group had been focussing for some time now 
on the relationship between trade and transfer of technology, it had yet to start looking at the issue of 
making any possible recommendations on steps that might be taken within the mandate of the WTO 
that could improve flows of technology to developi ng countries.  The other opposing view was that, 
although a lot of useful analytical work had b een done in the Working Group, it was far from 
complete and hence it would be premature to start looking at making any recommendations.  During 
the course of discussion, some Members underscore d the need for examining ways to improving 
international cooperation and finding  multilateral solutions to proble ms facing technology transfer.  
Members also considered a compilation of provi sions relating to technology transfer in WTO 
Agreements that had been prepared by the Secretar iat, at the request of Members without prejudice to 
the views of individual Members.  The Workin g Group agreed that the Secretariat issue the 
compilation as a JOB document.
3 
15. During the year 2011, Members continued thei r consideration of the submission entitled 
''Facilitating Access to Information on Appropriate Technology Sourcing " tabled by India, Pakistan 
and the Philippines.   
16. The proponents' focus, during the discussion,  remained on inviting reactions from the 
developed Members to some of the proposals containe d in the submission.  Some other Members felt 
that they had already provided comments in previous meetings and, based on that, they hoped that the 
proponents would be able to table a revised submissi on that could take the discussions further.  In 
addition, Members also reiterated their view, often expressed at earlier meetings, that experience-sharing by countries that had undergone  rapid technological development and sharing of 
important lessons drawn in the development process could constitute an important aspect of the work 
in the Working Group.  Such experience-sharing would allow developing countries to make more informed choices without going through the pr ocess of re-inventing the wheel.  Demand for 
developing a WTO web-page that provided informati on on technology transfer was also renewed by 
some Members. 
                                                      
3 JOB/DEV/10.    WT/WGTTT/13 
 Page 5 
 
 
  IV. FUTURE WORK 
17. Pursuant to the mandate contained in paragra ph 37 of the Doha Ministerial Declaration, and 
subsequent affirmation, in paragr aph 43, by Ministers in the Hong Kong Declaration, Members have 
proceeded with the examination of the relationship between trade and transfer of technology and have 
also continued consideration of any possible recomme ndations on steps that might be taken within the 
mandate of the WTO to increase flows of tec hnology to developing co untries.  The on-going 
deliberations, on the basis of a number of submi ssions by Members and contributions by various 
intergovernmental organizati ons have covered a number  of issues.  The work undertaken, thus far, has 
contributed to enhancing Member s' understanding of the complex issued involved.  Although the 
work is progressing in the right direction, a lot still remains to be done.  In view of the relevance of 
the nexus between trade and transfer of technol ogy to the development dimension of the DDA, 
Members recommend that the Working Group should con tinue its work in order to fully achieve the 
mandate of the Doha Ministerial Declaration. 
 
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