Fish and nutrition in India

A 1966 survey of possibilities for increasing food production to meet India's minimum nutritional requirements concluded that a national programme could be formulated for making better use of India's vast potential in fisheries. This article gives an account of the current production and disposal of fisheries products in India. The three major phases of fisheries operations are distinguished, and actions are proposed that could be taken in each phase to help alleviate malnutrition in India. Finally the article discusses how such actions could be undertaken within a comprehensive national programme designed to increase the contribution of fisheries to the alleviation of India's malnutrition problem.     

Generating agricultural technology: Triticale for the Himalayan Hills

This article is concerned with the process of generating agricultural technologies in public sector research and development (R & D) institutions. The case study examines a research programme to develop triticale as a food crop for the people of the Himalayan hills. It explains how significant changes occurred in the priorities and organization of a triticale improvement programme in India as a result of the timely analysis of information from on-farm trials and surveys, a review of past triticale data and a field workshop in the Himalayas.     

Reflecting on Teacher Development in Technology Education: Implications for Future Programmes

This paper reflects on the outcomes of teacher professional development programmes in technology education. These programmes were based on a model which emphasised the importance of teachers developing an understanding of both technological practice and technology education. Two different programmes have been developed and trialed in the New Zealand context. They are the Facilitator Training programme, and the Technology Teacher Development Resource Package programme. This paper will focus on the outcomes of these programmes. The Facilitator Training programme was a year long programme, and ran in 1995 and 1996. It involved training a total of 30 educators – 15 each year, from all over New Zealand. The Resource Package was trialed in 14 schools over a 3–6 month period in 1996. The evaluations indicate the successful nature of these programmes and the usefulness of the model as a basis for the development of teacher professional development in technology education. The programmes reported on in this paper were developed and evaluated as part of two New Zealand Ministry of Education contracts held by the Centre for Science, Mathematics and Technology Education Research. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Satellites and integrated broadband communications: An ESA view

The definition phase of the European Commission's Research into Advanced Communications for Europe (RACE) programme has recently been completed. During this phase, it became evident to ESA and other observers that insufficient attention was being given to the role that satellite technology could play in the introduction and development of Integrated Broadband Communications in Europe. This comment is distilled from a submission which was prepared as an input to RACE, and is intended to introduce some realism into the thinking behind the planning of the RACE Main Phase.     

Reshaping European metrology research – the role of national research managers

This paper deals with the role of research and development (R&D) managers in shaping the landscape of public research in Europe. These R&D managers work in the sphere of public research within national government laboratory services. The case we present is of the reconfiguration of metrology research. Metrology is the science of measurement. We examine why scientists and research managers in nationally embedded institutes, which are performing R&D in support of national policy and local industry needs, have chosen to co‐operate in a shared research programme. This means giving up, in part, their national sovereignty over funds and decision making. Furthermore, we examine how they have achieved the shared programme, which was launched as a European Commission (EC) programme through the Article 185 ¹ initiative, which allows the European Union to participate in research programmes undertaken jointly by several Member States.     

Cashlessness in India: Vision,policy and practices

Over the past few years, an increasing convergence can be observed between international and Indian initiatives towards cashlessness, often involving a broad range of actors and influences. Despite this convergence, it is also clear that the conceptualization and implementation, or goals and outcomes of cashlessness can vary considerably, which indicates the need for a closer look at the Indian case. In this introductory note to the special issue on cashlessness in India, we outline the variety of institutions, stakeholders (regulatory, financial and technological actors), technologies and policies involved. As we have observed, digital payments and financial inclusion are two significant planks of cashlessness in India. Perhaps as a result, digital payments have been intentionally defined in a broad manner in India – ranging from anti-cash to less-cash and now contactless payments in the aftermath of Covid-19. Considering the variety of legal, economic, social and technological concerns involved, this special issue adopts 2 complementary foci to study cashlessness in India: technological visions and the systems undergirding it, and practices of end users. The special issue includes four papers. The first paper argues that the Digital India programme may lead to the commercialization of bias. The second paper historicizes the Indian demonetization of 2016 and examines its stated and unstated goals. The next paper provides a conceptual model on technology adoption in the context of digital payments. The final paper argues that users strategically switch between multiple payments media based on the context in which the transaction is taking place.     

