Professor Norman Clark

Development Policy and Practice
Faculty of Maths, Computing and Technology
The Open University
Walton Hall, Milton Keynes, MK7 6AA
Phone number: + 44 (0) 1908 6
Fax Number: + 44 (0) 1908 654825
Email: n.clark@open.ac.uk; n.clark@cgiar.org; norman18542@yahoo.co.uk

Position: Professor of Innovation Systems and Development

Biography:

Norman received his PhD in Economics from the University of Edinburgh in 1971. In addition to his current post he is presently acting as Director of Research and Technical Adviser to the Director at the African Centre for Technology Studies (ACTS), Nairobi. Previously he was Vice Chancellor of Kabarak University, Nakuru, Kenya, and before that Professor of Environmental Studies and Director of the Graduate School of Environmental Studies at the University of Strathclyde. He is a development economist specialising in science, technology and environmental policy issues with particular relevance to Third World problems, a field in which he has published extensively. He has lived and worked in many countries with particular concentration on Kenya, Nigeria and India. Previously he held academic posts at the Universities of Glasgow and Sussex. While at Sussex he acted as the Founding Director of Graduate Studies at the Science Policy Research Unit (SPRU) where he worked for some 15 years and now holds the post of Honorary Professor. He has also acted as Founding Director of the Technology Planning and Development Unit, University of Ife, Nigeria; Visiting Professor, Institute for Advanced Studies, University of Sao Paulo, Brazil; and Director of the Capacity Development Programme at the African Centre for Technology Studies (ACTS). In addition to normal academic activities he has had some 30 years experience as an adviser and consultant to governments, international agencies and NGOs including the World Bank, UNCTAD, IDRC, DFID, ITDG, CGIAR, UN-Habitat, UNU and UNDP. He acted also as an adviser to the UK House of Commons Select Committee on Overseas Development on ODA’s [now DFID’s] Special Units (i.e. TPI, COPR, LRDC etc.). He is an associate researcher with the ESRC-funded INNOGEN genomics initiative jointly managed with Edinburgh University (where he holds a visiting professorship) and to the UNU/MERIT Link Programme based at CRISP, Hyderabad. He was a member of the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) Task Force Team 10 on Science, Technology and Innovation and has been recently acting as an adviser to the NEPAD secretariat in Pretoria, to ILRI in Nairobi and to the World Bank.

Recent Research Grants/Activities:

Selected Recent Publications

• “Livestock R&D in East and Southern Africa: an Innovation Systems Perspective with Special Reference to the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI)” IJTMSD Vol. 6, No. 1, 2007, with J Smith & M Hirvonen
  
  
• “Re-Visiting Agricultural Science for Development: A Conceptual Exploration” IDS 21 (forthcoming 2007)
  
  
• Biotechnology and Biosafety Policy in Africa: An Empirical Exploration with John Mugabe and James Smith (ACTS Press; forthcoming 2007)
  
  
• “The Establishment of Treadle Pumps in Bangladesh and India: A Comparative Case Study” IJTMSD Vol.6 no. 2, 2007, with A Hall and G Naik
  
  
• “Client-Driven Biotechnology Research for Poor Farmers: A Case Study from India” IJTMSD, September (2006) with G P Reddy and A Hall
  
  
• “Science And Governance Of Modern Biotechnology In Sub-Saharan Africa--The Case Of Uganda” JID (2005), with D Wafula
  
  
• Governing Agricultural Biotechnology in Africa: Building Public Confidence and Capacity for Policy-Making (2005), ACTS, Nairobi, with John Mugabe and James Smith
  
  
• Innovations in Innovation (2004), edited volume with A Hall et al, ICRISAT, India
  
  
• “From Measuring Impact to Learning Institutional lessons: An Innovation Systems Perspective on Improving the management of International Agricultural Research” Agricultural Systems 78, pp 213-341, September 2003, with A Hall et al.
  
