The Chemical Element E-Book

• Herausgeber: Wiley-VCH
• Kategorie: Wissenschaft und neue Technologien
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 660

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2011

Beschreibung

In the International Year of Chemistry, prominent scientists highlight the major advances in the fight against the largest problems faced by humanity from the point of view of chemistry, showing how their science is essential to ensuring our long-term survival. Following the UN Millennium Development Goals, the authors examine the ten most critical areas, including energy, climate, food, water and health. All of them are opinion leaders in their fields, or high-ranking decision makers in national and international institutions.
Intended to provide an intellectual basis for the future development of chemistry, this book is aimed at a wide readership including students, professionals, engineers, scientists, environmentalists and anyone interested in a more sustainable future.

Leseprobe

Table of Contents

Cover

Table of Contents

Related Titles

Title page

Copyright page

The Chemical Element: Chemistry’s Contribution to Our Global Future

Introduction

List of Contributors

1 Chemistry for Development

1.1 Chemistry, Innovation and Impact

1.2 Poverty and Disparities in Life Expectancy

1.3 The Millennium Development Goals

1.4 Science, Technology and Development

1.5 Chemistry and Development

1.6 Science and Technology for National Development

1.7 Capacity Building: Some Key Requirements for Chemistry’s Role in Development

1.8 Chemistry and Future Challenges to Health, Wealth and Wellbeing

1.9 Conclusions

Acknowledgments

2 The Role of Chemistry in Addressing Hunger and Food Security

2.1 Chemistry is the Backbone of Food and Nutrition

2.2 Global Hunger and Malnutrition in the World Today

2.3 Hunger, Nutrition, and the Food Security Mandate

2.4 Chemistry’s Influence on the Pillars of Food Security

2.5 Conclusion

3 Poverty

3.1 Contribution of Chemistry to Social and Economic Development

3.2 Concept and Historical Evolution of Poverty

3.3 Asymmetry of Poverty in the World

3.4 Causes of Poverty

3.5 Poverty, Malnutrition, and Life Expectancy

3.6 Strategies against Poverty: A General Approach with Context-Specific Solutions

3.7 Chemistry is Essential for Poverty Alleviation

4 The Human Element: Chemistry Education’s Contribution to Our Global Future

4.1 The International Year of Chemistry Educational Challenge

4.2 Scene 1 – Chemistry to the Rescue of Threatened Communities

4.3 Sequel to Scene 1 – An Education in Chemistry

4.4 Equipping the Human Element with Relevant Education in, about, and through Chemistry

4.5 An Example of Integrating Sustainability and Chemistry Education Curriculum: Visualizing the Chemistry Underlying Climate Change

4.6 Scene 2 – Chemistry Education and Our Global Future

5 The Impacts of Synthetic Chemistry on Human Health

5.1 The Molecules at the Origin of Drug Discoveries

5.2 From Bench to Market Place

5.3 General Concepts of Drug Design

5.4 Patent Protection Issues

5.5 Drug Metabolism and Drug Resistance or Why Make Big Pills?

5.6 Antibacterial Agents

5.7 Antiviral Agents: The Flu Virus Story: The Naissance of a Sugar-based Flu Drug

5.8 The Viagra Story – Serendipity Leading to a Blockbuster Drug

5.9 Human Vaccines as a Prophylactic Health Remedy

5.10 Conclusion

6 The Greening of Chemistry

6.1 Introduction

6.2 Areas of Green Chemistry

6.3 Metrics in Green Chemistry

6.4 Conclusions and Future Perspectives

7 Water: Foundation for a Sustainable Future

7.1 Introduction

7.2 Water Pollution and Water Quality

7.3 Water Treatment Technologies

7.4 Conclusions

8 Facing the Energy Challenges through Chemistry in a Changing World

8.1 Introduction

8.2 Chemistry and the Role for Development of Society

8.3 Chemistry and Sustainable Energy

8.4 Sustainable Energy Scenarios and Climate Changes

8.5 Nanomaterials for Sustainable Energy

8.6 Biofuels

8.7 Towards Solar Fuels

8.8 Conclusions

9 Ozone Depletion and Climate Change

9.1 Introduction

9.2 Ozone in the Atmosphere

9.3 The Antarctic Ozone Hole

9.4 Arctic Ozone

9.5 Montreal Protocol and Beyond

9.6 Ozone and Climate Change

9.7 Perspectives

9.8 Resources

Acknowledgments

Epilogue

Index

Color Plates

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The Editors

Prof. Javier Garcia-Martinez

University of Alicante

Inorganic Chem. Deptarment

Carretera San Vicente s/n.

03690 Alicante

Spanien

Dr. Elena Serrano-Torregrosa

Dept. Inorganic Chemistry

University of Alicante

Campus de San Vicente

03690 Alicante

Spanien

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The Chemical Element: Chemistry’s Contribution to Our Global Future

Every year several books are published dealing with chemistry, but this book is different and takes the reader far from the expected esoteric and academic chemistry to a chemistry that embraces our continuing existence on planet Earth. By placing chemistry at the centre of challenges and solutions for our planet, it provides a much-needed perspective on the role and importance of science for development and demonstrates the critical linkage between research in chemistry, policy, industry, education and concrete actions for sustainable development. The book is inspired by the United Nations declaration of 2011 as the International Year of Chemistry (IYC), and clearly spells out the role and importance of chemistry for meeting the United Nations Millennium Development Goals.

The International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) were designated by the United Nations General Assembly as lead agencies for promoting and coordinating the IYC. The objectives of the Year are to:

increase the public appreciation and understanding of chemistry in meeting world needs,encourage the interest of young people in chemistry,generate enthusiasm for the creative future of chemistry,celebrate the role of women in chemistry or major historical events in chemistry, including the centenaries of Mme. Curie’s Nobel Prize and the founding of the International Association of Chemical Societies.

Through the Year, the world is celebrating the art and science of chemistry, and its essential contributions to knowledge, environmental protection, improvement of health and economic development. The critical over-arching need in this context is for the responsible and ethical use of chemical research, and its applications and innovations, for equitable sustainable development.

In January 2011, the official launch of the IYC took place at UNESCO Headquarters in Paris. This meeting set the themes for the Year by associating “chemistry” with the words “progress of civilization, solutions for global challenges, climate change, creating a sustainable future, nutrition, food production, water, health and disease, global health, energy solutions for the future, materials of tomorrow, economic and social aspects …”. The chapters of this book mirror these themes and present the reader with a comprehensive view of what “chemistry” means for our lives and our futures.

