Transfer of technology
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The UN Conference on Environment and Development the Earth Summit - in 1992 placed technology transfer on the international agenda as an essential factor in development programmes.

Lo-Trau stove fuelled by rice husks.

Meal cooked using biogas made in the family's own yard using fermented organic waste.

New technology using waste materials is spreading throughout the developing world.

Exchange of ideas, skills and techniques is vital if the majority of the world's people are to benefit from technological advances. There is nothing new about this: the Babylonians taught the ancient world how to make bricks. Since the colonial era, technology transfer has tended to be a matter of patronage between developed and developing countries, rather than an equal exchange. While this type of cooperation continues to be necessary, technical cooperation among developing countries (TCDC)

is becoming increasingly important. Technologies passed from one developing country to another may work better than those evolved in the developed world.

Channels for technology transfer include regional centres for integrated development in the Near East (CARDNE), Asia and the Pacific (CIRDAP) and Africa (CIRDAFRICA); technical cooperation networks (in 1994 there were some 25 of them linked to institutions in Latin America and the Caribbean); and global

information networks, such as AGRIS/CARIS, set up by FAO to provide information on agricultural research and technology. By mid-1995, 73 countries and 2 700 experts were participating in AGRIS/CARIS.

Examples of TCDC include:

 

Some technology transfer opportunities

LAND/WATER

CROPS/LIVESTOCK

FISHERIES

FORESTRY

RURAL DEVELOPMENT

FOOD SECURITY AND NUTRITION

 

Major FAO information systems

 

Regional centres and organizations

Regional centres and organizations provide technical inputs, research, training, and disseminate information to promote regional cooperation. They include:

 

Regional networks and programmes

Regional networks/programmes coordinate research, information and technical cooperation. They include:

 

Selected examples of technical cooperation among developing countries

The map shows some selected examples of technical cooperation among developing countries.
Click here to see the map

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