中国经济发展方式与人口红利关系辨析

近年来热烈讨论的人口红利,对我国来说更接近于一种＂人口机会窗口＂。它可以通过增加劳动力投入,提高储蓄率等渠道推动经济增长。但这种经济增长并非一定是现代经济增长。中国的实践证明,粗放式低层次地利用＂人口机会窗口＂,走传统工业化道路已经遇到严峻挑战。印度自20世纪80年代起采取新的经济发展模式,积极培养与积累人力资本,发展高新技术产业,值得中国参考。应深层次充分挖掘人力资源优势,积累人力资本,走出一条依靠科技进步和劳动者素质提高的发展道路,真正分享人口红利。     

People,institutions, and technology: A personal view of the role of foundations in international agricultural research and development 1960–2010

In the 1940 and 1950s, the Rockefeller and Ford Foundations initiated overseas rural and agricultural development activities in a number of countries in Asia and Latin America. They began with country programs. These programs often involved creating new institutions in the recipient countries, and while the perspective was long term – as long as it took to achieve program goals – the foundations also explicitly sought to work themselves out of a job and turn over responsibility to nationals. By 1960 the two foundations had moved beyond national assistance programs to invent a new model, the international agricultural research center, designed to improve the lives of poor rural people by increasing the productivity of developing world agriculture. Some of the national programs were morphed into international centers. The international agricultural research centers proved attractive to other donors and by the 1970s international agricultural research had become institutionalized in the form of the CGIAR and its associate centers. The 1960s India agricultural program of the Rockefeller Foundation comprised a team of about a dozen American scientists working in India assisting Indian scientists to invent new approaches to agricultural technology development. At the same time and also in India, the Ford Foundation pioneered the integrated rural development model. By the mid-1970s integrated rural development projects were the approach of choice for many donors. In the 1980s the Ford Foundation moved away from agriculture concentrating on broader social issues; the Government of India and Rockefeller Foundation decided Foundation scientists had, indeed, worked themselves out of their jobs and Rockefeller’s India program was effectively closed down, although by then the international agricultural research centers, including ICRISAT in India, had attained a degree of maturity and stability. The Rockefeller Foundation invented another new model for agricultural research in the 1990s – the international rice biotechnology network, in which leading scientists from Asian countries, Western countries and the international centers worked together within a framework managed by Rockefeller scientists. In 2006, the Bill Melinda Gates Foundation entered the global agricultural scene in partnership with the Rockefeller Foundation to establish AGRA, yet another new model. By 2010 the Gates Foundation was annually spending about 10 times     

The Essential Features of Technology and Technology Education: A Conceptual Framework for the Development of OBE (Outcomes Based Education) Related Programmes in Technology Education

It appears that programme development in technology education is emerging from an atheoretical perspective. This could be attributed to the absence/neglect of conceptual frameworks (philosophical underpinning) in the development of programmes in technology education. This article explores the role of the content dimension of the 'essential features' of technology and technology education in OBE (Outcomes Based Education) related programme development. An instructional programme was developed using criteria derived from the essential features of technology and technology education. In order to gauge learners' experience, in relation to these essential features, a qualitative case study involving 20 learners was undertaken at a College of Education. Engagement with theprogramme proved to be an empowering experience for the learners who had hitherto not had the opportunity to experience a formal programme in technology education. Although it could not be proved conclusively that cognitive development had occurred, positive inter-dependence,shared responsibility, social skills and enhanced learning were evident. The study has shown that criteria derived from the 'essential features' of technology and technology education could serve as a reliable yardstick to measure the extent of learning in relation to these essential features     

University research and development of a microsatellite

Developing a microsatellite at a university is an effective means of training engineering students for an R&D career. Such a programme requires the adoption of many research and development processes from industry. This paper describes how tailored forms of systems engineering, project management and technology management were applied to develop a high technology product at a tertiary educational institution. This microsatellite development programme has produced students who are well prepared for the realities of engineering practice, and a research and development facility that earns research funding for the university.     

Operation flood: impacts and issues

This article investigates whether Operation Flood - the Indian dairy programme supported by the WFP, the EEC and other international donor agencies - has achieved its objectives of enhancing dairy production in India while also offering poor and landless farmers a chance to participate in dairying. Detailed empirical work on the project did not confirm the grand claims made for Operation Flood as a success story of global significance. In particular, conclusions are highlighted with regard to Operation Flood's impact on India's dependency on foreign (EEC) deliveries of skim milk powder; India's domestic dairy production; the incomes of participating farmers; existing informal dairy production and marketing; the nutritional levels in rural areas; and the position of rural women. Various options for the future are outlined.     

We can be farmers,just for one day

Academics from the University of Cambridge and the London School if Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) have developed a simulation game of the role of agrarian change in a traditional community of small farmers in India. Following extensive data collection and trials of ad hoc games in a variety of institutions over the past ten years, the game has now been marketed in a commercial form as The Green Revolution Game. The primary aim to the game is to give participants an idea of what life is like for a small farmer in a dynamic society in developing country. The designers hope that it will be of value in training and sensitizing professionals and students in agricultural extension, project appraisal, rural and development planning, nutrition and economics.     

Supplier development and the relationship life-cycle

The mainstream view holds that over time buyer–supplier relationships evolve through a number of phases. As a consequence, supplier development as a buyer–supplier relationship management practice should also be adapted to the life-cycle phase. Supplier development activities matching the buyer–supplier relationship life-cycle phase will lead to more favorable performance improvements. However, prior studies have neglected the relationship life-cycle perspective. This empirical study shows how the length of the buyer–supplier relationship can be used to improve the explanatory power of models investigating the performance outcomes of supplier development activities. The results show that supplier development is more effective in mature as opposed to initial and declining life-cycles phases.     