This book is therefore to be highly recommended to a wide readership including individuals concerned for sustainable development, politicians, young people, scientists, teachers, and global strategists. It is a must for every chemist who can use it as a tool in teaching students or in informing non-scientists about the possibilities of this fundamental science. Most of all, we hope that this book will be used to show young people that “chemistry” is exciting and meaningful, and that many will be enticed and inspired to take up careers in this field of scientific endeavour.

We congratulate the editors and authors of this marvelous book, published specially as part of the celebration of the IYC.

Nicole Moreau

President, IUPAC

Julia Hasler

UNESCO Focal Point for IYC

Introduction

“The future of humanity is uncertain, even in the most prosperous countries, and the quality of life deteriorates; and yet I believe that what is being discovered about the infinitely large and infinitely small is sufficient to absolve this end of the century and millennium”, wrote Primo Levi in his essay “News from the Sky”. The challenge now is to apply all that knowledge to secure the future of humanity, improve our quality of life and tackle the challenges we have been facing for millennia.

With this aim, 192 heads of state and government joined in 2000 to agree on eight very specific and achievable goals, known as the Millennium Development Goals (MDG). “Time is short. We must seize this historic moment to act responsibly and decisively for the common good”, reminded United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. Only four years before the deadline we gave ourselves to achieve these goals, the United Nations has declared 2011 as the International Year of Chemistry (IYC), which aims to “overcome the challenges facing today’s world, for example in helping to address the United Nations Millennium Goals.”

This book is a celebration of the many contributions of chemistry to our wellbeing, coinciding with the IYC, and also a roadmap of the tools we have at our finger tips to make a significant contribution to the lives of those who are not benefiting from the technological advances of our time. We try to provide at the same time a comprehensive review of the current status of some critical issues and a description of the technological possibilities we have today to overcome some of our most urgent needs. Our generation is the first one that has the financial resources and technological tools to significantly mitigate the suffering that many are sentenced to, from hunger to curable diseases, from unsafe water, and polluted air to poverty.

This book is divided into nine chapters that represent the biggest and most urgent challenges of our time in which chemistry can provide a significant contribution. Because of the scope and aim of this book, the authors are leaders in their fields and a broad representation of what chemistry is today. In general, each chapter covers one MDG by recognizing the present and future contributions of chemistry to this MDG. The chapters are excellent reviews of the current state of the subject, from the point of view of the world leaders in each field, but above all, a glimpse into the future.

Chapter 1, written by scientists of the International Organization for Chemical Sciences in Development (IOCD), summarizes the scope of the book by highlighting the possible state-of-the-art contributions of chemistry to human advancement through the classification of the MDG. Chemistry’s contributions to human advancement include benefits in the health, agricultural and industrial sectors of developing countries, thereby improving the quality of life for the vast majority of people on the planet: food supply, medicines, construction materials, new jobs and clean water.

Chapters 2 and 3 are devoted to hunger and poverty, respectively. As mentioned in Chapter 1, the World Bank defines poverty in very crude terms: “Poverty is hunger. Poverty is lack of shelter. Poverty is being sick and not being able to see a doctor. Poverty is not having access to school and not knowing how to read. Poverty is not having a job, is fear for the future, living one day at a time. Poverty is losing a child to illness brought about by unclean water. Poverty is powerlessness, lack of representation and freedom.” These are major problems and chemistry can provide real solutions to every one of them, such as food even in poor soils using better fertilizers, shelters using more sustainable materials, new medicines for pandemic illnesses, and jobs and opportunities for many, as described in detail in these chapters.

Chemistry education’s contribution to our global future, directly related to the second, seventh and eighth MDGs, is analyzed in Chapter 4. The central question of the chapter is focused on how scientists and citizens can do better in the decades following the IYC to answer the question: Has education about the nature and role of chemistry succeeded in creating the public climate needed to support the fundamental and applied research required to tackle these IYC global challenges?

The contribution of chemical science to health (fourth to sixth MDGs) is illustrated in Chapter 5. More specifically, the authors concentrate primarily on various aspects involved in drug discovery and development, as well as their research activities concerning the first commercial human synthetic vaccine against bacterial infections causing the death of more than half a million infants each year.

Chapter 6 is focused on green chemistry as a tool to integrate the principles of sustainable development into country policies and programmes and reverse the loss of environmental resources and reduce the biodiversity loss caused by the industries (seventh MDG).

Chapter 7, entitled Water: Foundation for a Sustainable Future, resumes the chemical contribution to water, as one of the principles of sustainable development ranging from poverty and health (Goals 1, 4–6) to environmental sustainability (Goal 7). Many of the MDGs are related to health and thus indirectly related to water and sanitation.

To quote Kofi Annan: “For future scientific research to unleash the potential of life-changing technologies, the greatest challenge will be to provide clean and affordable energy to the poor”. Chapter 8 provides a comprehensive and updated view of the many research activities for achieving energy security and sustainability and ending energy poverty. A significant burden on the shoulders of many nations is lack of enough energy to unleash their economic potential.

Chapter 9 deals with some of the most dramatic consequences of the bad applications of technologies that lead to ozone layer depletion and climate change. Whereas the former has been significantly mitigated by the use of alternative more benign solutions, climate change is one of the most serious threats to our well-being, safety and economic growth. Some of the solutions that are being investigated today to deal with CO2 emissions, from reducing its production to its storage and reuse, are described by some of the leading experts in the field.

This book is intended to serve a very large audience interested in the roles of science and technology in global issues. For helping with new concepts, the book includes boxes with simple and concise explanations of key ideas and multiple examples, tables and figures.

What we managed to achieve so far is truly amazing, for example, turning air into bread by reacting nitrogen with hydrogen to produce ammonia and then fertilizers, which are responsible for the survival of 40% of our planet’s human population. It is astonishing that approximately half of the nitrogen atoms in each human body have come at some point through the Haber–Bosch process. But there is much more waiting for us to be discovered. Only time will tell how human creativity and ingenuity will solve the problems we are facing. No doubt, this is an amazing endeavour worth taking.

