Knowledge about Technology Science and Technology (S&T) As a knowledge institution, the World Bank is aware of emerging trends that are of potential benefit to our clients. One such trend is the growing importance of science and technology (S&T) for social and economic development. Given the rapid advances that are occurring in numerous fields [e.g., biotechnology, telecommunications, material sciences and long-term weather forecasting] coupled with our emerging appreciation of regional and global environmental issues, it is increasing clear that countries that are unable to access, generate and utilize relevant scientific knowledge will fall even further behind in the development process. In many countries, investment in science and technology is stagnating. This under-investment in science and technology, both by governments and by the private sector, is short-sighted given the historically high social rate of return of such investments. At the same time, new information and communications technologies are dismantling the obstacles to research cooperation, so developing countries have a tremendous opportunity to close the knowledge gaps that separate them from the world's most scientifically-advanced countries. The Bank plays a catalytic role in closing these gaps by being active in such areas as: (i) the direct support of research and development capacity linked to human capital development and for technology development and technology transfer, especially as supported by the private sector. On average, the Bank lends about US$ 250 per year for this type of support to science and technology; (ii) promoting science-based solutions to specific problems in research-intensive sectors, such as environment, health, and/or agriculture; Here also, lending is in the area of about US$ 250 million per year, and support a diverse range of projects, particularly for agricultural research. (iii) The Bank is the secretariat for the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR), and provides US$ 50 million in funding. The CGIAR is a network of research centers that focus on scientific and technological solutions to the problems of food security and sustainable agriculture. The Bank supports other special program for research such as the Tropical Disease Research Program and the Special Program for African Agricultural Research. The Bank intends to increase support for science and technology, and is seeking to actively identify future approaches and areas where support for scientific research could have a large or growing role in addressing poverty. One specific area in which the Bank is starting to play a critical role is the establishment of science and technology centers of excellence through the Millennium Science Initiative, or MSI. In its most basic form, the MSI is an umbrella for new lending, through which the Bank's client countries can borrow to improve their scientific and technological capacity. Projects under the MSI generally take the form highly selective competitive funds to support research. These funds will differ according to a country's specific needs and circumstance, but they share a few essential characteristic. All MSI projects would provide targeted support that focuses on (i) research excellence; (ii) human resources training; and (ii) linkages to partners in the international science community, and in the private sector. The first MSI project was approved in 1999 for Chile, and several others are under preparation. The Bank expects the MSI to become a principle instrument for addressing the gaps in S&T that separate rich and poor countries. Along with the MSI, the Bank is reformulating its strategy toward science and technology in a number of sectors, and is forming more active partnership with such organizations as UNESCO, the Third World Academy of Sciences, and the International Council of Scientific Unions (ICSU), and others. Strengthened in these ways, the Bank hopes to increase its effectiveness in helping developing countries maximize the benefits of improved scientific and technological capacity for economic growth and poverty reduction. Technology Resources: Agricultural Biotechnology and the Poor InfoDev TechNet Telecommunications and Informatics