IN order to become a middle-income country Bangladesh must become proficient in science and technology (S&T). However, due of shortage of adequate resources and infrastructure, Bangladesh cannot aim to be internationally competitive and productive in all areas of research simultaneously. In order to improve research productivity and proficiency, it needs to develop new national initiatives in a limited number of priority areas where there is greatest need and also existing strength and potential.
The problems to be tackled need to be determined through a national priority exercise, and are likely to include emerging areas such as adaptation of agricultural crops to adverse effects of climate change, development of new sources of environment-friendly energy, and preserving and harnessing of its biodiversity for the discovery and development of new medicines, biofuels and other high value products. Unless Bangladesh becomes internationally competitive in focused areas of research to solve its own problems, the agenda for growth and sustainability will continue to be externally driven.
One of the biggest obstacles to sustainable knowledge-based economic development in Bangladesh is the huge research and development (R&D) chasm that exists between initial discovery and its final commercial or social outcome. This serious structural deficiency can’t be overcome by supporting only late stage commercial research and importation of technology for that purpose. There must be very strong support for fundamental and developmental research in universities and research centres preceding commercialisation. Necessary contemporary technologies and expertise, including access to web-based knowledge and interactions, must also be established.
The UGC, with funding from the World Bank, has in recent times established a high speed internet network, Bangladesh Research and Education Network (BdREN), that connects all the universities in Bangladesh to the Trans Eurasian Cable Network, and provides access to the Digital Library established at the UGC initially with 2,500 e-journals and a few thousand e-books. This is likely to improve postgraduate research capacity in Bangladesh.
A number of critical steps will help to build scientific proficiency and encourage innovation and technology transfer in Bangladesh. Funding for postgraduate and postdoctoral research and training must be greatly expanded with emphasis on intellectual property development in addition to quality publications. “Sandwich PhD” programmes could be set up with the participation of non-resident Bangladeshi (NRB) scientists to access high-end technology not currently available in Bangladesh.
Internationally competitive “research universities,” “centres of excellence” within and outside academia, and national “core facilities” (discipline-specific technology platforms) need to be established as regional and national research and technology hubs. Substantial funding must be provided to multidisciplinary and multi-institutional collaborative research in areas of highest national priority. Partnerships need to be developed with local industry for commercialisation of research outcomes and for industry support to strategic and development research in academic and research institutions.
None of the above is possible without political will and the coordinated and active support of the government. Both higher education and research are expensive, and the allocation of a mere 0.4% of GDP for national R&D is far too low as it constitutes only a fifth of what is deemed to the minimum required for building scientific proficiency in developing countries. The first task is to increase the level of funding for higher education which at the moment only constitutes a small fraction of the already inadequate budget allocation for the entire education sector. Since most of the meagre higher education budget is used up in meeting salary, administrative and infrastructure costs, it is important that a defined portion be clearly demarcated and ring-fenced for postgraduate research and innovation.
For Bangladesh to become internationally competitive in S&T the allocation of funds for R&D has to be increased and its use rationalised. Innovative priority research in Bangladesh could be coordinated and funded through a National Research Council (NRC) whose focus would be on supporting postgraduate and postdoctoral research, providing the necessary equipment and resources required for internationally competitive research, encouraging innovation through technology transfer, IP support and interactions with industry, liaison with international research funding agencies, and developing South-South academic and research collaborations in areas of common interest between “centres of excellence” in Bangladesh and those in neighbouring and OIC member countries. The proposed NRC could be placed together with the existing UGC within a new Higher Education Commission (HEC) where the NRC would be responsible for postgraduate research and innovation, and the UGC could continue to concentrate on the management of undergraduate education, and technical and vocational training.
The NRC could support national priority projects by selective and substantial competitive funding through National Collaborative Research Programme (NRCP) that would only be available for multidisciplinary and multi-institutional collaborations between academic research centres, government research laboratories and industry partners. Both the NRC and the NRCP would greatly benefit from the establishment of an International Scientific Advisory Committee consisting of local and expatriate experts of international standing.
