building human capital and institutional infrastructure to accelerate global access to “inclusive...

Building Human Capital and Institutional Infrastructure to Accelerate Global Access to “Inclusive Innovations” in HealthAleck NcubeNational University Of Science And Technology (NUST), Zimbabwe

Technology transfer is the sharing of skills, knowledge, technologies, and facilities among industries, universities, governments and other institutions to make scientific and technological developments accessible to a wider range of people who can further develop and exploit the technology. [IP Advocate]

Technology transfer is the process of transferring scientific findings from one organization to another for the purpose of further development and commercialization. [AUTM]

The technology transfer process typically includes:Identifying new technologiesProtecting technologies through patents and

copyrightsForming development and commercialization

strategies such as marketing and licensing to existing private sector companies or creating new start-up companies based on the technology [AUTM]

Innovation and Technology Entrepreneurship Challenge:To benefit from the global pool of

technology, developing countries need to build the capacity to find, absorb and use it.

This will entail building the capacity to plug into global technology networks and institutions that will facilitate this connectivity.

Partnerships have a vital role to play in helping developing countries build this capacity.

Global Forum Action Plan: Science, Technology and Innovation Capacity Building Partnerships for Sustainable Development, September 1, 2010, Compiled by Alfred Watkins and Joshua Mandell (with Alistair Brett)

Inclusive Innovation:The objective of inclusive innovation is to harness sophisticated science and technology knowhow to invent, design, produce, and distribute, primarily via private sector SMEs, high performance technologies at prices that can be afforded by the billions of people at the Bottom of the Pyramid.Global Forum Action Plan: Science, Technology and Innovation Capacity Building Partnerships for Sustainable Development, September 1, 2010, Compiled by Alfred Watkins and Joshua Mandell (with Alistair Brett)

1. Chagas Disease Vaccine 2. Parasitic Roundworm Vaccine3. Phytoremediation of Dioxin4. Golden Rice5. Cholera Vaccine6. Rotavirus Vaccine7. Red Detect Landmine Detection System

Examples of innovations (inventions) applicable to needs of developing countries (inclusive) but subject to potential IP rights (i.e. patents/patent applications).:

Chagas Disease Vaccines

http://ameliecalot.es/2011/02/08/%C2%BFque-es-el-chagas/

Parasitic Roundworm Vaccine

Dioxin Phyto-remediation

In developing countries, vitamin A deficiency (VAD) is a major problem affecting primarily children under age five and pregnant women:

Severe VAD leads to: 1. permanent blindness 250,000

children, lose their sight every year due to VAD.

2. a depressed immune system that increases the incidence and severity of infectious diseases and infant mortality rates. VAD afflicted children die at nine times the rate of healthy children, with over one million children dying of infections every year.

To mitigate VAD, engineer (insert) relevant genes into rice, to generate beta-carotene-rich rice, thus enhancing carotene in local rice varieties and, in local diets: “Golden Rice”:

Cholera Vaccines

Cholera continues to plague developing countries across the globe. (WHO)

Rotavirus Vaccines A leading cause of severe diarrhoea in children under five years of age, rotaviral infections kill more than 500,000 children each year worldwide. Nearly 50% of all rotavirus deaths occur in Africa (250,000 annually). (WHO)

Red Detect, Landmine Detection Technology

As these examples of inclusive innovations illustrate, there is now a global innovation market. Accessing innovation in developing countries will be either accelerated, or obviated, based on the level of capacity: human capital and institutional infrastructure.

IP Capacity Building: Crucial for Global Development:

• Technology transfer• Building partnerships in research and

development• Trust, cooperation, collaboration• Capacity in IP is essential• Capacity building is two-way, that is, reciprocal• Not only about “getting” IP• Part of the larger development perspective

Building the institutions to facilitate this process:A supportive legal environment is necessary but not sufficient for … effective technology transfer … must be supplemented by the establishment of an Innovation and Technology Entrepreneurship Center (ITEC) to handle … spinning-in, adapting for local use, and spinning-out technology. This organization can either be a newly established entity or an existing unit within an established organization (Inclusive Innovation Center or university technology transfer centers), retrofitted to carry out new functions.

Global Forum Action Plan: Science, Technology and Innovation Capacity Building Partnerships for Sustainable Development, September 1, 2010, Compiled by Alfred Watkins and Joshua Mandell (with Alistair Brett)

The time-honored ways (of “capacity building”) are no longer adequate:

WorkshopsWhitepapersHigh-level Symposiums

Creative approaches (for “IP management”) are not sustainable development strategies:Revisions (re-revisions) of Laws and Treaties (e.g.

TRIPS, etc.)Novel IP Management Tactics (Open-source, IP

Pools, Clearing Houses, IP shares markets)Delayed Compliance with Treaties, IP “Free

Zones”

Global Community Development is now needed: International partnerships to advance IP management and tech-transfer capacity, accelerating access to crucial innovations in health.

Partnerships in Development: IP Capacity is Fundamental

Product development partnerships are taking an increasingly dynamic role in addressing global concerns in public health, nutrition and food security.

However, for sustainable development, the common cornerstone of every effort is the requirement for systematic establishment and strengthening of technology transfer and IP management capacity in developing countries.