ABSTRACT
International conferences on technology transfer have been, more often than not, graveyards of good intentions. Developing countries have responded that the market is biased against them, and that they need concessional and preferential terms, including a relaxation of intellectual property laws. Technology transfer was one of the most controversial issues at Rio. This is not just because of the never-ending semantic arguments pitting technology ‘transfer’ against technology ‘cooperation’, ‘clean’ technologies against ‘environmentally safe and sound’ technologies and ‘concessional’ terms against ‘mutually agreed’ terms. The real barriers to technology flows between North and South are the lack of finance, information, skills and institutional capacity. The ‘Earth Summit’ helped clear away some of the undergrowth of the past, but gave no clear direction for future technological development. This is the challenge that needs to be seized as the countries of the world begin to draft and implement their national strategies for sustainable development.
