POLICY AND PARTNERSHIPS FOR AGRICULTURAL BIOTECHNOLOGY RESEARCH 199
in confined testing or commercial use through information sharing among countries and researchers—such as information about the characteristics of transgenes, gene constructs, host plants, agroecological and agroclimatic zones, experimental designs and observations, and regulatory findings.6 An option is to place this information in an open-access venue, such as
the Biosafety Clearing-House, so that environmental assessments of crops or traits can be carried out based on accumulated experience among indus- trialized and developing countries.7 This approach presents opportunities for South-South collaboration, information networking, and data sharing, with the objective of minimizing redundancies while maximizing the flow of information and expertise based on solid and comprehensive sources of infor- mation, ultimately increasing regulatory proficiency and minimizing R&D costs. Greater knowledge of the array of available transgenes can also be used to strengthen the public sector’s position in negotiating access agreements over proprietary materials and techniques. In this context, there is also a need to build capacity in research organizations and train local researchers to make effective use of electronic biotechnology research databases and conduct advanced research. Several innovative approaches to collaborative research could also improve
the pace and level of research on agbiotech and GE crops. One possibility is for the public sector to take a stronger public negotiating stance, advocate for greater private tax incentives, or promote other mechanisms to improve the willingness of firms to invest in or provide intellectual property donations for research with a public-interest focus. Other arrangements may be formalized as commercial joint ventures, in which public and private collaborators estab- lish a legal entity to execute a public-interest research agenda and endow it with a mix of governance and management characteristics from the public and private sectors. Lessons can be learned from China, where several agbiotech ventures are advancing as commercial entities spun off from public research agencies, often wholly or majority owned by the parent agency. Alternatively, researchers and policymakers may explore the use of “hon- est brokers” (nonprofit third-party organizations) to facilitate interactions
6 The Program for Biosafety Systems operates one granting program for research in these areas— the Biotechnology–Biodiversity Interface. Grants are awarded annually following peer review. See PBS (2009).
7 The Biosafety Clearing-House is a mechanism set up by the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety to facilitate the exchange of information on living modified organisms and assist parties to the Protocol in meeting their obligations under it. The Clearing House provides access to scien- tific, technical, environmental, legal, and capacity-building information in all six of the United Nations’ official languages. See BCH (2009).
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