collaboration

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Collaboration is working with each other to do a task. It is a recursive process where two or more people or organizations work together to realize shared goals, (this is more than the intersection of common goals seen in co-operative ventures, but a deep, collective, determination to reach an identical objective — for example, an intriguing endeavor that is creative in nature— by sharing knowledge, learning and building consensus. Most collaboration requires leadership, although the form of leadership can be social within a decentralized and egalitarian group. In particular, teams that work collaboratively can obtain greater resources, recognition and reward when facing competition for finite resources. Collaboration is also present in opposing goals exhibiting the notion of adversarial collaboration, though this is not a common case for using the word. Structured methods of collaboration encourage introspection of behavior and communication.These methods specifically aim to increase the success of teams as they engage in collaborative problem. Forms, rubrics, charts and graphs are useful in these situations to objectively document personal traits with the goal of improving performance in current and future projects. Since the Second World War the term "Collaboration" acquired a very negative meaning as referring to persons and groups which help a foreign occupier of their country—due to actual use by people in European countries who worked with and for the Nazi German occupiers. Linguistically, "collaboration" implies more or less equal partners who work together—which is obviously not the case when one party is an army of occupation and the other are people of the occupied country living under the power of this army. In order to make a distinction, the more specific term Collaborationism is often used for this phenomenon of collaboration with an occupying army. However, there is no water-tight distinction; "Collaboration" and "Collaborator", as well as "Collaborationism" and "Collaborationist", are often used in this pejorative sense—and even more so, the equivalent terms in French and other languages spoken in countries which experienced direct Nazi occupation. Technological collaboration is generally a two-way process. But in India, we have one-way process. Since by way of technological collaboration, we are importing the foreign technology. We can call it technology transfer. TRANSFER OF TECHNOLOGY Technology Transfer also called Transfer of Technology (TOT) and Technology Commercialization, is the process of transferring skills, knowledge, technologies, methods of manufacturing, samples of manufacturing and facilities among governments or universities and other institutions to ensure that scientific and technological developments are accessible to a wider range of users who can then further develop and exploit the technology into new products, processes, applications, materials or services. Broadly there are 2 forms of TT, internalized and externalized form of technology transfer. Internalized forms refer to investment associated TT, where control resides with the technology transferor. The transferor holds the majority or full equity ownership. Externalized forms refer to

all other forms, such as joint ventures with local control, licensing strategic alliances and international subcontracting. The major difference between the two forms of transfer is that in internalized TT the transferor has a significant and continuiung financial stake in the success of the affiliate, allows it to use iits brand names and to have access to its global technology and marketing networks, exercises control over the affiliates investment, technology ans sales decision, and sees the affiliate as an integral part of its global strategy.externalized forms lack one or all of these features, with repercussions on the TT process. Over time, the array of T arrangements has diversified and particular modes have also become more flexible. Thus, the divind lines between externalized and internalized modes are becoming less easy to draw. LEVELS OF TT Basically there are four levels of TT Operational level: at the bottom level are the simplest ones, needed for operating a given plant; these involves basic manufacturing skills, as well as some more demanding troubleshooting, quality conrol, maintainence and procurement skills Duplicate level; at the intermediate level are duplicative skills, which include the investment capabilities needed to expand capacity and to purchase and integrate foreign technologies. Adaptive level: at this technological self reliance level, imported technologies are adapted and improved, and design skills for more complex engineering learned. Innovative level: This level is characterized by innovative skills, based on formal R&D, that are needed to keep pace with technological frontiers or to generate new technologies. CHANNELS OF TECHNOLOGY FLOW The most important channels for the flow technology are Foreign Investment and Technology License Agreements and Joint Ventures. Foreign Investment: Tradionally, the flow of technology to developing countries has been an intregal part of direct foreign investment. Multinaional corporations and other firms have resorted to FDI for a variety of reasons like protection and development of foreign markets, utilization of local resources (in the host country) including cheap labor, overcoming or lessening of th impact of tariff restrictions and tax loss. The flow of sophisticated technology has thus been associated with direct investment. Technology License Agreements and Joint Ventures: Technology transfer has been taking place on a significant scale through licensing agreements and joint ventures. There has been a fairly rapid growth of joint ventures, encouraged by government restrictions on foreign investments and foreign trade or the perceived advantages of such ventures. When foreign capital

