Sustainable technology transfer

There are more than eighty international
agreements and many additional programmes
dealing with technology transfer. Moreover,
several international conventions require that
aid programs, both to address acute
emergencies and to assist in the longer-term
building of viable infrastructures, be undertaken
in specific and concrete ways. However,
problems inevitably arise when good intentions
are put to the test, particularly in connection
with rights to the ownership of intellectual
property assets. Some even claim that it is only
when IPRs are respected that sustainable
support can be expected.
To examine the existing status of international
law in this important area – and to offer
recommendations for potential improvements
and solutions – the Faculty of Law of Lund
University hosted a conference in Vietnam in
October 2010 on the subject of sustainable
technology transfer from developed countries
to developing countries. Focusing on the legal
problems which sustainable technology transfer
may give rise to and how they may be
addressed – and with emphasis on health,
environment, energy, and climate change –
this book summarizes the most important
findings of that conference. Twelve penetrating
essays by fourteen distinguished European,
American, and Asian legal scholars address
the questions of what is required to satisfy
existing international obligations and to what
extent developing countries may use flexibilities
in international conventions to advance their
own development.
The essays are concerned with such issues
and topics as the following:
- the major institutions and players in the
formulation and enforcement of rules
affecting technology transfer;
- the real-world value of legislative
enactments in the area;
- a factual account of actual technology
transfers;
- to what extent competition rules offer
developing countries a way to escape
the more severe consequences of
undertakings they have accepted;
- the impact of compulsory licensing;
- the potential effect of the Anti-Counterfei
ting Trade Agreement of 2010 (ACTA); and
- specific conditions pertaining to conser
vation of biodiversity, climate change
and energy.
Included are thorough analyses of the obligations
and flexibilities expressed in numerous
international conventions – including the TRIPS
Agreement, the Convention on Biological
Diversity, and the UN Framework Convention on
Climate Change – as well as how these
obligations and flexibilities function in practice.
The book concludes with a view from a
developing country perspective and forwardlooking
statements issuing from a heightened
awareness of the role that technology transfer
might play, if properly deployed, in the
development of the disadvantaged countries of
the world.
Although few will argue with the Millennium
Development Declaration’s affirmation that those
who benefit least deserve help from those who
benefit most, disagreement continues over crucial
details such as how technology transfer should
take place and the role of the law in facilitating it.