The term BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) is gaining global attention both in scholarly and popular discourse. BRICS countries are crucial in terms of their vast areas, huge population and have massive economic potential. These countries are also categorized as developing countries and are aspiring to be considered as developed countries. There is commonality among these countries in that they have similar issues and problems, which may require common solutions. Science, Technology and Innovation in BRICS Countries examines whether more emphasis on Science Technology and Innovation (STI) capability building could be the solution to these countries’ economic upgradation and poverty reduction. This book is a collection of various Science Technology and Innovation (STI) issues of BRICS economics, and will be of interest to general readers, scholars working in this field, as well as policy makers all over the globe. The contributions come from various scholars across the globe who have published their BRICS economics research in a special issue of the African Journal of Science, Technology, Innovation and Development.

This book provides a developing country perspective on the internationalization of science and the role of Science, Technology and Innovation Diplomacy (STID) in leveraging scientific cooperation for sustainable development. In articles by individuals from government departments and academic & research institutions in nine developing countries, it provides a conceptual understanding of the subject and reveals the prevailing perceptions on its praxis/practices. The articles highlight the significance of international cooperation at bilateral, regional and multilateral levels and the need for strengthening the role of STID in foreign policy and strategies of governments. The book is a useful reference material to government officials, diplomats,academicians, researchers, science counsellors, international relations experts, science and technology professionals and other stakeholders from the developing countries and transition economies, dealing with economic and developmental policy issues and/or science, technology and innovation (STI) issues in understanding the praxis and prospects of STID. The book is also useful for scholars and international relations experts from developed countries in understanding STI and related issues that affect the relationship of developing countries and transition economies with their partners from the developed world. ​

The Report predicts that the coming five years will witness the five countries keep improving in national innovative competitiveness, with China and Russia maintaining their strong growth momentum, India growing at a moderate rate, and Brazil and South Africa gradually picking up speed and climbing out of the trough. It estimates that the five countries’ national innovative competitiveness will be keeping steady growth by 2030. The General Reports part presents a comprehensive analysis of the current status and achievements of STI cooperation between China and other BRICS countries and proposes priority areas of BRICS STI cooperation to provide valuable decision inputs for the BRICS countries to accelerate the improvement of their national innovative competitiveness. The Country Reports part respectively analyzes and makes predictions on the national innovative competitiveness of the BRICS countries based on a survey of their STI development and STI cooperation within the BRICS framework. The Thematic Reports part focuses on four thematic areas closely related to STI, i.e. digital economy, financial inclusion, energy, and agriculture, and offers detailed analysis of the STI development and potential of the countries in relevant areas, providing additional inputs for a further understanding of the national innovative competitiveness of the BRICS countries.

This handbook presents the state of the art of quantitative methods and models to understand and assess the science and technology system. Focusing on various aspects of the development and application of indicators derived from data on scholarly publications, patents and electronic communications, the individual chapters, written by leading experts, discuss theoretical and methodological issues, illustrate applications, highlight their policy context and relevance, and point to future research directions. A substantial portion of the book is dedicated to detailed descriptions and analyses of data sources, presenting both traditional and advanced approaches. It addresses the main bibliographic metrics and indexes, such as the journal impact factor and the h-index, as well as altmetric and webometric indicators and science mapping techniques on different levels of aggregation and in the context of their value for the assessment of research performance as well as their impact on research policy and society. It also presents and critically discusses various national research evaluation systems. Complementing the sections reflecting on the science system, the technology section includes multiple chapters that explain different aspects of patent statistics, patent classification and database search methods to retrieve patent-related information. In addition, it examines the relevance of trademarks and standards as additional technological indicators. The Springer Handbook of Science and Technology Indicators is an invaluable resource for practitioners, scientists and policy makers wanting a systematic and thorough analysis of the potential and limitations of the various approaches to assess research and research performance.

This book reconceives the internationalization of higher education from the perspective of Global-South researchers, empowering and giving visibility to this discourse. Challenging the first assumptions of internationalization of higher education (IHE) as something overwhelmingly positive owing to the way it directly impacts the university activities and their world rankings, it instead takes a critical perspective, acknowledging that this process is associated with a neo-liberal and colonial orientation that focuses on the maintenance of historically sustained hierarchy, oppressive relations that stimulate the production of knowledge, and education as a commodity and not as a factor of social transformation. As such, it challenges recent trends towards an increase in internationalization strategies within higher education that privilege Global-North outgoing mobilities and research collaborations to sustain the position of the educational institutions in the international rankings. From this locus, IHE is seen to evolve not only in the fields of teaching, research, and service of an educational institution but also to boost the world’s social development. The book thus illustrates how IHE should be guided by Critical Applied Linguistics (CAL) and Global South’s principles: applied linguistics, praxis, critical thinking, micro and macro relations, critical social inquiry, critical theory, problematizing givens, self-reflexivity, preferred futures, and heterosis. Comprising chapters that discuss academic, political, and administrative issues arising specifically from the internationalization process of Global-South higher education institutions as well as themes such as critical language education and language policies, it will appeal to faculty, researchers, and scholars with interests in higher education, international and comparative education, and the decolonization of education.

The past few decades have witnessed the development of an increasingly globalised and multipolar world order, in which the demand for multilateralism becomes ever more pronounced. The BRICS group established in 2009, has evolved into a plurilateral summit institution recognized both by sceptics and proponents as a major participant in the international system. Addressing the BRICS’s role in global governance, this book critically examines the club’s birth and evolution, mechanisms of inter-BRICS cooperation, its agenda priorities, BRICS countries’ interests, decisions made by members, their collective and individual compliance with the agreed commitments, and the patterns of BRICS engagement with other international institutions. This volume advances the current state of knowledge on global governance architecture, the BRICS role in this system, and the benefits it has provided and can provide for world order. This book will interest scholars and graduate students who are researching the rise and role of emerging powers, global governance, China and India’s approach to global order and relationship with the United States, Great Power politics, democratization as a foreign policy strategy, realist theory-building and hegemonic transitions, and the (crisis of) liberal world order.

The volume analyses how to make Science, Technology and Innovation (STI) Policies relevant for inclusive growth strategies in Africa.The base for a transformative STI policy is to link the STI policies to Africa's economic transformation policies. In a first part the general issues of introducing effective STI policies are presented. In a second part country case studies highlight the new approach. Cases such as Sudan and Nigeria are analysed, as these two countries have a long history of STI development; because of different history, size and structure they need to move in different directions towards a coherent STI policy for inclusive growth.

This book stems from the CyberBRICS project, which is the first major attempt to produce a comparative analysis of Internet regulations in the BRICS countries – namely, Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa. The project has three main objectives: 1) to map existing regulations; 2) to identify best practices; and 3) to develop policy recommendations in the various areas that compose cybersecurity governance, with a particular focus on the strategies adopted by the BRICS countries to date. Each study covers five essential dimensions of cybersecurity: data protection, consumer protection, cybercrime, the preservation of public order, and cyberdefense. The BRICS countries were selected not only for their size and growing economic and geopolitical relevance but also because, over the next decade, projected Internet growth is expected to occur predominantly in these countries. Consequently, the technology, policy and governance arrangements defined by the BRICS countries are likely to impact not only the 3.2 billion people living in them, but also the individuals and businesses that choose to utilize increasingly popular applications and services developed in BRICS countries according to BRICS standards. Researchers, regulators, start-up innovators and other Internet stakeholders will find this book a valuable guide to the inner workings of key cyber policies in this rapidly growing region.