Author : Alvarez, David P.

Summary : ISAAA's Private Sector Biotechnology Fellowship Program invests in people to link national agricultural institutes in developing countries with other public-sector institutes and the private sector in industrialized countries. Awarded to researchers and policy makers from developing countries who are leaders in their fields, the Fellowships bring people face to face to exchange ideas, learn new skills, and discover mutually beneficial solutions to the hunger and poverty problems of developing countries. ISAAA Fellowships enhance the capacity of these countries to safely and effectively use biotechnology by offering advanced training in transformation techniques, intellectual property issues, commercializing products, biosafety regulations, and other core aspects of modern agricultural biotechnology. ISAAA Fellows take an active role in learning. Visiting researchers don't read about field trials, they see them first hand to understand what the issues are. Policy makers don't listen to lectures about biosafety regulations, they work together with their hosts to write them. ISAAA Fellowships help to create the crucial personal contacts that are the foundation of genuine intellectual exchange. The program creates new possibilities between institutions by establishing new relationships between individuals. The following stories of the ISAAA Fellows at work in "The Papaya Biotechnology Network of SEA and elsewhere offer an inspiring look at their experience and its significance for bringing the benefits of biotechnology to those who need it most, the world's resource-poor farmers.