Science policy and development programs: Organizing science for government action

The contributions technology has made to economic growth in the Unitfd States have been variously estimated at 40 per cent1 to 90 per cent* of the total, with something like a fifth of that figure being attributable to organized research and devleopment (R & D).3 Uncertainties in the methodology by which such judgments are made,4 even with the aid of substantial banks of economic data available in the United States, militate against attempting to estimate the importance of science and technology (S & T) in less developed countries, where no such data exist. There is no reason to doubt, however, that its potential contributions to the Third World are equally great, or that this potential is very far from being realized at the present time.s Indeed, given the much smaller resources available there for scientific R & D, both absoluhly and relatively, a more immediate problem is to find ways of exploring how effectively existing resources are now being used for developmental purposes in Asia, Latin America, and Africa. Effective social use of organized knowledge can occur only if the research that produces it is addressed to the entire range of major problems to which it is applicable, and only if the results are then communicated or linked to the decision-makers whose affirmative action is necessary before new knowledge can be put to use. A first step in analyzing the adequacy of science policy in developing countries would be, therefore, to examine the areas to which it is being applied and then determine the extent to which adequate links exist between the knowledgegenerating and the knowledge-converting (or using) elements in a society. Even this relatively modest task cannot be undertaken without making certain assumptions that limit the applicability of the findings to any given situation. For example, we must assume that we know the range of issues or probl’ems that can be addressed by S & T (an assumption to be explored in Section I). We must also identify the possible links between organized S & T and its users, so that the communications grid can be examined in a specific context (a task to be undertaken in Section II). These analytical abstractions can become useful, however, only if we can find some systematic means of comparing institutional arrangements in different countries and regions so that preferred patterns of decision-making and organizational linkages can be identified and correlated with other known factors. The only comprehensive survey of S & T institutions is UNESCO’s World Directory, which, unfortunately, presents data gathered six or seven years ago.6 Moreover, since it is concerned primarily with official bodies, it omits certain informal decision-making functions and linkages, though this omission is probably less important for developing countries than it would be in the industrialized world. The survey is a useful starting place, however, as an indication of prevailing approaches to the problem of integrating science and technology into developmental and other social purposes. The World Directory listed 174 science policy-making bodies in Latin America (21 countries) and Asia (18 countries), of which 59 dealt with ‘science’, 27 with ‘technology’ (primarily industrial), and 88 with specialized scientific fields. The total annual expenditures in both continents was $318 million ($221 million in Asia, $97 million in Latin America), and the staff resources of the 174 bodies totalled 71,635 professional and technical persons (41,062 in Asia, 30.5.63 in Latin America). The resources available for S & T were substantial. But how adequately the science-making bodies were addressing the problems of development was another question.