Research and Development (R&D) is a crucial sector for the all-rounded growth of an economy. Though the Minority World utilized the power of research due to well-allocated resources, Sub-Saharan and South Asian countries are yet to realize that potential. But is it a problem of implementation or a lack of resources that is plaguing the growth of R&D in these countries? This two-part blog will delve into the problems as well as provide some policy suggestions. This can increase the growth of majority world countries and remit the differences amongst them in terms of research and reduce the existing intellectual monopoly of the north.
While working for a blog or a research paper, we always resort to trusted sources and papers. But most of us fail to notice its origin. It won’t be a surprise that most of them are written by someone who belongs to the USA, Europe or Australia. Even if the writer isn’t from those countries, the publication house surely is. Has anyone wondered why? Though we often cite reasons like lack of funding and short-sighted effort as the detrimental force for the majority nations, the reality is broader than that.
Lack of Human Resources:
Most of the underdeveloped or developing nations lack the proper infrastructure to give exposure to undergraduates to basic research methodologies. Even if the undergraduate years are considered as compromisable, basic research knowledge is essential for graduate-level education. As a result, bright scholars and students go to developed countries to pursue their higher education. To make matters worse, they don’t return to their home countries as the employment opportunities are not lucrative in the field of research. This is creating a lack of young researchers in South Asian and Sub-Saharan to lead the R&D sector.
Negligible government expenditure on R&D:
The developing countries already deal with pressing issues like poverty, malnutrition, infectious diseases, poor healthcare, migration issues, and a lot more. R&D gets traded off as it seems to be a meager sector to invest in for the government and bureaucrats. In most of these nations, R&D expenditure is equal to or less than 1% of GDP(Gross Domestic Product). It of course becomes a luxury for the financial ministries to allocate more to R&D when its immediate issues are at stake.
Absence of Enterprising Leadership:
If the young minds leave their countries, there are still ways to cope with the absence of a group of young researchers. In these countries, there is a lack of initiation on the part of experienced scientists and institutions who stay in that country for research. They continue to earn a low salary and keep teaching in their respective institutes as professors, which doesn’t motivate them to innovate further and reach out to government institutions, financial intermediaries, or international organizations for research grants. As far as the in-house think tanks are concerned, they don’t show the urge to collaborate with international policymakers or think tanks and negotiate further help from the government. This lack of enterprise, innovation, and leadership adds more problems to the untapped R&D sector of these nations.
Few collaborative efforts in applied research:
There are few to no collaborative efforts seen in developing nations except countries like Brazil, some parts of Africa and Asia’s Nepal. The cases for these countries can work as a model to other developing nations on how applied research and joint projects can be used to benefit the initial phases to develop this sector. (We would elucidate more on applied research and the exemplary existing models later in the second part of this blog)
No fruitful exchange program:
International exchange programs for researchers are almost absent which is essential for the free exchange of ideas. The aspiring scholars who are currently students often go for exchange programs only to countries that belong to the same economic status as their home country. Global North and Global South have minimal networks for research purposes. This reduces the incentives to earn knowledge as well as doesn’t provide any multi-cultural sensitivity to future researchers. This is essential as we will prove in our next point.
Projects in Global South and Africa are lead by European and American researchers:
International grant organizations or global financial institutions usually fund projects in developing economies. To lead the research or project, they send foreign researchers to that country. This is not a good step, because, firstly, the researchers from developing countries are deprived. They should be the ones leading the project, while foreign researchers can be present to assess the quality and monitor the grant distribution. Secondly, leading research in most developing nations requires their own set of demographic and cultural sensitization which is absent in someone who doesn’t belong to that country. Here, these researchers have a comparative advantage over those from Global North. This is where the lack of funding arises, as the project doesn’t get assessed properly.
Cover Art designed by GroundBreakers Network Engagement Fellow Gabrielle Garcia.
References:
Acharya, Krishna Prasad, and Santosh Pathak. “Applied Research in Low-Income Countries: Why and How?” Frontiers in Research Metrics and Analytics 4 (2019). https://doi.org/10.3389/frma.2019.00003.
ceciliarikap. “Intellectual Monopoly Capitalism and Its Effects on Development.” Developing Economics (blog), April 7, 2021. https://developingeconomics.org/2021/04/07/intellectual-monopoly-capitalism-and-its-effects-on-development/.
Miranda, J. Jaime, and M. Justin Zaman. “Exporting ‘Failure’: Why Research from Rich Countries May Not Benefit the Developing World.” Revista de Saúde Pública 44 (February 2010): 185–89. https://doi.org/10.1590/S0034-89102010000100020.
“PhD Dissertation Revision Services – Dissertation Revision.” Accessed August 3, 2021. https://www.dissertationrevision.com/.
https://www.apa.org. “Research in a Developing Country.” Accessed June 2, 2021. https://www.apa.org/international/pi/2008/12/de-baessa.
“Research on the Developing World: Breaking the Western Monopoly.” Accessed June 2, 2021. https://policyoptions.irpp.org/magazines/july-2018/research-on-the-developing-world-breaking-the-western-monopoly/.
“The Absent Voices of Development Economics by Arvind Subramanian & Devesh Kapur – Project Syndicate.” Accessed June 2, 2021. https://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/why-does-the-global-north-dominate-development-economics-by-arvind-subramanian-and-devesh-kapur-2021-03?barrier=accesspaylog.
Vose, P B, and A Cervellini. “Problems of Scientific Research in Developing Countries.” IAEA BULLETIN, no. 2 (n.d.): 4.