Elena Serrano Torregrosa and Javier Garcia Martinez

Alicante (Spain), February 2011

List of Contributors

Berhanu M. Abegaz

Department of Chemistry University of Botswana Private Bag 0022

Gaborone

Botswana

Fabio Aricò

Cà Foscari University

Department of Environmental Sciences

Dorsoduro 2137

30123 Venice

Italy

Arlin Briley

University of South Florida

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering

4202 East Fowler Ave, ENB 118

Tampa, FL 33620

USA

Glenn Carver

University of Cambridge

Centre for Atmospheric Science

Lensfield Road

Cambridge CB2 1EW

UK

Gabriele Centi

University of Messina and INSTM/CASPE

Dip. di Chimica Industriale ed Ingegneria dei Materiali

V.le F. D’Alcontres 31

98166 Messina

Italy

Omatoyo K. Dalrymple

University of South Florida

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering

4202 East Fowler Ave, ENB 118

Tampa, FL 33620

USA

Jessica Fanzo

Columbia University

The Earth Institute

61 Route 9 W

Palisades, NY 10964

USA

Mari-Carmen Gomez-Cabrera

Department of Physiology

University of Valencia

Avenida Vicente Andrés Est.

46100 Burjassot (Val.)

Spain

and

Alimentos Mundi

University of Valencia

Avenida Vicente Andrés Est.

46100 Burjassot (Val.)

Spain

Julia Hasler

Programme Specialist

Division of Basic and Engineering Sciences Natural Sciences Sector UNESCO

1 rue Miollis

75732 Paris cedex 15

France

Joniqua A. Howard

University of South Florida

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering

4202 East Fowler Ave, ENB 118

Tampa, FL 33620

USA

Peter Mahaffy

King’s University College

Department of Chemistry

9125 50th Street

Edmonton, AB

Canada T6B 2H3

Cecilia Martínez-Costa

Department of Pediatrics

University of Valencia

Avenida Vicente Andrés Est.

46100 Burjassot (Val.)

Spain

and

Alimentos Mundi

University of Valencia

Avenida Vicente Andrés Est.

46100 Burjassot (Val.)

Spain

Stephen A. Matlin

International Organization for Chemical Sciences in Development

IOCD

Flat 4, 50 Netherhall Gardens

London NW3 5RG

UK

Con Robert McElroy

Cà Foscari University

Department of Environmental Sciences

Dorsoduro 2137

30123 Venice

Italy

James R. Mihelcic

University of South Florida

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering

4202 East Fowler Ave, ENB 118

Tampa, FL 33620

USA

Nicole J. Moreau

30 avenue Jean Jaures

Charenton F-94220

France

Siglinda Perathoner

University of Messina and INSTM/CASPE

Dip. di Chimica Industriale ed Ingegneria dei Materiali

V.le F. D’Alcontres 31

98166 Messina

Italy

Roseline Remans

Columbia University

The Earth Institute

61 Route 9 W

Palisades, NY 10964

USA

René Roy

Université du Québec à Montréal

PharmaQAM

Department of Chemistry

2101

rue Jeanne-Mance

Montreal, QC

Canada H2X 2J6

Jeffrey Sachs

The Earth Institute, Columbia University

405 Low Library, MC 4335

535 West 116th Street

New York, NY 10027

Pedro Sanchez

Columbia University

The Earth Institute

61 Route 9 W

Palisades, NY 10964

USA

Juan Sastre

Department of Physiology

University of Valencia

Avenida Vicente Andrés Est.

46100 Burjassot (Val.)

Spain

and

Alimentos Mundi

University of Valencia

Avenida Vicente Andrés Est.

46100 Burjassot (Val.)

Spain

Ken D. Thomas

University of South Florida

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering

4202 East Fowler Ave, ENB 118

Tampa, FL 33620

USA

Maya A. Trotz

University of South Florida

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering

4202 East Fowler Ave, ENB 118

Tampa, FL 33620

USA

Pietro Tundo

Cà Foscari University

Department of Environmental Sciences

Dorsoduro 2137

30123 Venice

Italy

1

Chemistry for Development

Stephen A. Matlin and Berhanu M. Abegaz

1.1 Chemistry, Innovation and Impact

The foundations of modern chemistry were laid in the 18th and 19th centuries and further extended in the 20th century. They encompassed the development of a theoretical framework for understanding and explaining the physical and chemical properties of atoms and molecules, together with the invention of increasingly sophisticated techniques for interacting with these entities in order to study and influence their structures and behaviors. These developments have given humanity a degree of mastery over its physical environment that surpasses the sum of achievements over the entire previous period of human history.

Chemistry’s contributions to human advancement need to be seen in terms of its own core role as a physical science, but also as a “platform science” in the context of its relationships within the group of “natural sciences” that includes physics and biology. Chemistry provides the basis for understanding the atomic and molecular aspects of these disciplines and, through its interfaces with a range of pure and applied sciences, underpins the dramatic advances seen in recent decades in such diverse fields as medicine, genetics, biotechnology, materials and energy. Hence, this discussion of the role of chemistry in the process of development is framed in the broader context of the roles of science, technology and innovation more generally.

Innovation, which may operate in both technological and social fields [1], encompasses not only the birth of an idea or a discovery, but its application in practice – taking the outputs of research and invention and using them to put new goods, services or processes into use. While innovation is sometimes represented as a straightforward linear system (Figure 1.1), in reality this is an over-simplified model and innovation needs to be treated as a complex, highly nonlinear ecosystem, full of interdependences and feedback loops.

Figure 1.1 The chain of scientific innovation – from ideas to impact.

Chemistry may be involved not only in the initial stages of research (e.g., in areas such as agrochemicals and pharmaceuticals: chemical synthesis of new molecules for testing), but also in intermediate stages (e.g., product development, quality control) and in the evaluation of impact (e.g., health status assessment, environmental monitoring), thus contributing in key ways at every stage of the technological innovation chain.

Throughout the modern period of its development, chemistry has contributed enormously both to broad improvements in human wellbeing (including enhancements of health and quality of life) and to wealth creation for individuals and nations. Some landmark examples are summarized in Table 1.1. Early developments in electrochemistry and synergies with physics and engineering led to methods for producing electrical energy, which has impacted on virtually every aspect of human activity. Electrochemistry also provided the basis for the industrial transformation of many materials and, in particular, for the production of metals such as aluminum and important feedstocks such as caustic soda and chlorine. Industrial organic chemistry built on mid-19th century processes for manufacturing dyestuffs, but by the 20th century had expanded to include the synthesis of pharmaceuticals. In parallel with advances in public health (measures for reducing the spread of infectious diseases through improved water, sanitation and vaccination; and for improving health through ensuring optimal nutrition – in all of which areas chemistry has played a major role), pharmaceutical chemistry has contributed enormously to improving life expectancy and the quality of life through the treatment of infectious diseases and metabolic disorders and the control of pain. Chemistry has contributed to many of the advances in agriculture (e.g., fertilizers, plant growth regulators, pesticides) which have been characterized as a “green revolution” and which have helped to feed the world’s population while it grew from about 1 billion to 6 billion during the 20th century. Moreover, chemistry has given the world a wide array of new materials, including polymers, plastics, semiconductors and superconductors, with applications from fabrics and structural materials to information and communications technologies and medical imaging.

