The Stakeholders in Technology Transfer

Technology transfer happens through a wide range of actions. It takes place from individual to individual, from organisation to organisation, from individual to organisation and vice versa. It also covers the knowledge and skill gained by

individuals through formal or informal education, through training, purchasing patent or licensing etc. The parties involved in this process are known as stakeholders. They are governments, innovators, firms, producers, distributors, financiers, end-users, multilateral banks such as the World Bank, Asian Development Bank, bilateral aid agencies such as Australian Assistance for International Development (AusAID), United States Assistance for International Development (USAID), international institutions such as the World Trade Organisation, Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, research and development organisations such as universities, development centres, research laboratories in both developed and

developing countries and the advertising media such as television, radio, newspapers. The understanding of technology transfer is different from stakeholders to

stakeholders. Government and end-users need to understand the costs and benefits of technology, innovators need to understand how to adapt it in a different culture and weather, and firms need to understand how to market it and how it meets users’ requirements which are discussed in the following section.

Stakeholders are those who have an interest in a particular decision, either as individuals or representatives of a group (Google, 2004). This includes people who influence a decision, or can influence it, as well as those affected by it. The main stakeholder groups and the members of those groups in the technology transfer process are given below (Table 4.1).

Often the boundaries between these groups are blurred and the same individuals or organisations can act multiple roles. For example, intermediaries as a member of resource providers could be itself a group of stakeholders.

Stakeholders should be able to participate meaningfully in decision-making and should play their part in delivering sustainable development through technology transfer under the CDM. Another definition of stakeholders is that they are any organisation, governmental entity, or individual that has a stake in or may be impacted by a given approach to environmental regulation, pollution prevention or energy conservation (EPA, 2004). Both are relevant to the CO2 mitigation

Table 4.1: Different Technology Stakeholders Groups and Their Members Stakeholder Group

Name

Members of Stakeholder Group

Technology producers Independent innovators, researchers in academic, federal or corporate laboratories

Technology consumers Private sector manufacturers, government agencies, intellectual property brokers

Product producers Private sector manufacturers, distributors, value-added retailers

Product consumers End users, professional service providers

Resource providers Government agencies, private insurance companies, technology transfer intermediaries

Intermediaries Government agencies, Non-Government organisations, energy service companies

Source: Compiled from IPCC, 2000, and Google, 2004. Technology Producers

A technology is developed by technology producers and then transferred to technology consumers. Technology producers are the people who conduct the technology application activity and first generate the idea for matching a technology to a new application. The technology producer stakeholders include inventors and researchers in academic or public settings and private companies.

Technology Consumers

Technology consumers are defined here as those who translate the idea into a prototype technology. The technology consumer stakeholders include government agencies with a mission to apply technologies to serve national needs (e.g. reduce carbon dioxide emission, space exploration, public health care), private sector manufacturers seeking to develop new products based on advanced technologies, or intellectual property brokers in the business of reselling technology.

Product Producers

Technologies are transformed into products by product producers for sale to product consumers or users in the marketplace. The product producer stakeholders include manufacturers of products, distributors of products through domestic and

international markets, and value-added retailers that offer the products for sale to consumers and provide services to support the products.

Product Consumers

The product consumers include end-users who acquire and use the product, and professional service providers who prescribe or recommend the products to others. The technology producers and the product consumers are at opposite sides of the technology transfer process. Most technology consumers are private sector

manufacturers, as are most product producers. Manufacturers are the entities willing to invest the time and resources necessary, and have the expertise necessary to transform the technology into a product. Hence, manufacturers are the critical link in the technology transfer process because they are the only stakeholders positioned to transform a technology into a product. However, the manufacturers are totally reliant on the other stakeholders to comprise the marketplace.

Resource Providers

Resource providers are the fifth critical stakeholder group. Resource providers include government and private entities providing financial support to fund

technology transfer, government and private insurance third-party payers that fund a majority of the product purchases, programs that analyse and change policies and systems, technology transfer intermediaries providing technical expertise to conduct the transfer, and professionals providing content expertise within the transfer

application area. The resource providers are most critical for transfers of technologies lacking sufficient market incentives for the private sector to fund independently.

