10.3.3.3 Technology Transfer: National Aspects
10.3.3.3.1 Research and Development: Supply Side
Research and development (R&D) is a process of forming new ideas and transforming
them into products and services. Technology capacity at both the assessment
and replication stages of the technology transfer process have to be underpinned
by R&D. Central to this process are national systems of innovation and international
co-operation between public research institutions and private-sector entities
in R&D. Governments have been investing for three decades in R&D for
ESTs in the energy sector. There may be a case for seeing whether results from
this process have been used and disseminated sufficiently. Developing countries’
R&D efforts are often adaptive, following externally developed technology,
which suggests the need for additional resources to develop indigenous innovative
capacity. The activities at all stages of technological development and implementation
are necessary to attain short-term and long-term technical results (Elliot and
Pye, 1998). In the field of climate change, R&D of mitigation and adaptation
technologies can reduce the costs of implementation of mitigation and adaptation
measures, and provides decision makers with viable alternatives in the formulation
of response strategies to climate change.
The process of technological innovation includes not only research and development,
but also innovation in the design of products, technological processes, and
manufacturing, and innovation in management and market exploration. The private
sector has played an important role in the development of energy-efficiency
technologies, and is becoming increasingly active in developing renewable-energy
technologies (Forsyth, 1999). The bulk of R&D and technology transfer in
the energy sector is mainly driven by oil, natural gas, and power supply companies.
Other energy supply technologies, such as coal, nuclear, and renewable sources,
are often dependent on governments to preserve or increase their presence in
the market. Governments can play an important role in R&D as follows:
- establish a National System of Innovation—institutional and organizational
structures to support technological development and innovation21;
- build and strengthen scientific and technical educational institutions and
modify the form or operation of technology networks;
- guide the advancement in science and technology and the direction of investment
through industrial and technological policies, and provide suggestions and
consultation to enterprises;
- encourage enterprises to increase investment in R&D of ESTs through
effective policies and create a favourable environment for the innovative
activities of enterprises;
- make efforts to increase R&D investments through the governmental budget
to accelerate the formation of diversified investment and financing systems,
including different kinds of loans;
- give policy support to R&D to encourage the development of innovative
technologies and products in the field of climate change, including preferential
tax policies, import and export tax policies, and government procurement policies;
- develop modalities for the transfer of public owned or supported ESTs;
- provide funds for licensing of patented ESTs entities to encourage the private-sector
to transfer ESTs they own to developing countries.
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