Table 1.1 Landmark examples of chemistry breakthroughs contributing to health and wealth.

The value added by these products of chemistry and related sciences has contributed to the rapid growth in world GDP [38], especially in the industrially advanced countries during the second half of the 20th century (Figure 1.2). Knowledge-intensive and technology-intensive industries are estimated [39] to have accounted for 30% of global economic output, or some US$15.7 trillion, in 2007.

Figure 1.2 Per capita GDP: Regional and world averages, 1–2001 AD (millions 1990 international Geary-Khamis dollars).

Data from [38], Table 8c.

1.2 Poverty and Disparities in Life Expectancy

The benefits from advances in chemistry and other sciences have not been evenly distributed globally. The least industrially/technologically advanced countries have remained the poorest and people in the low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) have often fared worse than those in high-income countries (HICs), as illustrated by the dramatic relationship between poverty and life expectancy: the poor die young. Life expectancies around the world have increased very markedly over the course of the last century, but as they have done so the disparities between populations have grown larger [40]. However, the relationship between life expectancy and the average per capita income of the country is not a straightforward one and income is not the only factor involved. The economist Easterlin [41] concluded that much of the decline in mortality in the 20th century had its origin in technical progress – and in this context, “technical progress” refers to a combination of technological advances and their diffusion and uptake in different countries and the capacities of the countries themselves to conduct and apply research. Much of the variation in life expectancies seen between countries is explained by differences in the rate of this technical progress – for example, it explains two thirds of the variation in the decline in infant mortality over a 25 year period, whereas change in income explains only 9% [42, 43].

1.3 The Millennium Development Goals

In response to the unacceptable levels of poverty (Box 1.1) and growing disparities in health and wellbeing between people in different countries, the world’s governments met at the Millennium Summit [44] in New York on 6–8 September 2000, issuing the Millennium Declaration which led to agreement on a series of Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) [45] that were set for 2015 (Table 1.2). The targets were acknowledged to be extremely ambitious – but it was recognized that, for the first time in history, mankind had the capacity to substantially reduce or eliminate many sources of human suffering and to offer every person on the planet a basic level of existence that would be free from hunger, disease and discrimination in access to opportunities for development.

Box 1.1 Poverty

What is poverty?

Poverty is hunger. Poverty is lack of shelter. Poverty is being sick and not being able to see a doctor. Poverty is not having access to school and not knowing how to read. Poverty is not having a job, is fear for the future, living one day at a time. Poverty is losing a child to illness brought about by unclean water. Poverty is powerlessness, lack of representation and freedom.

The World Bank [46]

Table 1.2 Millennium development goals.

GoalsTargetsGoal 1Eradicate extreme poverty and hungerHalve, between 1990 and 2015, the proportion of people whose income is less than $1 a dayHalve, between 1990 and 2015, the proportion of people who suffer from hungerGoal 2Achieve universal primary educationEnsure that, by 2015, children everywhere, boys and girls alike, will be able to complete a full course of primary schoolingGoal 3Promote gender equality and empower womenEliminate gender disparity in primary and secondary education preferably by 2005 and in all levels of education no later than 2015Goal 4Reduce child mortalityReduce by two-thirds, between 1990 and 2015, the under-five mortality rateGoal 5Improve maternal healthReduce by three-quarters, between 1990 and 2015, the maternal mortality ratioGoal 6Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseasesHave halted by 2015 and begun to reverse the spread of HIV/AIDSHave halted by 2015 and begun to reverse the incidence of malaria and other major diseasesGoal 7Ensure environmental sustainabilityIntegrate the principles of sustainable development into country policies and programmes and reverse the loss of environmental resourcesHalve, by 2015, the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe drinking water and basic sanitationHave achieved, by 2020, a significant improvement in the lives of at least 100 million slum dwellersGoal 8Develop a global partnership for developmentDevelop further an open, rule-based, predictable, non-discriminatory trading and financial system (includes a commitment to good governance, development, and poverty reduction – both nationally and internationally) Address the special needs of the least developed countries (includes tariff-and quota-free access for exports, enhanced program of debt relief for HIPC and cancellation of official bilateral debt, and more generous ODA for countries committed to poverty reduction)Address the special needs of landlocked countries and small island developing states (through the Program of Action for the Sustainable Development of Small Island Developing States and 22nd General Assembly provisions) Deal comprehensively with the debt problems of developing countries through national and international measures in order to make debt sustainable in the long term In cooperation with developing countries, develop and implement strategies for decent and productive work for youth In cooperation with pharmaceutical companies, provide access to affordable, essential drugs in developing countries In cooperation with the private sector, make available the benefits of new technologies, especially information and communications

As stated in the report of the Task Force on Science Technology and Innovation of the Millennium Project [47]:

“Since their adoption at the United Nations Millennium Summit in 2000, the Millennium Development Goals have become the international standard of reference for measuring and tracking improvements in the human condition in developing countries. The Goals are backed by a political mandate agreed by the leaders of all UN member states. They offer a comprehensive and multidimensional development framework and set clear quantifiable targets to be achieved by 2015.”

The latest assessment shows that uneven progress has been made towards meeting the targets. Unmet commitments, inadequate resources, lack of focus and accountability and insufficient dedication to sustainable development have created shortfalls in many areas and without a major push forward many of the MDG targets are likely to be missed in most regions [48].

To achieve the goals will require a collective global effort harnessing political will, available resources and innovation in all areas, including the application of science and technology.

1.3.1 Goal 1: Reducing Poverty and Hunger

Economic growth, especially in the world’s most populace country, China, resulted in hundreds of millions of people being lifted out of poverty during the last quarter of the 20th century [46]. Nevertheless, at the end of the century, out of a global population of 6 billion there were more than one billion people living on less than $1 a day, more than three billion living on less than $2 a day and nearly a billion suffering from hunger or severe malnutrition.

