Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of contributors
- Preface
- PART I International Provision of Public Goods under a Globalized Intellectual Property Regime
- PART II Innovation and Technology Transfer in a Protectionist Environment
- 8 Can the TRIPS Agreement Foster Technology Transfer to Developing Countries?
- Comment I: Technology Transfer on the International Agenda
- 9 Patent Rights and International Technology Transfer Through Direct Investment and Licensing
- Comment II: TRIPS and Technology Transfer – Evidence from Patent Data
- 10 Proprietary Rights and Collective Action: The Case of Biotechnology Research with Low Commercial Value
- 11 Do Stronger Patents Induce More Local Innovation?
- 12 Markets for Technology, Intellectual Property Rights, and Development
- 13 Using Liability Rules to Stimulate Local Innovation in Developing Countries: Application to Traditional Knowledge
- 14 Stimulating Agricultural Innovation
- PART III Sectoral Issues: Essential Medicines and Traditional Knowledge
- PART IV Reform and Regulation Issues
- Index
Comment I: Technology Transfer on the International Agenda
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 May 2010
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of contributors
- Preface
- PART I International Provision of Public Goods under a Globalized Intellectual Property Regime
- PART II Innovation and Technology Transfer in a Protectionist Environment
- 8 Can the TRIPS Agreement Foster Technology Transfer to Developing Countries?
- Comment I: Technology Transfer on the International Agenda
- 9 Patent Rights and International Technology Transfer Through Direct Investment and Licensing
- Comment II: TRIPS and Technology Transfer – Evidence from Patent Data
- 10 Proprietary Rights and Collective Action: The Case of Biotechnology Research with Low Commercial Value
- 11 Do Stronger Patents Induce More Local Innovation?
- 12 Markets for Technology, Intellectual Property Rights, and Development
- 13 Using Liability Rules to Stimulate Local Innovation in Developing Countries: Application to Traditional Knowledge
- 14 Stimulating Agricultural Innovation
- PART III Sectoral Issues: Essential Medicines and Traditional Knowledge
- PART IV Reform and Regulation Issues
- Index
Summary
Introduction
The controversial and divisive debate on transfer of technology, which acquired importance on the international economic agenda with the launching of the unsuccessful negotiations concerning a Draft Code of Conduct in the 1970s, remains a subject of continuing multilateral negotiations. The main agenda of the 1970s was to close the technological gap between developed and developing countries and to secure “equal opportunities for all countries” and “special treatment for the developing countries.” At the center of the debate was the interface between intellectual property rights (IPRs) and transfer of technology. Important contributions to this discussion have been made in this volume. This comment offers some general obervations about the nature of the debate and its evolution, and about the principal contributions to this chapter.
Technology transfer on the international agenda
Since the 1970s, perceptions of the problems attending the transfer of technology have changed. At first, much of the debate focused on technology transfer per se and, in particular, on the terms and conditions of technology transactions. Technology was generally assumed to be like any other product, and its transfer resembled the typical transaction between a seller and a buyer. The tacit elements of the transfer and the fact that local learning of new skills may have been necessary to complete the transaction were not given much consideration. Such information problems were not taken into account because firms were assumed to operate with full knowledge of the market for inputs, including technology.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- International Public Goods and Transfer of Technology Under a Globalized Intellectual Property Regime , pp. 257 - 264Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2005