UNIDO1

Experience fromCapacity Building & Technology Needs Assessments for Industry: Africa & Asia: 

Experience from Capacity Building & Technology Needs Assessments for Industry: Africa & Asia Dr. Peter Pembleton Project Manager

Points of presentation: 

Points of presentation What are the key challenges? Who should be involved? Who should carry out TNAs? Who should be consulted How to prioritize? Existing procedures? How successful? Criteria of success? Barriers & actions

Key challenges: 

Key challenges Must be country/demand-driven Require a dedicated effort Must be sector-specific but part of an integrated review Appropriate vs. novel/advanced Start at the right point with the right people! Should fit within national development plans Need public-private sector participatory approach Can there be a single methodology?

Who’s involved?: 

Who’s involved? Technology experts Beneficiaries (host & investor) Economists Project developers Policy makers Financiers The public

Who does it?: 

Who does it? A team of appropriate experts Those who are involved and able E.g. do not let a non-technical administrator review industrial technologies

Who’s consulted?: 

Who’s consulted? Those that need the technologies The facilitators of technology transfer Relevant stakeholders Sources of information

How to prioritize?: 

How to prioritize? ABILITY Suitability Technical viability Economic/commercial viability Workability Adaptability Equitability Sustainability

Ranking: 

Ranking Experience has shown this to be a difficult exercise focus was determining priority of capacity building needs

Slide10: 

Very important Less important More objective Less objective ···················· ······················

TNA procedures?: 

TNA procedures? Remote questionnaires Questionnaires + limited interviews Training / roundtables Extensive multi-stakeholder dialogue Decision-support tools

TNA successes?: 

TNA successes? Questionnaires Are a quick and relatively cost-effective means to obtain general ideas but Danger of wrong recipient & insufficient contact with technical experts Many questions cannot be answered with simple box checking Danger that response rate may be low or not sufficiently representative Generalized conclusions might be interesting for ‘global’ consideration of issues but are not readily put into practice

TNA successes?: 

TNA successes? Questionnaires + limited interviews Slightly more resource-intensive Helps the respondents to focus answers better Allows for more flexibility in answers Promotes additional questions through dialogue Does not help with determining details of specific needs

TNA successes?: 

TNA successes? Training / roundtables Much more resource intensive (travel costs) Infrequent but effective means of examining issues in detail Only representatives of economic groups who do not necessarily speak for/report back to others (individuals or groups)

TNA successes?: 

TNA successes? Extensive multi-stakeholder dialogue Most expensive and time consuming but A country-driven & bottom-up process Mobilizes private sector & local capacity Brings different stakeholders together & includes their views Allows for balancing of opinions and setting of priorities

TNA successes?: 

TNA successes? Decision-support tools Costly to purchase & time-consuming to learn but Essential if specific options will be reviewed and compared One-time investment & experience can be replicated

Criteria: 

Criteria Broad criteria Increased flows of FDI Commissioned technology National capacity enhanced Matches national development goals Environmentally sound

Barriers: 

Barriers Back to key challenges + Inadequate/insufficient human & institutional resources for technology review/selection Inefficient networking Inadequate systems & tools for research + data access & manipulation Complexity of some of the technologies Lack of a database on new/clean technologies Lack of instrumentation and monitoring/auditing systems and practices

Actions: 

Actions Funding Detailed TNAs take time and resources Develop national systems of support Local technology centres, expertise & networks Resource & service providers for technical & economic studies What next? Back to ability