UNESCO Science Report

Tracking global trends and developments in

science governance for quarter of a century

Presentation to Ipsen Foundation, 23 October 2018

Susan Schneegans, Editor-in-Chief

s.schneegans@unesco.org

An introduction to the report

• First edition published 1993; • Published every 5 years ; • Released on World Science Day for Peace and Development

(next one 10 November 2020); • Global coverage (exceptions: DPR Korea, Monaco, Mongolia…); • Multiple language editions • 53 authors (last edition) cover trends in science governance in

their country or region over past 5 years; • Tracks development path of countries and regions through their

policies, strategies, laws, development programmes, cooperation agreements, statistics;

• Describes and analyses new strategies for innovation, higher education, STI, industry, energy, climate change, etc

• Critical analysis: are policies working? Are they being funded? What are the shortcomings? Which policy promises are not being kept and why?

• Next edition will be tracking early progress towards SDG 9 on infrastructure, industrialization and innovation.

An introduction to the report

Quality control: • UNESCO editorial team • Editorial Board: 13 prominent scientists from around

the world provide peer review • Internal Review Committee: UNESCO staff in field

offices and at HQ, from UNESCO Institute for Statistics

Data sources: • Input data: Government data via UNESCO Institute

for Statistics on trends in higher education enrollment, research expenditure, researchers and technicians (also some socio-economic data from other sources)

• Output data: Web of Science (SCI Expanded) for publications, international collaboration, also patents, high-tech trade data

Tracking global trends in science governance

What the UNESCO Science Report (2015)

tells us

Global research spending grew faster than global economy, 2007-2013

• Global population (+7%) • Global economy (+20%) • Research expenditure (+31%) • Number of researchers (+21%,

FTE) • Scientific publications (+23%)

Challenges for the Triad

USA: Public research budgets stagnated under Obama administration, owing to Congressional austerity drive, even as industrial research recovered from recession. EU: to kick-start sluggish economic recovery, biggest 7-year R&D programme ever, Horizon 2020 (almost €80 billion), strong focus on innovation but 17% of budget still for basic research. Horizon 2020 implements Europe 2020 for smart, green, inclusive growth and Innovation Union: excellent science 32%, societal challenges 39%. Japan: Chronic low growth has affected investor confidence. Japanese firms reluctant to raise research spending or staff salaries and averse to risk-taking. Priority cross-cutting areas for STI Strategy (2013): system-oriented smartization in ICTs, nanotechnology and environmental technology.

G20 still dominates research spending (92%)

But cards being reshuffled

thanks to strong growth in China and Rep. Korea

Shares of USA, EU and Japan down to 57%,

Little change in

Southern Hemisphere

Strong growth in business spending on research in China and, to a lesser extent, India

Businesses in China and India now spend as

much on research as Western Europe

Former Soviet states,

Middle East and Africa, Latin America = 6.5%

Percentage shares of business R&D, 2001–2011 (in PPP$)

Asian Tigers: Taiwan (China), Hong Kong (China), Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Rep. Korea, Singapore, Thailand and Viet Nam

More investment in research projects for South but unevenly spread

The glass ceiling still alive and well

• Women still a minority in science, with wide differences from country to country.

• Women account for 33% of

researchers in EU but just 22% in Germany and 26% in France.

• In Europe, women account

for 35% of doctorates, 20% of top-ranking university researchers, 36% of scientific council members and 10% of university rectors.

Scientists have never been so mobile

• More firms relocating R&D abroad, their physical infrastructure more mobile than university campuses

• A growing global labour market for researchers and university students

• Greater virtual mobility: 80-100% of scientific articles in most LDCs have foreign partners. Compare:

G20 = 25% OECD = 29%

International PhD market still dominated by USA but Japan and Malaysia 8th ex aqueo

Ten countries host 89%

of international PhD students in science and engineering fields.

Malaysia plans to attract 200,000 students by 2020

(56,000+ in 2012, double number in 2007)

Priorities: more sustainable technologies

Value of patent applications by EU28 to European Patent Office for environment-related technologies rose by 50% between 2005 and 2011.

In Japan, after 2011 Fukushima earthquake, government turned to solar

energy: introduced system mandating utilities to purchase electricity from renewable energy producers at fixed prices (plus deregulation and tax benefits).

Green cities planned: Morocco, Gabon, Rwanda, United Arab Emirates, etc.

Large energy infrastructure programmes: Kenya (geothermal), Gabon

(hydropower) Tunisia (solar), Morocco (solar and wind), etc.

Some oil-rent economies investing in renewable energy amid rising domestic energy consumption (e.g. for desalination, air-conditioning),

e.g. Algeria (wind and solar since 2011), Saudi Arabia (solar since 2015)

Priority: succeeding in Fourth Industrial Revolution

Advanced manufacturing:

a policy priority Examples: 3D printing of objects (Including buildings), self-driving cars, next-generation

robotics, cybersecurity systems, medical systems

Germany’s Industry 4.0 programme France’s Industry of the Future programme

Chinese Internet of Things Centre USA’s Advanced Manufacturing Partnership

Indian Cyberphysical Systems Innovation Hub

Creative industries are increasingly web-based: e.g. France, Netherlands, Republic of Korea, Japan.

