Science: Developing nations urged to join forces in R&D

So warned India's science and technology minister, Kapil Sibal, in an address at a ministerial forum on industry financing. He also noted that one U.S. pharmaceutical company alone -- Pfizer -- spends $8 billion on research and development (R&D) annually, more than many of the world's largest developing countries. Investment in R&D currently ranges from 0.12 percent of GDP, in Panama, to 0.87 percent in Iran. On average, the various proposals set development targets of 1 to 2 percent of GDP -- similar to levels found in rich countries. Iran is aiming for nothing less than 2 percent by 2008, with a budget increase of "at least 15 percent for the year," announced Minister Mohammad Mehdi Zahedi. The giant gap in R&D investment levels between industrialized and developing countries is found in the private sector. In the United States, the public sector earmarks around 0.5 percent of GDP for research and technological development, on par with most other countries -- including developing nations. The difference is that the private sector invests three times as much, [Julio Escobar] told IPS.