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The use and transfer of coastal-adaptation technologies worldwide has occurred
mostly because of societal interventions and not in response to market forces.
Examples of such interventions include direct governmental expenditures, regulations
and policies and public choices. Each stakeholder-governments, universities
and government-sponsored laboratories, the private sector, non-governmental
organisations and local communities and landowners-has its specific interests,
directions and objectives. Incentives for technology transfer vary according
to each of these agendas, independent of the technology considered (Kuhn, 1990).
National governments are responsible for national security in the broadest sense,
embedding issues of international economic competitiveness and national prosperity,
national defence, environmental stewardship and improving the standard of living.
Public-policy formulation and implementation of coastal adaptation are motivated
principally by the need to reduce public costs associated with loss of property
and life and preserving common goods. Likewise, economic considerations are
a driving force for research and development (R&D) on coastal-adaptation
technologies. Excluding information technologies such as GIS, most development
and innovation of coastal-adaptation technologies occur in R&D programmes
sponsored by national governments, either directly by government-owned or -controlled
laboratories or indirectly by universities, R&D consortia and international
research programmes (Capobianco, 1999). The private sector then refines and
applies these technologies, usually in a government-sponsored project. Only
rarely have government institutions themselves pursued opportunities for commercial
exploitation of research results that lead to the recovery of royalties (Case
Study 21).
Traditionally, the motivation for university-based research was scholarly reputation;
user need and involvement and technology transfer was not considered important.
Value was based on authorship of new knowledge and peer recognition. However,
a growing number of universities are increasing their focus on applied R&D
and more extensive connections are established with potential users of tangible
results. For some universities, it is the desire to increase support for academic
research. For other institutions, such as sea-grant colleges in the United States,
the impetus is an expanded concept of their mandate to serve the coastal community.
The private sector seeks to generate profits. The community of coastal-technology
private-sector companies is predominantly made up of small companies providing
engineering and consulting services, with a small number of global players (Funnell,
1998; UNFCCC, 1999). Few are actively pursuing technology transfer (Stockdale,
1996). For most technological developments, the market is too small or diffuse
to justify private-sector investment. The sector may generate appropriate technologies,
but then relies on government funding to see it applied, usually on a project-specific
basis. Motivations for technology transfer include leveraging limited resources
with public financing for R&D, reducing commercial risk and increasing competitive
advantage and market share for products and services (Stockdale, 1996).
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