Emerging countries are gaining strength in science and technology, says the UNESCO Science Report 2010
While the USA, Europe and Japan may still be leading the global research and development (R&D) effort, they are increasingly being challenged by emerging countries, especially China. This is one of the findings of the 2010 UNESCO Science Report, launched at the Organization’s headquarters on 10 November, World Science Day.
Written by a team of independent experts who are each covering the country or region from which they hail, the UNESCO Science Report 2010 analyses the trends and developments that have shaped scientific research, innovation and higher education over the past five years, including the impact of the current global economic recession.
Download the full report, the Executive Summary or browse the report by chapter.
The UNESCO Science Report depicts a rapidly changing landscape using a wide range of qualitative and quantitative indicators, including public and private investment in R&D, numbers and traffic of researchers, scientific publication output, and patents.
The report highlights the importance of ICTs and their impact on access to knowledge, knowledge production and practices.
In the 2010 Report, what you see is that even countries that don’t have strong economies, they are able to participate much more in the production of knowledge, in the acquisition of knowledge, due to these technological advances. Technology is...shaping the way science is being developed and done all over the world.” Lidia Brito, UNESCO’s Director of Division of Science Policy and of this report
The report also stresses the need to intensify scientific cooperation, particularly between countries in the South. “The issues we deal with today in science, they are not any more local”, emphasises Lidia Brito. The report’s foreword from UNESCO’s Director-General, Irina Bokova, restates the Organization’s commitment to strengthening international partnerships and cooperation, in particular South–South co-operation.“
Watch the full interview with Lidia Brito on the sidebar.
This science dimension of diplomacy was one of the original reasons for including science in UNESCO’s mandate. It has fundamental significance for UNESCO nowadays, at a time when science has tremendous power to shape the future of humanity and when it no longer makes much sense to design science policy in purely national terms.”
Written: 11/11/2010 , last modified: 11/11/2010
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Interview with Lidia Brito on the 2010 UNESCO Science Report
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