29 June - 5 July

 

CONTENTS:
How can biotechnology benefit Latin America and The Caribbean?
EU Trade-related Programme for Pakistan mobilises UNIDO, ITC and WIPO
Four new UNIDO publications on fighting marginalization and the technology gap
COMING SOON
OTHER INDUSTRY NEWSLETTERS
Feature Story: UNIDO Business Partnerships Programme
PRINT-FRIENDLY VERSIONS of UNIDOScope

How can biotechnology benefit Latin America and the Caribbean?

UNIDO and the Government of Brazil are inviting the major biotechnology players from the Latin America and Caribbean (LAC) Region to a three-day workshop in Brasilia, Brazil, 22 – 25 July 2003.

Formally announced as the Latin America and the Caribbean Regional Consultative Meeting, the event will give an opportunity for regional biotechnology constraints and opportunities to be addressed by Latin America and the Caribbean and international experts and prioritized on the basis of social and economic benefits that the technology can bring to the region.

LAC, the second of four regional meetings in preparation for Chile 2004

The Brasilia meeting is the second of four regional meetings in preparation for the UNIDO Global Biotechnology Forum, which will be held in Concepción, Chile, March 2-5, 2004 (see www.unido.org/biotech). The first meeting, for the Africa Region, took place in Nairobi, Kenya, 20 - 23 March, 2003 (see story UNIDOScope 1- 7 June, 2003).

Biotechnology in the LAC region faces a dilemma. On the one hand, the region has an immense wealth of natural resources and significant scientific and technological capacities to take advantage of biotechnology. On the other hand, the extent of natural biological wealth (megadiversity) makes the risk / benefit analysis more complex. The Cancun Declaration of Like-Minded Megadiversity Countries, introduced in February 2002, elaborates the concerns of the signatories (eight of the 14 signatories are in LAC). The Declaration both recognizes “the urgent need to develop human resources, institutional capabilities, as well as an appropriate legal framework and public policies to enable our countries to take an active part in the new economy associated with the use of biological diversity, genetic resources and biotechnology” and at the same time expresses concern “over the limitations of various international instruments to protect effectively the legitimate interests of the countries of origin of biodiversity”.

In addressing what the biotechnology has to offer the region and the major challenges ahead, the Brasilia meeting will look specifically at issues relating to biodiversity, biosafety and intellectual property rights (IPR), the effects of trade and economic integration treaties in technology transfer and the kind of funding mechanisms needed to mobilize the required resources.

Participants in the LAC regional workshop will include prominent policy makers and representatives of the scientific and technical community, consumer and environmental organizations, farmers, agro-industrial firms and the technological inputs industry. Several Ministers have already agreed to participate in a Ministerial Panel to take place at the beginning of the workshop.

The conclusions and proposals of the Brasilia meeting will be analysed in their global context and will provide guidance for the deliberations of the Global Biotechnology Forum 2004. More information on the LAC Regional meeting is available here for viewing or downloading
  Lucia Aleixo, Tel: +43 1 26026 / 3394, E-mail: L.Aleixo@unido.org
  George Tzotzos, Tel: +43 1 26026 / 4336, E-mail: G.Tzotzos@unido.org

EU Trade-related Programme for Pakistan
mobilises UNIDO, ITC and WIPO

Islamabad, Lahore, Karachi, Pakistan, 9 - 17 June, 2003

EuropeAid, UNIDO and fisheries officials in Karachi

Following a European Commission identification mission that visited Pakistan in February 2003, the Commission’s EuropeAid Cooperation Office in Pakistan decided to proceed with a joint appraisal mission by the International Trade Centre (ITC - UNCTAD/WTO), UNIDO and the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). The mission (9 - 17 June, 2003) covered Islamabad, Lahore and Karachi and comprised Mireille Perrin Decorzent of the EuropeAid Delegation in Islamabad, George Papazafiropoulos of ITC, Mansur Raza of WIPO, and Lalith Goonatilake and Carlos Chanduvi (UNIDO Representative in Pakistan).

The five million Euro Trade- Related Capacity Building Programme, which is expected to start in early 2004, will provide support in two main areas: trade and capacity building on WTO issues (both in the private and in the public sector); and standards, quality and SPS (Sanitary and Phytosanitary) requirements. The UNIDO Standards Metrology Quality / SPS component of the programme, which has a budget of 2.2 Million Euros, reflects the Toolbox of Instruments framework for the facilitation of trade in the fields of standardization and conformity as laid out in the EC communiqué to the WTO Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade, 19 April, 2002 (Ref:G/TBT/W/173/Add.1).

The EuropeAid programme presents a new model in Multi Agency cooperation in addressing WTO agreement issues and supporting local institutions where the core competencies of each agency are leverage and combined.

In addition to specifying the sectors to be covered by the programme, i.e. agriculture, fisheries, leather and textiles, the mission identified the nature of the capacity-building activities and the number of persons to be trained.