While many economically advanced countries produce an excess of food, some of which goes to waste, halving the proportions of those suffering poverty or hunger by 2015 is not merely a matter of redistributing available food. To overcome the net food shortage, allow for the expanding world population (already approaching 7 billion by 2010), ensure food security and independence from aid handouts, and respond to the agricultural impacts of climate change, it is necessary to expand agriculture throughout the world. Better applications of existing technologies and development of innovative new ones are essential [49] – amounting to a second “green revolution” in which chemistry must play multiple important roles. Critical areas include improving plant varieties and methods for the efficient production, processing and preservation of foods that are healthy and nutritious.

The poverty goal is often referred to as an overarching goal, as it is intimately associated with the problems that are tackled in the other goals, including lack of gender equality, poor education and illiteracy, unacceptably high rates of maternal, neonatal and child mortality and of deaths from infectious diseases, lack of access to improved water and sanitation, and poor environment. However, it would be wrong to focus excessively on achieving this goal in the hope that the others will be met as a consequence. Other areas, such as education and health, have also been stressed as fundamental enablers of progress and the barriers to reaching each goal are varied and complex in nature, requiring individual attention. The reality is that effort is necessary across the whole range of issues highlighted in the MDGs. It must also be stressed that the MDGs are by no means comprehensive or complete, if a permanent shift in the trajectory of human development is to be achieved – for example, the MDGs make no direct reference to overcoming the challenges of unmet needs for reproductive health or the burgeoning rates of non-communicable diseases in LMICs.

1.3.2 Goal 2: Achieving Universal Primary Education

Education is a fundamental enabler of many other aspects of human development. Access to literacy, numeracy and knowledge transforms the lives of individuals, leading to better health and enhancing economic and social advancement, as well as contributing to national economic development. Yet, in the year 2000, there were more than 110 million children of primary school age out of school [50], a very low standard of education available for many children officially attending schools in some countries, and many hundreds of millions of adults who were illiterate. Moreover, education has exhibited a very high degree of gender discrimination, with a majority of those lacking access being girls and women. The high importance of education warrants the goal of ensuring universal primary schooling as a first step towards enabling access to secondary and further education.

1.3.3 Goal 3: Promoting Gender Equality and Empowering Women

Discrimination in access to education and health services and economic, social and political opportunities is experienced by girls and women in every part of the world. The fundamental right of females to equality of status, opportunity and treatment in all areas of human endeavor was established by a series of UN conventions and intergovernmental declarations during the 20th century [51–54], but at the close of the millennium the reality of women’s and girls’ experiences fell very far short of these standards in many parts of the world, and especially in many low- and middle-income countries. The MDGs set specific targets for moving towards gender equity, to help drive the process forward. Among the areas highlighted for urgent action was access to education – and it is notable that, even for girls enrolled in education, they often experience barriers in access to science and technology education in many countries [55].

1.3.4 Goals 4 and 5: Reducing Maternal and Under-Five Child Mortality

The chances of a woman dying during pregnancy or childbirth or in the immediate post-partum period, or of a child dying in the first few years of life, can be a hundred-fold greater in some of the world’s poorest countries than in some of the richest. The causes, which link to poverty, poor nutrition, lack of education and inadequate availability of and access to effective health services including emergency obstetric care, may be varied. However, they are well understood and it is unacceptable in the 21st century that women should continue to die in large numbers simply because they become pregnant or that infants should die because they are not provided with the means of survival. The latest assessments [56] show some progress, but maternal and child mortality levels in many LMICs remain unacceptably high (Figure 1.3) and many countries are still off track to meet the MDG targets.

Figure 1.3 (a) Maternal mortality ratio (MMR) by country (per 100 000 live births), 2008 and (b) under-5 mortality rate (U5MR) by country (per 1000 live births), 2008 (from [56]). (Please find a color version of this figure in the color plates.)

1.3.5 Goal 6: Combating HIV/AIDS, Malaria and Other Diseases

The development of antibiotics and vaccines has contributed to a massive reduction in mortality and morbidity due to infectious diseases in high-income countries during the last hundred years. However, many LMICs continued to experience major problems with communicable diseases – especially those caused by tropical parasitic infections such as malaria, leishmaniasis, trypanosomiasis, schistosomiasis and Guinea Worm. The advent of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, which began spreading rapidly in countries in Africa and elsewhere in the 1980s and 1990s, transformed the situation into one of crisis, compounded by the concomitant resurgence of tuberculosis in increasingly drug-resistant forms. Meeting the targets for halting and rolling back the spread of these diseases requires not just better access to existing technologies but also, in many cases, innovations in the form of new diagnostics, drugs, vaccines and delivery systems – all areas where chemical sciences must make a core contribution.

1.3.6 Goal 7: Ensuring Environmental Sustainability

The broad concept of “sustainable development” – recognizing the finite nature of the world’s physical and biological resources and the importance of protecting and preserving them while engaging in human activity on the planet – emerged during the second half of the last century and was the focus of attention in world summits in Rio de Janeiro in 1992 [57] and in Johannesburg in 2002 [58]. The MDG targets represent an attempt to make some headway with these extremely challenging problems.

While there was still dispute at the end of the 20th century about the degree of climate change that the world would experience, there is now conclusive evidence that global warming is a real phenomenon and that climate change is already having, and will continue to have, increasingly severe impacts on many aspects of the human condition, including health, agriculture, the availability of fresh water, human habitation and, especially for some low-lying countries, even their very existence [59].

A further important aspect of the changing human environment has been a major shift during the last century from rural to urban dwelling. In 2007, for the first time, the proportion of human beings living in urban dwellings reached 50% and the transition continues [60]. Since most of the increase in the world population expected to occur during the next half century (from 6 billion in 2000 to 9 billion in 2050) will take place in LMICs, and since cities in many of these countries already have a high proportion of their inhabitants living in slum conditions without adequate water or sanitation, the challenges for city planners and technologists are enormous.

1.3.7 Goal 8: Developing a Global Partnership for Development

Globalization (the increasingly rapid and less restricted movement of people, goods, services and information around the world) brings with it a growing global interdependence of people and economies. This has resulted in a pressing need for global systems governing a wide range of human activities that impact on health, trade, the environment and much else. The eighth MDG calls for effective global partnerships among all the relevant actors to address a range of concerns that were seen to be important at the opening of the new millennium, including the rules governing access to health technologies and to information and communications technologies.

One aspect of health technology that has attracted much attention has been the issue of how the rules governing intellectual property rights should be applied justly and humanely in the field of medicine, considering the high costs of anti-retroviral drugs for the treatment of people living with HIV/AIDS and other life-threatening diseases [61]. The eighth MDG looks to governments and pharmaceutical companies to cooperate in providing access to affordable essential drugs in LMICs.