Participation in the NCRP could also help to deploy adequate numbers of full time researchers in government research laboratories into partnerships with universities and industry. This could be a very cost-effective model for bringing together different partners with complementary strengths and expertise to greatly enhance research productivity. As a country with scarce resources, but with great intellectual potential of its young workforce, Bangladesh could greatly benefit from adopting the above proposals for the coordination and meaningful funding of S&T-dependent priority research projects
The problems to be tackled need to be determined through a national priority exercise, and are likely to include emerging areas such as adaptation of agricultural crops to adverse effects of climate change, development of new sources of environment-friendly energy, and preserving and harnessing of its biodiversity for the discovery and development of new medicines, biofuels and other high value products. Unless Bangladesh becomes internationally competitive in focused areas of research to solve its own problems, the agenda for growth and sustainability will continue to be externally driven.
One of the biggest obstacles to sustainable knowledge-based economic development in Bangladesh is the huge research and development (R&D) chasm that exists between initial discovery and its final commercial or social outcome. This serious structural deficiency can’t be overcome by supporting only late stage commercial research and importation of technology for that purpose. There must be very strong support for fundamental and developmental research in universities and research centres preceding commercialisation. Necessary contemporary technologies and expertise, including access to web-based knowledge and interactions, must also be established.
The UGC, with funding from the World Bank, has in recent times established a high speed internet network, Bangladesh Research and Education Network (BdREN), that connects all the universities in Bangladesh to the Trans Eurasian Cable Network, and provides access to the Digital Library established at the UGC initially with 2,500 e-journals and a few thousand e-books. This is likely to improve postgraduate research capacity in Bangladesh.
A number of critical steps will help to build scientific proficiency and encourage innovation and technology transfer in Bangladesh. Funding for postgraduate and postdoctoral research and training must be greatly expanded with emphasis on intellectual property development in addition to quality publications. “Sandwich PhD” programmes could be set up with the participation of non-resident Bangladeshi (NRB) scientists to access high-end technology not currently available in Bangladesh.
Internationally competitive “research universities,” “centres of excellence” within and outside academia, and national “core facilities” (discipline-specific technology platforms) need to be established as regional and national research and technology hubs. Substantial funding must be provided to multidisciplinary and multi-institutional collaborative research in areas of highest national priority. Partnerships need to be developed with local industry for commercialisation of research outcomes and for industry support to strategic and development research in academic and research institutions.
None of the above is possible without political will and the coordinated and active support of the government. Both higher education and research are expensive, and the allocation of a mere 0.4% of GDP for national R&D is far too low as it constitutes only a fifth of what is deemed to the minimum required for building scientific proficiency in developing countries. The first task is to increase the level of funding for higher education which at the moment only constitutes a small fraction of the already inadequate budget allocation for the entire education sector. Since most of the meagre higher education budget is used up in meeting salary, administrative and infrastructure costs, it is important that a defined portion be clearly demarcated and ring-fenced for postgraduate research and innovation.
For Bangladesh to become internationally competitive in S&T the allocation of funds for R&D has to be increased and its use rationalised. Innovative priority research in Bangladesh could be coordinated and funded through a National Research Council (NRC) whose focus would be on supporting postgraduate and postdoctoral research, providing the necessary equipment and resources required for internationally competitive research, encouraging innovation through technology transfer, IP support and interactions with industry, liaison with international research funding agencies, and developing South-South academic and research collaborations in areas of common interest between “centres of excellence” in Bangladesh and those in neighbouring and OIC member countries. The proposed NRC could be placed together with the existing UGC within a new Higher Education Commission (HEC) where the NRC would be responsible for postgraduate research and innovation, and the UGC could continue to concentrate on the management of undergraduate education, and technical and vocational training.
The NRC could support national priority projects by selective and substantial competitive funding through National Collaborative Research Programme (NRCP) that would only be available for multidisciplinary and multi-institutional collaborations between academic research centres, government research laboratories and industry partners. Both the NRC and the NRCP would greatly benefit from the establishment of an International Scientific Advisory Committee consisting of local and expatriate experts of international standing.
Participation in the NCRP could also help to deploy adequate numbers of full time researchers in government research laboratories into partnerships with universities and industry. This could be a very cost-effective model for bringing together different partners with complementary strengths and expertise to greatly enhance research productivity. As a country with scarce resources, but with great intellectual potential of its young workforce, Bangladesh could greatly benefit from adopting the above proposals for the coordination and meaningful funding of S&T-dependent priority research projects
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