EST (Environmentally Sound Technologies) from the West: Asymmetry, Regimes and Polish Policy Implementation

This paper argues that the notion of interdependence between technologies and institutions which Dalum, Johnson, Lundvall (in Lundvall ed,. 1992) incorporate in the national system of innovation (NSI) approach is valid not only on the national level, but also on all levels of social organizations; i.e. at national as well as sub- and supranational level. This proposition implies that global technological change interacts with what corresponds to 'institutions', 'routines', or 'accommodations' at supra- or international level, but which, relying on Keohane and Nye's classic Power and Interdependence (1977), we may instead call 'international regimes'. Aid projects will reflect how the NSI, given international regimes and available aid, select key factors, systems or singular technologies for implementation of specific NSI (in this case environmentally-related) goals. Timing, in choice of a key factor, system or singular technology, may be conclusive for success in terms of NSI 'competitiveness' (relative technological capacity in the specific area, such as EST) in inter-NSI relations. Evidence from aid projects so far indicates that aid projects correspond to most Polish environmental priorities in the near-term perspective (up to 1994-1995), as they were defined in 1991. 17 projects deal with 'hot-spots'. There is a proportionately large aid effort implementing energy, air, water and waste priorities, while transportation and soil remediation policies gained less aid. International financiers have been the major actors in energy-related aid. A variety of international and national actors have helped in decreasing air pollution, except for that related to energy efficiency. There are also areas, however, which are not primarily motivated by Polish policies or aid implementation, but rather by the international regime as defined by treaties and conventions ratified by Poland. A third category is 'modern' in the form of monitoring technology, i.e. creation, communication and analysis of data on the status of the environment. Finally, a large number of aid projects involve administrative support, i.e. something that can bear upon particular adaptations Poland has chosen to make, such as to the EU through the "European Agreement". Such projects provide opportunities for 'institutional learning'.