participation in joint ventures is below 50%, technological agreement assume considerable significance. METHODS OF TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER Transfer of technology takes a variety of firms depending on the type, nature and extent of technological assistance required. The following are the important methods of technology transfer: 1) Training or Employment of Technical Expert: Fairly simple and unpatented manufacturing techniques/processes, can be transferred by imparting the requisite training to suitable personnel. Alternative, such technology can be acquired by employing foreign technical experts. 2) Contracts For Supply of Machinery and Equipment: Contracts for supply of machinery and equipment which normally provide for the transfer of operational technology pertaining to such equipment, is often quite adequate for manufacturing purposes not only in small scale projects but also in a number of large scale industries where the nature of technology is not particularly complex. 3) Licensing Agreements: Licensing Agreements, under which the licensor enters into an agreement with a licensee in another country to use the technical expertise of the former, is an important means for the transfer of technology. Licensing Agreements are usually entered into when FDI is not possible or desirable. 4) Turnkey Contracts: Transfer of complex technology often takes place through turnkey project contracts, which include the supply of such services as design, creation, commissioning or supervision of a system or a facility to the client, apart from the supply of goods. Many times a combination of two or more of the above mentioned methods is used. Turnkey Contracts are the most comprehensive of such combinations. ISSUES IN TRANSFER OF TECCHNOLOGY 1) In many cases, the developing countries obtain foreign technology at unreasonably high prices. 2) In number of cases of FDI associated with technology transfer , the net out flow of capital by way of dividend , interest, royalties and technical fees has been found to be much higher than the corresponding inflow. 3) The appropriateness of foreign technology to the physical , economic and social conditions of the developing countries is an important aspect to be considered in technology transfer. It has been argued hat there are large no. of cases. Where the foreign technology transferred has been irrelevant or inappropriate to the recipient country‟s socio-economic priorities and conditions.

4) Further, heavy reliance on for foreign technology may lead to technological dependence. 5) It is pointed out that the import of modern sophisticated technology has tended to displaced the traditional indegenious tehnology which have been improved under a different set of policies. The steady stream of new products and process introduced by multi-nationals into developing countries has been unfavourable to the promotion of domestic technological capacities and has discouraged local scientists and technicians from devoting themselves to practical development problems. It creates an attitude of subservient dependence, which may inhibit the capacity to do even relativel minor adaptive research or to adopt process which are developed locally. It has also been observed that there is a tendecy to transfer outdated technology to the developing countries. Thus, they would not enjoy the advantages of latest technology and would still technologically lag behind. It is unfortunate that the owners of modern echnology view the developing countries as a means to salavage technology that is obsolescent in the advanced counries , even when they pocess more adanced technology TECHNOLOGY ASSESSMENT Technology assessment is a scientific, interactive, and communicative process that aims to contribute to the formation of public and political opinion on societal aspects of science and technology. TA is the study and evaluation of new technologies. It is based on the conviction that new developments within, and discoveries by, the scientific community are relevant for the world at large rather than just for the scientific experts themselves, and that technological progress can never be free of ethical implications. Also, technology assessment recognizes the fact that scientistsnormally are not trained ethicists themselves and accordingly ought to be very careful when passing ethical judgement on their own, or their colleagues, new findings, projects, or work in progress. Technology assessment assumes a global perspective and is future-oriented, not antitechnological. TA considers its task as interdisciplinary approach to solving already existing problems and preventing potential damage caused by the uncritical application and the commercialization of new technologies. Therefore any results of technology assessment studies must be published, and particular consideration must be given to communication with political decision-makers. An important problem, TA has to deal with it, is the so-called Collingridge dilemma: on the one hand, impacts of new technologies cannot be easily predicted until the technology is extensively developed and widely used; on the other hand, control or change of a technology is difficult as soon as it is widely used. Some of the major fields of TA are: information technology, hydrogen technologies, nuclear technology, molecular nanotechnology, pharmacology, organ transplants, gene technology, artificial intelligence, the Internet and many more. Health technology assessment is related, but profoundly different, despite the similarity in the name.

Forms and concepts of technology assessment The following types of concepts of TA are those that are most visible and practiced. There are, however, a number of further TA forms that are only proposed as concepts in the literature or are the label used by a particular TA institution.












Parliamentary TA (PTA): TA activities of various kinds whose addressee is a parliament. PTA may be performed directly by members of those parliaments (e.g. in France and Finland) or on their behalf by related TA institutions (such as in the UK, in Germany and Denmark) or by organisations not directly linked to a Parliament (such as in the Netherlands and Switzerland). Expert TA (often also referred to as the classical TA or traditional TA concept): TA activities carried out by (a team of) TA and technical experts. Input from stakeholders and other actors is included only via written statements, documents and interviews, but not as in participatory TA. Participatory TA (pTA): TA activities which actively, systematically and methodologically involve various kinds of social actors as assessors and discussants, such as different kinds of civil society organisations, representatives of the state systems, but characteristically also individual stakeholders and citizens (lay persons), technical scientists and technical experts. Standard pTA methods include consensus conferences, focus groups, scenario workshops etc. Sometimes pTA is further divided into expert-stakeholder pTA and public pTA (including lay persons). Constructive TA (CTA): This concept of TA, developed in the Netherlands, but also applied and discussed elsewhere attempts to broaden the design of new technology through feedback of TA activities into the actual construction of technology. Contrary to other forms of TA, CTA is not directed toward influencing regulatory practices by assessing the impacts of technology. Instead, CTA wants to address social issues around technology by influencing design practices. Discursive TA or Argumentative TA: This type of TA wants to deepen the political and normative debate about science, technology and society. It is inspired by ethics, policy discourse analysis and the sociology of expectations in science and technology. This mode of TA aims to clarify and bring under public and political scrutiny the normative assumptions and visions that drive the actors who are socially shaping science and technology. Accordingly, argumentative TA not only addresses the side effects of technological change, but deals with both broader impacts of science and technology and the fundamental normative question of why developing a certain technology is legitimate and desirable. Health TA (HTA): A specialised type of expert TA informing policy makers about efficacy, safety and cost effectiveness issues of pharmaceuticals and medical treatments, see article onHealth Technology Assessment.

