The world's 50 poorest nations must harness science, technology and innovation in order to achieve the kind of economic growth needed to reduce poverty, according to a new United Nations report titled "Knowledge, Technological Learning and Innovation", which was released recently. Prepared by the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), the report focuses on how the Governments of least developed countries (LDCs) and their development partners can promote technological progress.

The recently released report is particularly important because it focuses on a new area that one usually don't associate with the least developed countries, which is their emerging interest to use science and technology as a vehicle for economic transformation. The report very clearly lays out why science and technology matters for the LDCs – a group of 50 States that have been identified as "least developed" in terms of their low per capita gross domestic product, their weak human assets and their high degree of economic vulnerability. The report says that the least developed countries will continue to be poor if they don't significantly invest in their capacity to learn and to industrialize. The report adds that the current pattern in LDCs appears to be "economic liberalization without learning, and global integration without innovation." As such, it argues that LDCs must "innovate their way out of poverty". The Governments of LDCs should adopt policies to spur science, technology and innovation, as well as improve infrastructure, human capital and financial systems, the report recommends.

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