Challenge for EU: none of top 15 public internet companies were European (11 US, 4 Chinese) in 2014. Digital

Agenda for Europe aims to develop digital single market (Europe 2020 strategy).

China realizing basic science key to high-tech innovation

• Massive public investment in research over past decade

• World’s biggest patent office (since 2013, 85% domestic inventors)

• Has overtaken USA for volume of researchers and scientific publications (Web of Science, SCI Expanded)

• Some scientific breakthroughs

But China still reliant on foreign core technologies China’s traditional strengths lie in physical sciences, it is now investing heavily in brain research (developing artificial intelligence is a top priority) with new institute (2018)

“China’s political and scientific leadership has come to realize that the country’s pursuit of innovation could be in jeopardy without breakthroughs in basic research.” Cong Cao, author of chapter on China, commenting in 2018

Rep. Korea’s’catch-up’ technology development model

no longer suited to markets

Plans to revitalize manufacturing by: • making country more entrepreneurial and creative, encouraging critical

thinking at school • stronger ties between basic sciences and business at International

Science Business Belt (Korea’s Silicon Valley), with National Institute for Basic Science on site, ion accelerator

• spending more on basic research: from 13% to 18% of total research

spending • spending more than anyone else on research: 5% of GDP by 2017 (4.2%

in 2013) • raising investment in green technology (doubled between 2008 and

2012).

Israel’s dilemma: are its universities prepared for the industries of tomorrow?

“The Israeli economy is driven by industries based on electronics, computers and communication technologies, the result of over 50 years of investment in the country’s defence

infrastructure. […]

However, the next waves of high technologies are expected to emanate from other disciplines, including molecular biology,

biotechnology and pharmaceuticals, nanotechnology, material sciences and chemistry, in intimate synergy with

ICTs.

These disciplines are rooted in the basic research laboratories of universities rather than the defence industries.”

Daphne Getz and Zehev Tadmor, authors of chapter on Israel, UNESCO Science Report

Egypt using science to turn the page

• Investing in science to develop a knowledge economy seen as way of turning page of Mubarak era;

• Constitution adopted in 2014 mandates the state to allocate 1% of GDP to R&D;

• Egyptian STI Observatory founded in 2014 to improve data collection and analysis;

• Egypt has raised its research effort from 0.43% (2010) to 0.71% (2016) of GDP

The state guarantees the freedom of scientific research and encourages its institutions as a means towards achieving national sovereignty and a knowledge economy that supports researchers and inventors. Egyptian Constitution, 2014

Brazil hampered by low level of innovation

• Protectionist industrial policies over decades have discouraged innovation, as companies lack foreign competition.

• Brazil has no cutting-edge companies in ICTs, or in electronics or biotechnology.

• Only 7% of exports can be considered high-tech.

• Innovation has suffered from 2008 global crisis and economic decline since 2011

• In the 2013 innovation survey, all firms (public and private) reported a drop in innovation activity since 2008.

• Share of exports in GDP has dropped since 2004.

India needs to broaden its innovation culture, to develop manufacturing sector

Pharma, automotive and IT account for more than half of business research

expenditure (see figure)

And in IT, most patents are held by foreign

multinational companies Whereas pharma companies are largely

Indian-owned

Scientific integration now seen as part of regional economic integration

ASEAN Economic Community (est. 2015): free movement of services and capital

• fostering exchanges among researchers, mobility of technicians • enhancing role of ASEAN University network (30 members) • strengthening scientific capacity through ASEAN Plan of Action on STI 2016–2020:

Shanghai Cooperation Organization • Russian Glonass and Chinese Beidou satellite navigation systems announce merger and development of regional system (2018) including Central Asia (‘Stans’)

Economic Cooperation Organization Iran’s Econano Network promoting scientific and industrial development of nanotechnology among members:

Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan

Black Sea Economic Cooperation • former Soviet states (Russia but not Belarus) plus Turkey: three Action Plans on Cooperation in Science and Technology (2005-2009, 2010-2014 and

2014-2018)

Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) • ECOWAS Policy on Science and Technology (2011): integral part of Vision 2020 for West Africa

Emerging economies cooperating on joint high-tech projects

‘Smart homes’ and ‘smart cities’ Moscow State University, Russian Venture Company and China Construction Investment Corporation (Chzhoda) developing technologies (since 2014) Joint Sino-Russian technoparks in Chinese cities of Harbin, Changchun and Yantai to manufacture space vehicles, gas turbines, civilian and military aircraft Belt and Road Initiative in Pakistan: China developing clean coal-based power plants, hydropower and wind power, a joint cotton biotech laboratory to be run by Chinese and Pakistani ministries of science and technology and mass urban transportation

UNESCO Science Report

Thank you!