International Journal of Technology Management & Sustainable Development - Volume 1, Issue 1, 2002

There is a common movement, from different starting points in various countries, to achieve knowledge-based economic and social development. The heart of the triple helix thesis is an expansion of the role of knowledge in society and of the university in the economy. The university is undergoing a dual transformation: an expansion of missions to include economic and social development as well as training, cultural reproduction and research and a shift from an individual to an organisational focus in each mission. The triple helix thesis of relations among university, industry and government is proposed as a development strategy to fill social capital as well as technology gaps. European Union and Canadian networked R&D schemes and the growth of firm-formation and incubation, especially in Brazilian networked incubators, exemplify the realization of the triple helix network as a development model.

This paper demonstrates the way in which institutional learning has been adopted by a post-harvest technology research project in India to cope with the institutional constraints associated with various public agencies, as well as to help formulate broader lessons for institutional reform in horticultural R&D systems. The case study presents an institutional history of public and private efforts to assist farmers from the Vijaya Association of Fruit and Vegetable Growers' Cooperative Societies of Andhra Pradesh to produce and sell export quality mangoes. Problems in the relationships between stakeholders reveal the need to see technology development projects in a much more holistic light than is conventionally understood.

This paper examines a two-way relationship between globalisation, technology and sustainability. It traces the impact of globalisation on sustainable development while at the same time arguing that low sustainability in developing countries can thwart efforts towards their global integration. The concept of globalisation is presented as being intensive and extensive in form, the former applying to developed and the latter to developing countries. Three different and often conflicting notions of sustainability are also examined, namely environmental, human and macroeconomic sustainability; and the issues of globalisation and sustainable development are discussed with reference to the experiences of Botswana, Malawi and Zimbabwe, all of which are members of regional groupings in Southern Africa.

UNDP, Human Development Report 2001: Making new technologies work for Human development. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001.

Saad, M., Development through Technology Transfer: Creating new organisational and cultural understanding. Bristol: Intellect, 2000.

International Academy of African Business and Development: Redefining Africa's Priorities in the 21st Century