'Science has returned from the end of the garden'

Well, they're back. In the 1960s and 1970s, science and technology figured prominently on the World Bank's agenda. In the following two decades, however – apart from some isolated programmes, such as the Millennium Science Institutes – they fell out of favour.

The reasons were complex. Member governments saw expensive laboratories – often the produce of excessive nationalistic pride -- sitting empty around the developing world. In the Reagan and Thatcher era, "structural adjustment", with its reduced spending on public services such as higher education and research, dominated development policy. Then the priority for many became tackling poverty directly. Both trends condemned science to the margins.

That has now changed (although some countries, notably the US, have been slow to accept it). Building capacity in science and technology in developing countries, now linked firmly to innovation in the acronym STI, is once again on the development agenda, even if not as firmly as some would like. As one UK aid agency official put it last week, "science is back from the end of the garden, and is now on the patio".

The meeting being held this week at the bank's headquarters in Washington (see details on left) is the result of a initiative started several years ago by the bank's then president, James Wolfensohn. Sensibly, the organisers have chosen to focus on the "how" rather than the "why". As a background discussion document outlining the meeting's goals puts it, "the key issue is no longer whether countries should build STI capacity, but what type of capacity to build" (the full paper can be found here).

But the "whys" will not be far below the surface. There will be some talk about how science and technology can help meet human needs, in fields from safe water supply to food security and health. But it is also clear that what is persuading developing country governments to seek investment in science and technology is coming from a different direction, namely the prospect of making money (and providing jobs) through joining the global knowledge economy.

If South Korea can do it, goes a popular refrain, why can't the rest of the developing world? This meeting, attended by a stellar collection of names from the STI policy world, will no doubt seek to come up with some of the answers about how it can. It will be a pity, however, if the "how to get rich through science and technology?" theme, which clearly accounts for the presence of many of them, overshadows the more immediate – and in many ways more challenging -- question: "how can we ensure that science and technology meet the needs of the poor?".