1.4 Science, Technology and Development

Advances in science and technology (S&T) enabled countries in Europe and North America to industrialize rapidly in the 19th and 20th centuries. For example, industrialization in Belgium drew on the Solvay process for manufacture of soda, which helped to establish Belgium as one of the world’s leading countries in the chemical industry sector (Box 1.2).

Box 1.2 Chemistry and the industrialization of Belgium

The industrial revolution began in Belgium with the development of British-style machine shops at Liège (ca. 1807), and Belgium became the first country in continental Europe to be transformed economically. Like its English counterpart, the Belgian industrial revolution initially centered on iron, coal and textiles. During the 19th century the chemical industry added momentum to Belgium’s industrial and economic development.

Ernest Solvay (1838–1922) developed a process for manufacturing industrial soda (sodium carbonate), in which carbon dioxide (from limestone) is mixed with sodium chloride solution and ammonia. The Solvay process, which was cheaper and more efficient than the old Leblanc process, was patented in 1861 and Solvay opened his first factory at Couillet in Belgium in 1863. Industrial soda is used in manufacturing glass, steel and detergents and demand was huge. By 1900, the Solvay process was used to manufacture 95% of the world’s industrial soda, and Solvay had an extensive business empire, with factories in Europe and the USA. Today, around 70 plants using the Solvay process are in operation around the world.

As demand increased, in 1898 Solvay started producing caustic soda directly by the electrolysis of brine, a process which also yields chlorine and hydrogen and gradually replaced the older method. The chlorine was used to produce hydrochloric acid, sodium hypochlorite and, later, organic derivatives including vinyl chloride (the monomeric precursor of PVC plastics); while the hydrogen was oxidized to hydrogen peroxide. Solvay is now the world’s leading producer of peroxygen-based products, with a global network of peroxygen production plants.

In 2007, on a per capita basis Belgium was the number one producer of chemicals in the world and the share of the chemical industry in Belgium’s economy was even bigger than that in Germany [62, 63].

While this process in Europe and North America was under way, from as early as the end of the 19th century a number of less developed countries were beginning to recognize the importance of S&T, either for economic growth or to address serious health challenges such as epidemics. Some notable examples include:

A number of research institutions established branches or offshoots in less industrialized countries. In particular, France’s Institut Pasteur, created in 1887 for the prevention and treatment of infectious diseases through research, teaching and public health initiatives, established an international network which currently counts 30 members spread over the five continents [64]. Early members of the network included Pasteur institutes in Vietnam (1891), Tunisia (1893), Algeria (1894), Madagascar (1898), Morocco (1911), Iran (1920), Senegal (1923) and French Guiana (1940).Conceived in 1896 by Jamsetji Nusserwanji Tata and finally born in 1909, the Indian Institute of Science was an early example of a research institute established in the British colonial period [65]. The South African Chemical Institute [66] was founded in 1912.Brazil’s Federal Seropathy Institute, established in 1900 to produce serums and vaccines against the plague, in 1908 became the Oswaldo Cruz Institute and later the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation [67]. It has made huge contributions to combating disease, including through the production of medicines by its Farmanguinhos branch [68].Rubber Research Institutes were established to support the expanding demand for rubber products. For example, the origin of research on rubber in Sri Lanka dates from 1909, when a group of planters in the Kalutara District met and agreed to engage a chemist to study the coagulation of rubber [69]. Similarly, Rubber Research Institutes emerged in other rubber-growing countries, including Nigeria [70] (1900), Malaya [71] (1925) and India [72] (1946).

Since the mid-20th century, the importance of science and technology for development has increasingly been recognized by international agencies [73–75], development assistance partners [76] and the governments of LMICs [77–79].

Within the UN family, UNESCO is the UN specialized agency mandated to build institutional and human capacity in the basic and engineering sciences, which are seen as a prerequisite for social and economic development. UNESCO’s activities focus principally on third-level, but also second-level, education and on research in mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology, biotechnology and basic medical sciences [80]. The UNESCO Science Prize is awarded biennially to “a person or group of persons for an outstanding contribution they have made to the technological development of a developing member state or region through the application of scientific and technological research (particularly in the fields of education, engineering and industrial development).” The first prize was awarded to Robert Simpson Silver in 1968 for his discovery of a process for the demineralization of sea water; several subsequent prizes have also been chemistry-related [81]. A partnership between UNESCO and L’Oréal, Awards For Women in Science, forms a core element of UNESCO national and international activities to foster gender equality and equity in science [80].

The work of UNESCO is reinforced by the recognition by the UN Development Programme (UNDP) of the importance of technology for the progress of the least developed countries [82].

A number of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) have been established to promote the roles in development of S&T in general. Some notable examples include:

Academy of Sciences for the Developing World (TWAS: originally known as the Third World Academy of Sciences): TWAS is an international NGO founded in 1983 in Trieste, Italy by a distinguished group of scientists from the South under the leadership of the late Nobel laureate Abdus Salam of Pakistan. Its principal aim is to promote scientific excellence and capacity in the South for science-based sustainable development [83].Third World Organization for Women in Science (TWOWS): Established as an NGO in Trieste in 1989, TWOWS is the first international forum to unite eminent women scientists from the South with the objective of strengthening their role in the development process and promoting their representation in scientific and technological leadership [84].International Association of Science and Technology for Development (IASTED): A non-profit organization devoted to promoting economic and cultural advancement, IASTED was established in 1977. It organizes multidisciplinary conferences for academics and professionals, in both industrialized and developing countries, mainly in the fields of engineering, science, and education [85].

Perspectives on the nature of the development process itself have changed markedly during the last half-century. In the period of the 1950s–1970s, on the HIC side much of the development process was driven by and centered around post-colonial relationships and geopolitical cold-war maneuvrings, while LMICs themselves were beginning to seek ways to develop their own resources and capacities. There has been a movement away from HIC-driven approaches towards national self-determination and South–South cooperation and mutual reinforcement. Gradually there was a shift from a utilitarian perspective, which primarily focused on economic advancement as the main goal and saw human resources development, including S&T capacities, as a means of achieving this, to a human rights perspective which saw human development, equity and well-being as the primary objectives, with economic development being an important mechanism for enabling all people to achieve certain standards of health and freedom from want of basic needs as an inalienable right.