The Trade and capacity building on WTO issues component comprises three areas: Technical assistance in implementation of WTO obligations, such as TRIPS (Trade-Related Intellectual Property Rights, and safeguards; Awareness and capacity building on current trade negotiations (notably WTO Doha Development Agreement) of particular relevance to EU-Pakistan trade relations. The main target audiences are government officials, the private sector and civil society organizations. The third area is a dedicated training and research center on WTO and international trade.

The Standards, Metrology, Quality / SPS component covers four main areas. The first area is accreditation rules / regulations: to harmonize international and Pakistani standards, including technical assistance to upgrade product quality and further develop the national accreditation system, ensuring compliance with international regulations / standards, cooperation in the field of adaptation of procedures and dissemination of new standards. The second area is laboratories: to provide technical assistance and support for Pakistani testing facilities (to have internationally recognized accredited laboratories). The third area, the industry component, will build capacities and provide assistance to industry to deal with certification requirements, such as SA 8000, ISO 9000, ISO 14000 and HACCP. The fourth and final area of the Standards, Metrology, Quality / SPS component is training and capacity building on WTO and EU SPS requirements for officials and the private sector.

The EuropeAid / UNIDO mission visited various public and private counterparts, including the Pakistan National Accreditation Council (PNAC), the Pakistan Standard & Quality Control Authority (PSQCA), National Physical Standards Laboratory (NPSL), the Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FPCCI) and Fisheries, Textile, Chemical, and Microbiology testing laboratories, such as Marine Fisheries Laboratories and the Pakistan Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (PCSIR).

A debriefing meeting to discuss UNIDO approach and the overall EU program approach was held with representatives of the Ministry of Commerce and the Ministry of  Production and Industry. The respective project document will be submitted to EU for the approval process in July 2003 and the its implementation is expected to commence in January 2004.
Lalith Goonatilake, Tel: +43 1 26026/3657  E-mail: L.Goonatilake@unido.org

Four new UNIDO publications
on fighting marginalization and the technology gap

download REGIONAL INNOVATION SYSTEMS learning transfer and applications

UNIDO has just released four new publications, one in a Policy Paper series and the other three in a Sectoral Studies series. The papers are intended to contribute to the ongoing dialogue on how developing countries can best to participate in the process of intensified globalization, while fighting marginalization and increased technological gap. They are designed to raise awareness and assist governments, intermediary institutions, civil society organizations and business communities, in their decision making on how best to leverage global sources of technology, knowledge and skills for domestic industrial development in this global setting. All four publications can be downloaded from this article.

The Policy Paper publication is Strategies for Regional Innovation Systems: learning transfer and applications. The Sectoral Studies publications are: The Global Automotive Industry Value Chain: what prospects for upgrading by developing countries; The Global Apparel Value Chain: what prospects for upgrading by developing countries; and The Global Wood Furniture Value Chain: what prospects for upgrading by developing countries.

Strategies for Regional Innovation Systems: learning transfer and applications explains the concept of regional innovation systems. It argues that global economic forces have raised the profile of regions and regional governance not least because of the rise to prominence of regional and local business clusters as vehicles for global and national economic competitiveness. Key definitions are given and distinctions drawn.

Then, by reference to a number of important dimensions characterizing innovation such as education, knowledge transfer, linkage and communications, four regions from Asia, Europe and Latin America are contrasted. It is shown that regional innovation systems can be underdeveloped by being too dependent on public support, but equally, an over-emphasis on private infrastructures needs to be guarded against, except at the most advanced developmental level. A combination of public and private governance at regional level to promote systemic innovation is advocated.
 

download AUTO VALUE CHAIN

The Global Automotive Industry Value Chain: what prospects for upgrading by developing countries opens by mapping the changes in the global auto industry in the 1990s, showing how the rapid growth in sales and production between 1990 and 1997 came largely from the emerging markets rather than the Triad regions (North America, the European Union and Japan). However, for some of these markets the downturn that followed was substantial and prolonged.

The emergence of regional production systems resulted in regional integration. This created opportunities for industrial upgrading in developing countries with links to one of the Triad regions, where a major part of production still takes place.

The paper then describes how the relationship between assemblers and suppliers has changed. There is a growing preference for using the same suppliers in different locations (follow sourcing), which limits the possibilities for component supplying by local producers in developing countries. However, opportunities in second-tier sourcing, where a global reach is not required, do exist.

The paper shows that developing countries can increase the possibility of integration into the global value chains of transnational automotive companies by opening up their domestic markets. It concludes with emphasizing the importance of fostering networks of small firms in developing countries as a means of entering new markets.
 

download APPAREL VALUE CHAIN

The Global Apparel Value Chain: what prospects for upgrading by developing countries uses the global value chain framework to explain the transformations in production, trade and corporate strategies that altered the apparel industry over the past decades and changed the conditions for innovation and learning in the industry.

