Challenges and responsibilities for Public Sector Scientists PAS Study Week - Vatican, May 2009 PAS Study Week – Vatican - May 2009 Institute of Plant

Challenges and responsibilities for Public Sector Scientists

PAS Study Week - Vatican, May 2009

PAS Study Week – Vatican - May 2009

Institute of Plant BiotechnologyFor Developing Countries

Challenges and Responsibilities for Public Sector Scientists

Prof. Em. Marc Van MontaguChairman, IPBO

Websites: http://www.ipbo.ugent.be http://www.psb.ugent.behttp://www.efb-central.org

http://www.pubresreg.orgE-mail : [email protected]



The unfair world cornucopia



Applications of Plant Molecular Genetics

• Products (GM-crops) cannot be developed by a Public Sector network

• Start-up companies in developing countries should be envisaged

• DCs have an urgent need for full fletched agrobiotechnology companies and Plant Breeding companies to bring products to the market.



Agriculture in the 21st century

• Global food security• Sustainable Agriculture• Plants as biomass for a less polluting industry• Biological solutions for environmental pollution

• INVESTMENT IN NEW TECHNOLOGY• CAPACITY BUILDING• TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER



Systems Biology: compressing history

•Metagenomics•Functional genomics•Transcriptomics•Proteomics•Metabolomics

Explosion of new information

Creation of new knowledge

Generation of new products

POLITICAL, FINANCIAL,PRIVATE SECTORSUPPORT

PUBLICSECTORVISION



‘Appropriate GM’ is entirely within our grasp

www.spec.bc.ca/project/ project.php?projectID=23

Why then, are such life-saving technologies not reaching the farmers who desperately need them? Perhaps more importantly we should ask how many lives have been lost because of the delays?



The Application Gap

Molecular Biologists should interact with:• Departments of agronomy & forestry;• Departments of tropical agriculture;• Seed companies;• Curators of seed banks;• Agricultural economists• Nutritionists and food scientists;• Ecologists.

Explosion of new information

Creation of new knowledge

Generation of new products



SMEs traditionally fill the application gap



The North-South Knowledge Divide

0.76% world scientificpublications in 2001



The extent of the crisis in Africa

“One of the major changes in recentDevelopment thinking is the realisation thatwhat separates developed and lessdeveloped countries is not just a gapin resources, but a gap in knowledge”

“Scientific capacity in Africa is insufficient even to stay meaningfully connected to global advances in science and technology”

Calestous Juma & Ismail Serageldin (2007)



The public sector has a tremendous role to play

• All of the present generation of GM crop traits under cultivation can be traced back to discoveries in the public sector;

• In the developing countries, it is R&D programs in the public sector that support the bulk of new GM crop development despite critical constraints on funding, human resources and access to relevant knowledge;

• If plant based products are to sustain the projected economic and developmental agendas, a constant infusion of new knowledge is required, and the principle source of such knowledge will be fundamental research carried out in the public sector



To sustain the future introduction of new varieties of better yield and of more

balanced nutritional composition, the public sector research institutes that generate the bulk of the innovation

behind these advances must be empowered to engage in appropriate

research using GM tools.



• 50% of the growth in the US economy in the last 40 years has been due to investments in R&D;

• When federal investments in University R&D increase, there is a corresponding increase in private-sector investments.

(Source: Clinton Council of Economic Advisors report 1995)

Basic facts about public sector research



Investment in basic research creates value

(Source: Burrill & Co. 2006)



Existing Public sector GM product pipeline in developing countries

• 209 genetic transformation events;

• 16 developing countries;

• 76 different institutes;

• 46 different cropsDOMINATED BY ASIA

ISNAR/IFPRI NEXT HARVEST 2004

(Source: IFPRI, 2004)



The Brazilian case

• Most plant biotechnology in Brazil is conducted in partnership with EMBRAPA, the state owned company for agricultural R&D

• Several well-succeeded projects, e.g:– common beans with transgenic resistance to golden-

bean mosaic virus– papaya resistant to papaya ringspot virus– passionfruit resistant to passionfruit woodiness virus

• But… – no commercial release so far

http://www.embrapa.br



But major hurdles to be overcome:

PIPELINE IS BLOCKED

(Source: IFPRI, 2004)



A much more participatory

approach, involving all

stakeholders in potential

products, is needed to

ensure that it is demand driven.



Fostering crosstalk betweenpublic and private sectors

Public Research SMEStart-up

Public-private partnerships that allow scale up of technology and that stimulate creative approaches to licensing for humanitarian purposes should be

encouraged



The need to revitalise an SME & start-up culture

PUBLIC SECTOR START-UPs SMEs

But critical issues to be addressed are:• Finance,• Adverse regulatory climate,• Emerging capabilities in the BRICs economies,• Political good will and action.

The emergence of small to medium sized enterprises (SMEs) that are essential for capturing value from public sector knowledge, should be encouraged through policy measures that stimulate

investment



GM technology has been attacked because it is controlled by the private sector, and GM farmers would be at the mercy of MNCs.

euro-med.dk/?p=928



Priorities for the Pro-Poor GM Crop

Increased finance for programs in the public sector targeted towards the enhancement of yield, disease resistance, nutritional quality and drought tolerance;

International co-operations must be financed in such a way that the knowledge derived from these activities can be transferred to developing country scientists for the accomplishment of locally relevant crop improvement programs;

Mechanisms to empower developing country scientists, and enable them to participate in - and contribute to - the global knowledge-based bio-economy that is emerging.



Developing country scientific institutions and

international organisations that pioneered the Green

Revolution such as the centres of the Consultative

Group for International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) must play a

critical role in the design and execution of these

programmes



Support must be given to breeding programs and quality seed production systems in the developing countries, where a strong seed industry does not exist, and where the public sector is the major player

www.bioversityinternational.org/ publications/...



Regulatory compliance and biosafety regulations must be brought into line with appropriate scientific evidence, regarding risk and benefit, and reduce the costs of these procedures



Hope for the future

• HarvestPlus• PRRI: www.pubresreg.org• Ag Biotech Support

Project: www.absp2.cornell.edu

• PIPRA: www.pipra.org• AATF

Documents

Challenges and responsibilities for Public Sector Scientists PAS Study Week - Vatican, May 2009 PAS Study Week – Vatican - May 2009 Institute of Plant