TECHNOLOGY CO-OPERATION AMONG THE BIMST-EC COUNTRIES : ISSUES, CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES

This article examines why technology co-operation became a strategic priority for BIMST-EC members in the early 2000s and how coordinated policies could accelerate shared growth. It situates cooperation in the region’s complementary strengths—India’s burgeoning IT and R&D base, Thailand’s manufacturing ecosystems, Sri Lanka’s services, Myanmar’s resources, Nepal and Bhutan’s hydropower potential, and Bangladesh’s expanding human capital. The essay maps the barriers that repeatedly slowed progress: fragmented standards, weak IP administration, duplicative pilot projects, and scarce early-stage financing. It argues that robust regional platforms for testing, certification, and mutual recognition could reduce transaction costs while trust-building arrangements for data, cybersecurity, and cross-border payments would unlock digital trade. The paper highlights opportunities in agro-tech, health supply chains, disaster early-warning, and clean energy, emphasizing that small, problem-driven consortia outperform grand declarations. It concludes with a phased roadmap linking talent mobility, joint labs, and public–private funds to measurable, development-oriented outcomes.

The body begins with a historical overview of BIMST-EC’s formation and its original technology agenda, contrasting statement-heavy communiqués with the meager pipeline of bankable projects. Section One dissects institutional bottlenecks: overlapping ministerial mandates, slow procurement rules for cross-border research, and a shortage of translational facilities that convert prototypes into products. Section Two analyzes standards and interoperability gaps that hamper scale—particularly in med-tech devices, agricultural sensors, and power-grid controllers—proposing a shared conformity assessment regime with mutual recognition of test results. Section Three explores financing, recommending a blended model that combines development finance, sovereign co-investment, and outcome-based grants tied to adoption metrics in health, agriculture, and resilience. Section Four focuses on talent mobility and IP: short-term researcher visas, portable grants, and template contracts for background and foreground IP that reduce negotiation friction. Section Five presents four pilot platforms: (i) cyclone and flood early-warning data exchanges; (ii) interoperable digital payment sandboxes for MSMEs; (iii) rice and fisheries productivity toolkits; and (iv) low-cost solar micro-grids with open telemetry. The conclusion argues that technology co-operation will be credible only if anchored to clear service-delivery wins for citizens within 12–24 months—thereby creating a feedback loop that sustains political commitment and private investment.