however oda for sti capacities directed to the ldcs landlocked developing countries and small island developing states as well as for developing countries in africa has remained at the about same levels for the past decade the northsouth divide in research and innovation while still large for many countries is narrowing overall as more countries incorporate sti in their national development strategies increased rd spending and institutional strengthening over the past years have encouraged more crossborder collaborations in per cent of scientific publication in lowincome countries had international coauthors from per cent in with per cent in lowermiddle income countries from per cent in