A series of world conferences in the 1990s, covering education, health, population, and sustainable development, culminated in the Millennium Declaration [86] in 2000. Reflecting the shifts in approach, the work of the Commission on Macroeconomics and Health, which reported to the World Health Organization in 2001, emphasized that health is an essential prerequisite for development, rather than the converse [87].

The role of science and innovation as drivers of development was examined in detail by the Task Force on Science, Technology and Innovation of the UN Millennium Project [47]. The Task Force, led by Calestous Juma and Lee Yee-Cheong, identified the important roles that science and technology can play in achieving the MDGs. It stressed the importance of S&T policies tailored to the specific needs and circumstances of each country and the need to create international partnerships that allow mutual learning.

The report of the Task Force outlined key areas for policy action, including:

focusing on platform (generic) technologiesimproving infrastructure services as a foundation for technologyimproving higher education in science and engineering and redefining the role of universitiespromoting business activities in science, technology, and innovationimproving the policy environmentfocusing on areas of underfunded research for development.

In a further study [88], Juma proposed that international development policy should be directed at building technical competence in developing countries rather than conventional relief activities. He argued that institutions of higher learning, especially universities, should have a direct role in helping to solve development challenges [89].

1.5 Chemistry and Development

Within the broader domain of S&T, chemistry has emerged as a key discipline able to contribute to development [90]. A number of NGOs, as well as programs within existing bodies, have been established to promote this contribution internationally. Two, in particular, are notable as examples of efforts at the global level to address major development needs and to build capacities for relevant chemistry in LMICs.

1.5.1 Chemical Research Applied to World Needs

At its meeting in Munich in 1973, the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) considered ways in which it could foster opportunities for international cooperation. The result was the establishment of Chemical Research Applied to World Needs (CHEMRAWN) as a mechanism through which member nations of IUPAC could aid in identifying and solving important chemistry problems that have a direct impact on world needs [91]. The initial purposes proposed for CHEMRAWN were:

1) To identify human needs amenable to solution through chemistry with particular attention to those areas of global or multinational interest.

2) To serve as an international body and forum for the gathering, discussion, advancement and dissemination of chemical knowledge deemed useful for the improvement of humankind and our environment.

3) To serve as an international, nongovernmental source of advice for the benefit of governments and international agencies with respect to chemistry and its application to human needs.

The major activity of the CHEMRAWN Committee has been to organize a series of conferences, designed to identify and focus attention on world needs and to make recommendations for action to the global scientific community [92]. The highly ambitious nature of these conferences envisaged (Box 1.3) at the outset of CHEMRAWN illustrates the complexity and the importance of the potential roles of chemistry in development. In particular, four key elements remain the bedrock of achieving chemistry’s potential in development almost four decades after the vision was first enunciated:

A systems approach is essential to understanding and responding to human needs.Many interlocking systems are involved, requiring approaches that cross boundaries between S&T disciplines and social, economic, environmental and political sectors as well as needing engagement between governments, industries and academia.Engagement with politicians and the creation of a supportive policy environment are essential for advancing and sustaining the development agenda.All countries, including the less economically advanced, can contribute to the development process.

Box 1.3 Chemical Research Applied to World Needs (CHEMRAWN)

“It was envisioned that CHEMRAWN activities would provide the basis for treating chemical-based human needs as systems. Thus, CHEMRAWN conferences by their very nature would be highly interdisciplinary and would take into account the social, economic, environmental and political factors, as well as the technical components involved. It was planned that these international conferences would attract world leaders from governments, industries and academia, and that the goal and focal point of the conference activities would be an attempt by recognized and influential world leaders to take an initial step toward developing a sense of future direction that would be of value to the world chemical community. Such direction would be provided in recommendations set forth in conference proceedings and made available to participants and policymakers and governments, industries, and academic institutions worldwide. Further, it was determined that CHEMRAWN conferences would provide continuity in areas where there is a persistent need.”

Bryant Rossiter, first Chair of the CHEMRAWN Committee, quoted in [92].

1.5.2 International Organization for Chemical Sciences in Development

The International Organization for Chemical Sciences in Development (IOCD) was the first international NGO specifically devoted to enhancing the role of the chemical sciences in the development process and involving chemists working in LMICs [93–96]. Its origins lay in a program established by the Special Programme of Research, Development and Research Training in Human Reproduction (HRP) at the World Health Organization (WHO) in the 1970s. Since many contraceptives appropriate for use in LMICs were not of major interest to the pharmaceutical companies whose markets were mainly in HICs, HRP-WHO sponsored a program to develop novel contraceptives outside the traditional pharmaceutical industry channels. In a project coordinated by the Belgian chemist Pierre Crabbé, the skills of groups of chemists in LMICs were engaged to synthesize compounds for biological evaluation. Over a number of years, several hundred novel steroids were synthesized, formulated and tested [97–99]. The success of this program [96] led to the idea that it might serve as a model for developing other drugs or even pesticides, while simultaneously stimulating capacity building in LMICs and enabling chemists in these countries to contribute to key S&T areas for development [100].

Building on this idea, Crabbé invited distinguished scientists from more than a dozen countries to meet at UNESCO, Paris in 1981, to consider how to give sustained support to the research work of chemists in developing countries. They recognized that many barriers hinder the efforts by scientists in LMICs to carry out research, including inadequate laboratory equipment, lack of up-to-date books and journals, long periods of isolation from mainstream scientific activities, and so on. The vision of how these barriers might be lowered was to engage scientists from LMICs in collaborative research with scientists from HICs. IOCD was established to take forward the model [101]. Initially housed at UNESCO in Paris, IOCD soon moved to Mexico City, where it was given support by the Ministry of Health. The first group of elected officers were Glenn Seaborg (Nobel Laureate chemist, Berkely University, USA) as President; C.N.R. Rao, (Head of the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India) and Sune Bergström (Nobel Laureate chemist, Karolinska Institute, Sweden) as Vice Presidents; and Elkan Blout, (Dean of the Harvard School of Public Health, USA) also as a Vice President and Treasurer. The involvement of these eminent scientists and of a range of other high-profile scientists from LMICs and HICs in the IOCD Advisory Council (including the father of the “green revolution”, Nobel Laureate Norman Borlaug), was important in the early years in securing funding from a range of international organizations and foundations and in attracting prominent scientists to serve as leaders of IOCD’s scientific Working Groups (Figure 1.4).

