Mandate

As technology deficient countries, least developed countries (LDCs) rely on transfer of technology from abroad to build their domestic technological capabilities. However, while transfer of technology is an important channel for acquiring technologies, it is not, by itself, sufficient for inducing technological learning and upgrading. Effective utilization and deployment of acquired technologies and their assimilation, absorption and scaling up will depend on the level of development of domestic STI capacity and the policy and regulatory environment that supports the STI ecosystem. It is important, therefore, that the support provided by the Technology Bank is not limited to identification of technologies and designing projects only but also includes creating– in partnership with key national and international partners – the enabling environment needed to sustain local technological capability building and the development of innovative capacities, including the effective utilization of indigenous technologies. Pursuing these objectives would also require supporting the LDCs in the management of intellectual property rights. 

The UN Technology Bank for the Least Developed Countries (LDCs) was established by the General Assembly (GA) in January 2017 and became operational in 2018 with headquarters in Gebze, Türkiye. The core mandates of the Technology Bank, as specified in the Charter, include to:

• strengthen the science, technology and innovation capacity of least developed countries, including the capacity to identify, absorb, develop, integrate and scale up the deployment of technologies and innovations, including indigenous ones, as well as the capacity to address and manage intellectual property rights issues;
• promote the development and implementation of national and regional science, technology and innovation strategies;
• strengthen partnerships among science, technology and innovationrelated public entities and with the private sector;
• promote cooperation among all stakeholders involved in science, technology and innovation, including researchers, research institutions and public and private sector entities, within and between least developed countries, as well as with their counterparts in other countries;
• promote and facilitate the identification and utilization of and access to appropriate technologies by the least developed countries, as well as their transfer to the least developed countries, while respecting intellectual property rights and fostering the national and regional capacity of the least developed countries for the effective utilization of technology in order to bring about transformative change.

In addition, the Doha Programme of Action for LDCs for the decade 2021-2030, endorsed by the General Assembly in March 2022, has reinforced the mandate of the UN Technology Bank for the LDCs by reaffirming that the Technology Bank will serve as “a focal point for the Least Developed Countries to strengthen their science, technology and innovation capacity towards building sustainable productive capacities and promoting structural economic transformation”. This mandate places the Technology Bank at the centre of the least developed countries’ efforts to advance their science, technology and innovation (STI) capacities through technology transfer and local technological capability building.