International Information and Technology Transfer

Abstract

Converging lines of evidence lead to the thesis that sustainable international engineering projects that support economic and environmental development require user participation in service‐level decisions, and that these decisions are sustained by cross‐cultural transfers of technology from foreign consultants to host‐country‐counterpart professionals. It follows that the most successful consultants will be those who best assure resources to this end in meeting contractual obligations for advisory, supervisory, and training services. An underlying premise in this analysis is that cooperation is economically and technically more efficient than competition, particularly competition between consultants and clients. A framework and draft terms of reference for information and technology transfer are presented. Effective transfer of technology requires: (1) Insistence by the host‐country government that it take place; (2) secondment of the most competent professionals as counterparts; (3) training resources amounting to an additional 15–20% in time and money during project identification and preparation; and (4) due regard by expatriate engineering firms for the possibility that host‐country staff training is likely to be in the best strategic interest of the firms.