D) Technology and Know-How Transfer

The issue of technology transfer was high on the participant’s agenda. Seven speakers presented speeches Both a plenary conference and a roundtable were allotted to this theme. Keynote speaker Sibisi stressed the importance of moving from passive knowledge transfer to participative knowledge sharing. This means focusing on people (access and mastery of ICT tools as well education and business empowerment), development of appropriate national regulatory environments and choosing promising scientific and technological fields or niche areas.

Starting from the provocative premise that there is no digital divide between rich and poor countries, Da Costa argues that ICT and multimedia tools are like bridges for delivering better education, greater economic activity and culture. Scharffenberger’s NGO experience in technology transfer taught him the following conclusions: to base partnerships on real complementarities, to get anything in writing, to be patient, to always stay in communication and ready for the inevitable crises and to understand each other’s businesses, risks and opportunities. He believes that NGOs and multimedia companies can work together to make a tangible difference to the present and future of remote and underserved areas of the world.


Eduardo Da Costa

During this session

Mr. Alaa Al Agamawi, Managing Director of Global Trade Training, South Africa, opened the session by pointing out that the digital divide was largely due to a gap in education and technological training.

He went on to say that e-learning was a tool designed to close the disparity and should cover not just the initial training required but be a continuous process covering many skills along the career path. He then introduced the panelists and the agenda of the workshop, following this each panelist gave a brief summary of what their companies or organizations did.

Tjia notes that with regards to ICT in developing countries, skills are plenty but local markets are small and jobs too few. Outsourcing (export of IT services) has been quite good for countries like India but also for countries with high cost structures and labour shortage. Two notable areas of outsourcing development are software (websites and e-commerce) and multimedia (animation, games, 3D). Constraints however exist and include cross-cultural management, language and business coordination. Overall, greater NGO and government involvement is beneficial to such international cooperation. Stienen’s experience is that of a full-fledge development agency with multi-country aid programs. Technology transfer starts by a belief in long-term development, followed by a close relationship with the educational sector of a given country. Notable ICT projects include interactive radio programs in Burkina Faso, Tanzania, Mali and Uganda.

Mora’s presentation focused on the Costa Rican experience in the field of technology transfer. The government showed leadership by creating the right environment for enticing foreign investments. It also promoted the production of local digital content, reduced infrastructure costs, worked toward greater public-private sector cooperation and pushed for greater software exports. Quite important was also the rise of the small and medium enterprise in the composition of the Costa Rican Internet and multimedia industry.

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