The apparel industry is identified as a buyer-driven value chain that contains three types of lead firms: retailers, marketers and branded manufacturers.

With the globalization of apparel production, competition between the leading firms in the industry has intensified as each type of lead firm has developed extensive global sourcing capabilities. While “de-verticalizing” out of production, these firms are fortifying their activities in the high value-added design and marketing segments of the apparel chain, leading to a blurring of the boundaries between them and a realignment of interests within the chain. Innovation in the global apparel value chain is primarily associated with the shift from assembly to full-package production. Full-package production changes fundamentally the relationship between buyer and supplier giving more autonomy to the supplying firm and creating more possibilities for innovation and learning.

The paper distinguishes between three new models of competition in the North American market namely the East Asian, Mexican and Caribbean Basin model. Each model presents different perspectives and challenges for industrial innovation and learning.
 

download WOOD FURNITURE VALUE CHAIN

The Global Wood Furniture Value Chain: what prospects for upgrading by developing countries, begins with a brief description of the global wood furniture industry and highlights the importance of wood furniture exports for developing countries and emerging and transitional economies.

The paper then maps the wood furniture value chain and describes the buying function, since this function represents the key form of control over global production networks in this sector, that is, the wood furniture chain is increasingly referred to as a “buyer-driven chain”. The important distinction between buyer- and producer-driven chains is derived from the works of Gereffi (see, for example, Gereffi, 1999. See also the forthcoming UNIDO paper on Integrating Local Industries into Global Value Chains: What Prospects for Developing Countries).

The paper then asks what producers need to do in order to upgrade their activities, particularly in developing countries. In order to address these issues the authors describe the evolution of an initiative designed to promote the upgrading of one segment of the wood furniture industry in a middle income country, South Africa. This experience is then used to generate a series of generic policy challenges, which might be transferred to other countries and to other sectors.
Olga Memedovic, Tel: +43 1 26026/4676, E-mail: O.Memedovic@unido.org

COMING SOON

Africa Business Forum 2003: Building Partnerships & Foundations for African Business Durban, South Africa 24 - 25 July 2003. A partnership between Financial Times Business and Deloitte & Touché, the Forum will focus on the promotion of intra-Africa trade and investment. The idea for the forum came from delegates to the Second Africa-Asia Business Forum held in Durban, South Africa in July, 2001, who saw an untapped potential for intra-Africa trade and investment. The Second Africa-Asia Business Forum realised approximately US million of signed business, and organizers of July's Africa Business Forum are confident of repeating that success. The Forum will be a concrete step in supporting the economic and business mandates of the African Union, which seeks to create a political and economic union of African States. The event has been endorsed by the NEPAD and the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) of South Africa.

Technology Foresight for Practitioners Training Course 6-10 October 2003, Prague, Czech Republic: A five-day training course on technology foresight for experts from Central and Eastern European Countries and the Newly Independent States involved in designing and conducting national and regional foresight exercises. Jointly organized by UNIDO in cooperation with the Technology Centre of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, the course will include a brief introduction of foresight as a tool for shaping the future and illustration of the range of issues to which foresight can and cannot be applied.

The final stage of the course will offer participants an opportunity to prepare their own foresight exercise. See www.unido.org/doc/11422 for more information on the course and an online application form.

more coming events

OTHER INDUSTRY NEWSLETTERS

BINAS ONLINE is UNIDO's Biosafety Information Network and Advisory Service that monitors global developments in biotechnology regulatory issues. Get the latest issue from the BINAS site		The World Intellectual Property Organization's (WIPO's) SME e-journal takes a close look at intellectual property (IP) from the perspective of SMEs and the possibilities offered by the IP system for improving their performance view or subscribe to WIPO's SME e-journal
The International Centre for the Advancement of Manufacturing Technology, ICAMT is one of the International Technology Centres (ITCs) established by UNIDO with cooperation of Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion, Ministry of Commerce & Industry, Government of India. View or download the latest issue of the ICAMT e-journal Advancement of Manufacturing Technology		Partners: The Global Knowledge Partnership (GKP) monthly newsletter. GKP is a "network of networks" with a diverse membership base comprising public, private and not-for profit organizations from both developed and developing countries. The Partnership was born as a result of the 1997 Global Knowledge Conference in Canada, hosted by the World Bank and the Government of Canada. You can view and subscribe to Partners.
WAITRONEWS from the World Association of Industrial and Technological Research Organizations. WAITRO provides a voice for technological research and development, a global clearing-house for technological information, and an agency for promoting co-operation between research establishments from developed and developing countries. View or download WAITRONEWS		EBDSN Newsletter: This newsletter is on the website of the Ethiopian Business Development Services Network, part of the GTZ-MSE and UNIDO programme for the promotion and development of  Micro and Small Enterprises (MSE) in Ethiopia. It is a focal point for institutions and organizations (national and international) related to the development of MSEs in Ethiopia.