Project Team: Dr. Sachin Chaturvedi
In recent past, the relevance of the South-South collaboration in the area of genomics has expanded manifold as several developing countries have enhanced the allocations for biotechnology. In this context, RIS in collaboration with Toronto University has launched a study to understand the nature of collaborations in genomics and health biotechnology amongst developing countries. The project would also look into issues such as factors and conditions that contribute towards successful South-South cooperation and the pattern of these collaboration in genomics/health biotechnology; and compare formal versus informal collaborations. The project is for two years in which it would also cover issues like examination of collaborations both in research activities as well as in development; and commercialization activities; identify the reasons for the collaboration and the different roles of participants in the collaborations; examine factors that have encouraged and hindered South-South collaborations; evaluate the impacts of the collaboration on genomics/health biotechnology development in general and evaluate the impact of the collaboration on genomics/health biotechnology development in countries that are not amongst the innovating developing countries (IDCs). The project involves international collaborations with groups in the developing countries like Centro de Desenvolviemeto Sustentable, Univesity of Brasilia, Brazil; University of Zambia, Zambia. The project is funded by Genome Canada with co-funding from the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) in Canada.