  
• “Research as Capacity Building: The Case of an NGO Facilitated Post-Harvest Innovation System for the Himalayan Hills” World Development Vol. 31, No. 11, November, 2003, with A Hall, R Sulaiman and G Naik.
  
  
• Post-Harvest Innovation in Innovation: Reflections in Partnerships and Learning. Edited volume with A Hall, B Yoganand, and R V Sulaiman, NR International, 2003, ISBN 0-9539274-8-2
  
  
• “Institutional Learning and Change: Towards a Capacity Building Agenda for Research” (2003), in Post-Harvest Innovation in Innovation: Reflections in Partnerships and Learning, op. cit. (2003) with A J Hall et al.
  
  
• “Innovation Systems, Technology Assessment and the New Knowledge Market: Implication for Third World Development” Economics of Innovation and New Technology, Vol. XI, Nos. 1 & 2, July 2002.
  
  
• “New Science, Capacity Development and Institutional Change: The Case of the Andhra Pradesh-Netherlands Biotechnology Programme”, International Journal of Technology Management and Sustainable Development, 2 (3) December 2002, with A Hall and B Yoganand.
  
  
• “Institutional Learning through Technical Projects: Horticulture R&D Projects in India” International Journal of Technology Management and Sustainable Development Vol. 1 (1) March 2002, with A Hall et al. pp 11-23
  
  
• “Biotechnology and Development: Threats and Promises for the 21st Century” Futures, Vol. 34 (12),2002, with K Stokes and J Mugabe.
  
  
• “Why Research Partnerships Really Matter: Innovation Theory, Institutional Arrangements and Implications for Developing New Technology for the Poor” World Development, 29 (5) May 2001 (with A Hall et al)
  
  
• “Institutional Learning Through Technical Projects: Horticulture Technology R&D Systems in India” AgREN Working Paper Series No.111, ODI, London, January 2001. (with A Hall et al)
  
  
• “Public Policy and Tertiary Education in Africa: Aspects of Institutions and Management Capacity”, Journal of Economic Studies 27 (1/2) 2000.
  
  
• “New Policy Agendas for Agricultural Research: Implications for Institutional Arrangements” Knowledge, Technology and Policy 13 (1) Spring 2000 (with A Hall et al)

Other Relevant Activities:

• Lead Author in the International Assessment Report of Agricultural Knowledge, Science and Technology for Development (IAAKSTD), World Bank, Washington (2005-2008).
  
  
• Adviser to the DFID-funded “Research into Use Programme”, NR International (2006/7), Leader of the Sierra Leone Assessment Team, February/March 2007.
  
  
• Member of selection panels for the 2004, 2005 (as chair) and 2007 (as chair) rounds of grant applications to the Environment and Social Science Panel of the Finland Academy of Sciences
  
  
• Member of the mid term evaluation team of the DGIS-supported Andhra Pradesh Netherlands Biotechnology Programme, Hyderabad, India, 3rd -13th October, 2005
  
  
• Designing a semester-long course on Innovation Policy Studies for graduate students at the Xavier Institute of Management (XIM), Bhubaneswar, Orissa, India (also providing a small number of preliminary lectures, 15th-19th October, 2005.)
  
  
• Consultant to the New Partnership for African Development (NEPAD) on preparing a Needs Assessment for Science Policy Capacity Building for African Agriculture (2004/2005)
  
  
• Consultant to UN-HABITAT to evaluate Phase 1 of its Values-Based Water Education Project (2004)
  
  
• Member of Search Committee for the Director of UNU/INTECH (Maastricht, Netherlands) (2004)
  
  
• Member of Review Panel for the Africa Technology Policy Studies Network [ATPS] (2002/3)
  
  
• Chair of the Review Panel for the United Nations University Institute for New Technologies (UNU/INTECH) [2002/2003]
  
  
• Consultant to UNDP---Preparation of a Strategic Plan for the University of Guyana [2002]
  
  
• Associate Editor of the International Journal of Technology Management and Sustainable Development (2000-present).
  
  
• Fellow of The World Academy of Arts and Sciences (1990-present)