External Technology and In-House R&D's Facilitative Role

A number affirms use external sourcing of technology to create technological change in their organizations. In this article, Falguni Sen and Albert Rubenstein develop a rationale to support the concept of an integrative technology development strategy which emphasizes the role of in-house R&D during the planning and implementation process for externally sourced technology. They divide the external sourcing process into two major components: an acquisition phase and an implementation phase. Next, they define five distinct stages within both phases. Based on a review of the literature, the authors identify some common problems with external sourcing and discuss potential ways that in-house R&D can alleviate them by becoming involved in specific steps in each of the ten stages. The data in the article have been obtained from thirty-one cases of external sourcing of technology from a diverse group of industries in the United States and India. R&D's involvement in the external technology process varies among firms and is generally low in the acquisition phase. In the research, R&D managers describe barriers to their involvement, and the article develops measures of effectiveness of the activities in each stage of the external sourcing process. The authors recommend removing relevant barriers, especially in those stages where the involvement of in-house R&D groups could increase the effectiveness of the process.     

An exploratory study of product development in emerging economies: evidence from medical device testing in India

Recent research has studied innovation in emerging economies. However, microlevel product development processes in these economies are relatively unexplored, and the mechanisms by which the emerging economy context might affect such processes are still unclear. In this paper, we explore the testing routines fundamental to product development in one emerging economy. Based on an exploratory field study of medical device development projects in India, we observe the frequent, iterative testing of prototypes in clinical settings and investigate the related learning process. The observed testing approach is distinctly different from the comparatively linear and sequential approach adopted by medical device development teams in developed countries like the United States. Further, we suggest that such testing is feasible in India because of the prevailing regulatory flexibility, the cognitive orientation of device development practitioners and the normative orientation of medical professionals.     

Liberalization and the growth of business‐led R&D: the case of India

Firms and organizations in India have responded to market reforms, liberalization and globalization by improving efficiency, importing technology and by increasing in‐house R&D. This paper highlights some of the evolutionary changes that have occurred since India undertook sweeping reforms in July 1991 to open its economy to foreign participation and competition. Although some authors, such as Forbes (1999), have looked at the impact of the liberalization on India's R&D and innovation, they missed a number of dimensions that have far‐reaching implications for the process of technological capability development in India. Using the concept of technological capability, this paper makes a contribution to the discourse on the changing R&D and innovation scenario in the face of on‐going liberalization in India. It concludes with three case studies, which illustrate some of the recent changes made by industrial organisations.     

An evolving science-society contract in India: The search for legitimacy in anticipatory risk governance

This article analyzes evolving institutions and practices of anticipatory risk governance in India, through the lens of two recent and highly controversial developments in governing genetically modified crops in Indian agriculture. These developments include, first, conflicts over approving (or not) the very first genetically modified food crop in India and a related experiment in participatory decision-making; and second, proposals to revamp the existing biosafety regulatory system (with its checks and balances across diverse sources of authority) with one that elevates scientists and scientific expertise to the pinnacle of decision-making power. The article analyzes the distinct means by which legitimacy is sought to be conferred upon the means and ends of anticipatory risk governance, as reflected in these two examples. I contrast claims to legitimacy deriving from innovative experiments in participatory democracy with legitimacy claims based upon “objective” science, showing that despite acknowledged need for the former, the latter is still being prioritized. The article concludes by identifying the contours of an evolving science-society contract in India, as revealed by these cases.     

Resource-constrained product development: Implications for green marketing and green supply chains

While academic debates and practical approaches to green marketing have matured over the past few decades, one central conundrum that has remained unresolved has been the trade-off between the higher prices of green products and the objectives of environmental sustainability. In general, it has been observed that green products are priced at a premium to account for their environmentally friendly consumption and use. We argue that resource-constrained product development approaches (alternatively labeled jugaad) that are observed in emerging countries such as China and India have the potential to change the traditional models of green product development. In addition to the competitive advantage that resource-constrained product development approaches provide, we suggest that these practices have sustainability and supply chain benefits. We show that the innovation process relies primarily on frugal engineering that reduces material use (thereby reducing burden on supply chain) and meets green marketing objectives at much lower, and therefore, more affordable prices. We draw out several implications for theory and practice.     

Communications programme in Montreal

The Graduate Studies Faculty of the University of Montreal offers a programme of study in communications, leading to an MSc degree. The Master's programme addresses two main objectives: first, the scientific analysis of the forms and contents of the new media and of the transformations they have brought about in interpersonal relations, within organizations, and within society as a whole; and second, the development of a general theory of communications.     

The Impact of Size and Age on Firm-Level Performance: Some Evidence from India

Using contemporary data for an extensive sample of 1020 Indian firms, this paper investigates the impacts that size and age of firms have on firm-level productivity and profitability. In India older firms are found to be more productive and less profitable, whereas the larger firms are, conversely, found to be more profitable and less productive. These performance differences are explained as arising from the market-restricting industrial policies that have been followed in India over the past three decades.