Resource providers as technology intermediaries are important to overcome the lack of business, financing and marketing skills in developing countries whose managers never learned these skills, as they were not required under lower level of economy or controlled economy. Particularly, energy service companies, financial intermediaries and information centers can play important technology intermediation roles for climate-friendly technologies. In developing countries, intermediaries need to focus on business, information, and financing services, as they are strong in technical knowledge (Evans and Legro, 1997; Martinot et al., 1997; Martinot, 1998; Marousek et al., 1998).

In many rural photovoltaic programs, a local or foreign intermediary provides critical marketing activities, education, financing or leasing mechanisms, sales and service infrastructure that help to create a market. In Bangladesh, the Grameen bank has successfully provided micro-credit for solar photovoltaic home systems. The World Bank and GEF have incorporated innovative intermediary mechanisms into solar PV home system projects in China, Indonesia, and Argentina, reflecting the World Bank’s increased focus on rural energy for development (World Bank, 1997). Technology intermediaries also can play an important role in strengthening the enabling environments for technology transfer particularly to establish codes and standards locally or nationally, to facilitate programs that create sustainable markets for environmentally friendly technologies.

In the case of technology transfer through CDM, technology producers, technology consumers, product producers, and resource providers mainly come from developed countries. Besides those, technology transfer intermediaries such as commission agents or local offices in a developing country are very important to make things happen. For example, Grameen Shakti a financial organisation is promoting solar system in rural Bangladesh as ESTs.

Technology Transfer Intermediaries

Many other agencies including the World Bank acknowledge the value of the technology intermediation to lessen barriers to technology transfer related with financing, technology, management, and information (World Bank, 1993; Martinot et al., 1997; Heaton et al., 1994). The role of intermediaries in the technology innovation process is also important (Dodgson and Bessant, 1996, p.54).

Intermediaries will also play a pivotal role in the technology transfer process through the Clean Development Mechanism. Examples of intermediaries including

government agencies, energy-service companies, non-governmental organisations, university liaison departments, regional technology centres, research and technology organisations, electric power utilities, and cross-national networks, are important regarding the carbon dioxide reduction and mitigation technologies. Non-

governmental organisations in particular are playing a greater role in technology intermediation. For example, there are many cases where technology intermediation by NGOs such as Grameen Shakti of Bangladesh played a key role in the success of

particular technology transfer efforts for renewable energy (Kozloff and Shobowale, 1994).

The functions of technology intermediaries can include (IPCC, 2000):

• Education, information dissemination, and communication

• Locating key sources of new knowledge

• Articulation of specific technology needs and selection of appropriate options

• Investment feasibility, appraisal and business plan development

• Selection, training, and development of personnel

• Identification of skill and human resource needs

• Development of business and innovation strategies

• Training and consulting

• Building linkages with the external sources of information

• Project management and organisational development referrals

• Creating and/or operating new dealer and service networks

• Matching potential supplier and recipient firms

• Feasibility, evaluation, and packaging of projects for public or private financing

• Translating, compiling, vetting, and endorsing information.

Sector-specific intermediation has been proposed by the World Resources Institute (Heaton et al., 1994) as an important policy goal for greater international technology transfer, development and cooperation. In intermediation, third parties establish linkages, diffuse knowledge, and accelerate other transactions for the principals. Evidence to-date with institutions that perform some intermediary functions shows that sector-specific intermediaries have advantages over broad, general-purpose intermediaries, because the technologies and applications involved are diverse.

For the CDM as a carbon credit trader, intermediaries should be specialised in energy efficiency and renewable energy sector. Many or most of the actors are already in existence and working, but communication and new, more specific problem-solving capacities are required (UNFCCC, 1998b). Technology

highlight the importance of intermediaries that operate between users and suppliers of technology and which help to create the links within networks and systems. They say, “bridging institutions encourage interaction within the system, assisting with undertaking search, evaluation and dissemination tasks. They ensure that

technological know-how is broadly dispersed within the system and can provide a compensating mechanism for weaknesses” (Dodgson and Bessant, 1996, p. 26).

Technology transfer under CDM would involve only environmentally sound technology and this is discussed below.