GOVERNMENT-GUIDELINES E-GOVERNANCE

E-Government can be defined as the use of information and communications technologies by governments to enhance the range and quality of information and services provided to citizens, businesses, civil society organizations, and other government agencies in an efficient, costeffective and convenient manner, making government processes more transparent and accountable and strengthening democracy. Defining e-Governance Although the term „e-Governance‟ has gained currency in recent years, there is no standard definition of this term. Different governments and organizations define this term to suit their own aims and objectives. Sometimes, the term „e-government‟ is also used instead of „eGovernance‟. The e-governance guidelines have been divided into nine heads and objectives to be achieved under each head are mentioned. Action to be taken by the agencies to achieve these objectives and the time frame are also mentioned. The nine heads are: (1) Usage of UID cards (2) Use of Marathi (3) Procedure to provide computerized service (4) Mobile governance (5) Selection of agents/franchisees for providing services (6) Preparation of plan of action by every department to implement e-governance (7) Creating infrastructure for implementing e-governance (8) Review and audit (9) Appointing experts, holding contests, etc. Each department will have to link the services provided by it with UID cards within a year and the departments will have to prepare an internal plan of action to achieve this objective. Marathi language will be the primary and mandatory language for this project, with all government websites also in Marathi. All departments will also have to make forms available on their websites. These forms should be examined electronically and facility should be developed to allow citizens to pay the government fee online. The departments will also have to prepare guidelines and manuals for business process re-engineering and change management system. All agencies have also been asked to start using digital signatures. As per the policy, the government will have to design an all encompassing portal. Call centres will have to be set up and enhanced technologies like IPTV etc will have to be used. Infrastructure must be created for completing transactions through mobile phones. The government will have to create a separate wing, the Maharashtra Information Technology Service (MITS), to implement the e-governance policy. The rules also ask all departments to ensure that their websites have cyber security audits. The data centre will not hold information of any website that does not have cyber security plan in place.

E-COMMERCE At the heart of e-commerce is the need for parties to be able to form valid and legally binding contracts online. Basic questions relate to how e-contracts can be formed, performed, and enforced as parties replace paper documents with electronic equivalents. a. Offer and Acceptance:The Information Technology Act, 2000 (“IT Act”) deals with contractual aspects of use of electronic records, such as attribution,acknowledgement, time and place of dispatch and receipt. However, since the IT Act is only an enabling Act, it is to be read in conjunction with the Indian Contracts Act, 1872 ("Contract Act"). Formation of any contract, under the Contract Act, would involve three main ingredients. There has to be an offer, there has to be an acceptance of the said offer without modification and there has to be some consideration for the contract. These ingredients would be applicable to e-contracts. However, a difficult question that law often arises: How do we know whether the offeree has ACCEPTED the offer? Additionally, Internet communication does not consist of a direct line of communication between the sender and receiver of e-mail as in ordinary means of communication. The message is broken into chunks in the process of delivery. This raises issues of the exact time of communication of acceptance of the contract as such a time is critical for determination of the rights of the parties. The IT Act has laid down certain methods for determining the exact time and place of despatch and receipt of the e-mail. b. Clickwrap contracts:Further, various issues arise whether a person would be bound by the terms of a contract without even reading it or without being able to negotiate the terms. For e.g., website XYZ.com offers its newsletters by simply filling in the name and e-mail address on the form provided and then clicking the 'SUBSCRIBE' button after reading and agreeing to the terms and conditions in the Subscriber‟s Contract. If Mr. A fills in his name and e-mail address and clicks SUBSCRIBE, but actually does not take the time to look at, let alone read, the Subscriber's Contract. Would this amount to a contract with XYZ? This is an example of a "clickwrap contract" which is legally enforceable.But in such a case, some of the issues that would need to be addressed are as to what would be the terms of the contract and would the acceptance of the Subscriber‟s Contract without even reading it be classified as deemed acceptance? c. Online Identity:Transactions on the Internet, particularly consumer-related transactions, often occur between parties who have no pre-existing relationship, which may raise concerns of the person‟s identity with respect to issues of the person‟s capacity, authority and legitimacy to enter the contract. Digital signatures, is one of the methods used to determine the identity of the person. The regulatory framework with respect to digital signatures is governed by the provisions of the IT Act. However, various countries have different legislations regulating digital signatures.

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