Figure 1.4 IOCD scientists meeting at Berkeley, California in 1986. From left to right: Carlos Rius, IOCD’s first secretary; Pierre Crabbé, founder; Elkan Blout, first treasurer and one of three founding vice presidents; Carl Djerassi, one of the inspirations behind IOCD; Sune Bergström, a founding vice president; Sydney Archer, leader of the Tropical Diseases Working Group; (unknown); Glenn Seaborg, IOCD’s first president and associate director of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory; C.N.R. Rao, a founding IOCD vice president; and Joseph Fried, leader of the Male Fertility Regulation Working Group. (Please find a color version of this figure in the color plates.)

The first two IOCD Working Groups were aimed at the development of compounds for male fertility regulation and to treat tropical diseases. Modest grants were provided to facilitate the purchase of laboratory supplies and support research students in the collaborating LMIC laboratories, with collaborators in HIC laboratories assisting to overcome barriers to supply and providing back-up such as advanced spectroscopic and analytical services. While the work inevitably proceeded slowly in the first few years, a key spin-off was the establishment of networks of chemists collaborating across countries and many of the contacts and collaborations survived long after the projects themselves came to an end. IOCD was able to sponsor a number of site visits and training exchanges and a key event was a meeting of all the scientists involved in the IOCD programs in Oaxtepec, Mexico in 1986.

Pierre Crabbé was tragically killed in a car accident in 1987, but under its new Executive Secretary, Robert Maybury, IOCD continued to work and to grow, adding additional working groups on plant chemistry and on environmental analytical chemistry, and later a group on bioprospecting. The emphasis has gradually shifted away from active project funding for chemistry research programs to capacity building activities through organizing training workshops, supporting attendance at scientific meetings and supporting the networking efforts of scientists in Africa. Most recently, IOCD has adopted two long-term projects to help reinforce scientific capacities in LMICs: one on Books for International Development, which organizes the collection and transfer of books and journals to developing countries, with each shipment containing tens of thousands of items; and one on micro-scale chemistry, which helps support an international program that provides low-cost, small-scale equipment to enable students to gain hands-on practical skills in experimental chemistry even in very resource-poor settings [101].

1.6 Science and Technology for National Development

1.6.1 Investments in Research and Development

From 2002 to 2007, world R&D expenditure increased by 44%, from an estimated 788.5 billion PPP$ (purchasing power parity dollars) to 1137.9 billion PPP$. In relative terms, 1.7% of the world’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) was devoted to R&D in 2007 [55]. A number of Asian economies, including those of the Republic of Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore, became highly successful during the last half century and were able to maintain growth rates of 8–10% over a number of years. While many factors have been considered to contribute to the success of these “Asian tigers”, important common threads have been an emphasis on higher education and on balanced investments across a range of business and technology sectors. This has enabled the economies to grow rapidly and to shift away from dependence on the export of raw materials and primary products, towards the production of high value-added products of S&T.

Given the importance of S&T for economic advancement and competitiveness in all countries [102], it is not surprising that, in recent years, there has been an increased focus on targeting specific levels of national investment in research and development (R&D) as a key driver of innovation. In 2002, the European Union (EU) set a target of reaching a level of 3% gross expenditure on R&D (GERD: also known as “research intensity”) as a percentage of GDP by 2010. Of this 3%, it was projected that one third would come from public sector investment and two thirds from the private sector. By 2007, only Finland and Sweden had passed the 3% target, Austria, Denmark and Germany had reached 2.5% and France had reached 2%, while ten of the 27 EU member states were still investing below 1% [103, 104] (Figure 1.5a).

Figure 1.5 Gross domestic expenditure on R&D as a percentage of GDP for 2007. (a) European Union countries (data from [104]), (b) other countries (data from [104]).

Outside the European Union, gross expenditure on R&D among economically advanced countries and emerging economies also varies widely (Figure 1.5b):

Recognizing the weakness of its performance in science, technology and innovation, the African Union (AU) has initiated efforts to increase its investments in R&D, spearheaded by the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD). At the first NEPAD Ministerial Conference on Science and Technology in November 2003, Ministers of Science and Technology of 20 AU countries reaffirmed their commitment to increasing public spending on R&D to at least 1% of GDP within five years and the AU commitment to this 1% target has been reiterated on a number of occasions and member countries are still working towards it [103, 105]. To date, only South Africa regularly measures and reports data on its research intensity, which had risen to 0.95% by 2007 – of which 56% came from the business enterprise sector [106]. Data on R&D investments in other African countries appears only sporadically and, for the few countries where information is available, suggests a range from <0.1% (Algeria) to 1% (Tunisia) in North Africa and 0.5% (Mozambique) or less in the rest of Africa. Africa’s Science and Technology Consolidated Plan of Action 2006-2010 was first elaborated in 2005 by the African Union/NEPAD and is being implemented with assistance from UNESCO, which has adopted three flagship projects: (i) capacity building in S&T and innovation policy; (ii) enhancing science and technology education; and (iii) the African Virtual Campus. NEPAD has instituted the African Science, Technology & Innovation Indicators Initiative (ASTII) and the establishment of the African Observatory for Science, Technology and Innovation (AOSTI). ASTII aims at the development and adoption of African common science, technology and innovation indicators, while AOSTI will ensure that the STI indicators and information gathering as well as collation, compilation and validation are standardized [107].Among the emerging economies, China has demonstrated a dramatic rate of increase in GERD, which almost tripled to 1.5% between 1996 and 2007 [55] (Figure 1.6).Israel, Japan and Korea all invest more than 3% of GDP in R&D. The USA has long recognized the strategic economic importance of investing in R&D but its research intensity has not kept pace with this leading group. In April 2009, President Barack Obama announced that the USA will devote more than 3% of its GDP to R&D, with policies that invest in basic and applied research, create new incentives for private innovation, promote breakthroughs in energy and medicine, and improve education in math and science. This represents the largest commitment to scientific research and innovation in American history [108].

Figure 1.6 Changes in R&D intensity, 1996–2007.

The term “Innovative Developing Countries” (IDCs) has begun to be used to describe a number of countries which have been making strong advances in strengthening their S&T to support their own development. These include Argentina, Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, South Africa and Thailand. At a meeting in 2005 to mark the 60th anniversary of South Africa’s Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, leaders of science institutions from a number of these IDCs reached a consensus [109] on finding ways for S&T to play a part in sustainable development (Box 1.4). Some of the IDCs are now becoming significant development assistance partners, especially in Africa, including providing support for building higher education and research capacity [110].

Box 1.4 The Tshwane Consensus on Science and Development

The Emergence of Innovative Developing Countries (IDCs)