Over one million people world-wide have benefited from successful tissue and organ transplants and survival rates have dramatically improved. But transplantation has become a victim of its own success. The demand for human organs can no longer be met and deaths of persons on waiting lists have more than doubled since 1988. A number of alternatives have been proposed to fill the gap between the supply and demand of organs and the past few years have seen the development of various approaches derived from recent advances in biotechnology. Among these technologies is xenotransplantation - the transplantation of viable cells, tissues and organs from one animal species to another. Xenotransplantation of cells and tissues has been approved for clinical trials in a number of OECD countries. However, opinions about the risks from these early procedures and whether to proceed any further vary. At the New York 1998 Workshop on "International issues in transplantation biotechnology including the use of non-human cells, tissues and organs", world leaders in the field reported on the state of the art and unmet needs in transplantation, addressing in particular the potential, the risks, the ethics and socio-economic impacts of xenotransplantation. Based on presentations, transcripts of round-table discussions and comments raised at the workshop, this book provides an overview of the field and of current regulatory frameworks and addresses the most pressing international policy considerations on xenotransplantation.

While women account for more than half of university graduates in several OECD countries, they receive only 30% of tertiary degrees granted in science and engineering fields. This publication presents the proceedings of a recent international workshop to assess the underlying causes behind the low participation of women in scientific careers, especially at senior levels, and to identify good practice policies to attract, recruit and retain women in scientific careers in public and private research.

Health spending continues to rise inexorably, growing faster than the economy in most OECD countries. Most of this spending comes from the public purse. Given the recent economic downturn, countries are looking for ways to improve the efficiency of health spending. This publication examines current efforts to improve health care efficiency, including tools that show promise in helping health systems provide the best care for their money, such as pay for performance, co-ordination of care, health technology assessment and clinical guidelines, pharmaceutical re-imbursement and risk-sharing agreements, and information and communication technology.

As digital transformation has accelerated, the e-commerce landscape has become increasingly dynamic. New players have emerged at the same time that established actors have taken on new roles; some barriers to e-commerce at the firm, individual and country levels have been overcome, while other barriers have emerged. Innovative business models have transformed buyer-seller relationships and pushed out the frontier of what is possible to buy and sell online. This report analyses new and emerging e-commerce business models, examines e-commerce trends along a range of dimensions, and offers new insights on the policies needed to exploit the opportunities and mitigate the challenges of unlocking the potential of e-commerce for all.

Demographic pressure and the youth bulge in the developing world pose a major employment challenge. This situation is exacerbated by insufficient job creation, scarce formal wage employment opportunities and vulnerability in the workplace. For these reasons, fostering youth entrepreneurship has gained importance in the global and national development policy agenda. This report aims to contribute to the ongoing debate on the role of youth entrepreneurship in generating employment in developing countries. It is based on the analysis of mixed labour force and enterprise surveys conducted in Côte d’Ivoire, Madagascar, Peru and Viet Nam, as well as evidence on the impact of entrepreneurship programmes. This report’s findings add to the global debate on youth entrepreneurship in three important ways. First, it constitutes an unprecedented effort to capture the real situations and multiple faces of young entrepreneurs in selected developing countries. Second, it provides new empirical evidence on the determinants of youth entrepreneurial performance. Third, it proposes a policy roadmap based on lessons learned from recent meta-analyses of the effectiveness of entrepreneurship programmes.

Universities are key elements in the science systems in all OECD countries. However, university research in OECD countries is currently the object of considerable tensions in a context of globalisation, reduced budgets and a changing interface with industry. How can universities adapt to this new order? How can the potential of university research best be enhanced?

This study surveys these issues, consolidating the most up-to-date data on resources and structures of research activities in higher education systems and providing illustrative examples of institutional adaptations. It discusses related government measures and formulates policy orientations to enable countries to rise to the challenges of the coming years.

Given the increasing competitiveness and greater geo-political significance of higher education and research, and the under-developed profile of many new Higher Education Institutions (HEIs), this study seeks to examine the processes and strategies being devised by new HEIs to grow research. By focusing on new HEIs, this book provides a unique profile of the experiences of a group of institutions that has hitherto been unidentified and unexplored. It analyses results drawn from an in-depth study of twenty-five HEIs from across sixteen countries: Australia, Belgium, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Greece, Hong Kong China, Hungary, Ireland, Japan, New Zealand, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom.

This book is a unique tool providing facts, figures and analysis of economic growth in OECD countries. The analysis focuses on the growth patterns of OECD countries during the last decade and identifies the fundamental drivers of growth. It also looks at how and why countries react differently to these drivers. It examines growth at the macro-economic level, industry level and firm level and also analyses the contribution of information technology (IT) at each of these levels. Packed with over 50 tables and figures, the book provides unique data to better understand the reality of economic growth.

This report presents the results of the first international survey on the patenting and licensing activities of public research organisations in OECD countries. It includes data on the stock and number of patents and licenses, the amount of licensing revenue, the size and activities of technology transfer offices, the types of licensing agreements concluded with firms, as well as information on the government and institutional policies for owning and exploiting intellectual property. In addition to the survey results, policy makers, business managers and university and research administrators will find several case studies on how OECD countries are moving to unlock the social and economic benefits of public research. These case studies will also provide insight into how research institutions deal with issues such as whether to license a patent or create a spin-off, how to create technology transfer programmes and how to license IP to firms while preserving access for future research and discovery.

Recent years have witnessed a constant rise in the spread of ICT (information and communication technologies) infrastructure and a growing demand for ICT goods. The production of these goods is knowledge intensive and the industry relies extensively on intellectual property (IP) rights. This strong and growing demand for ICT goods, and their IP dependence, makes them an attractive target for counterfeiters. This study looks at the trade in counterfeit ICT goods, including the size of the trade, the main sources of fake goods, and the countries whose companies are most affected.

Twenty-first century health systems have to be built around data and information. An integrated health information system enables the secure flow of data to where they can be used, to provide information to strengthen integrated care delivery, enable public health monitoring and management, and foster medical and health research and innovation. This report describes the requirements and the benefits of an integrated health information system; outlines the current situation in the Netherlands in the context of progress across OECD countries; and recommends legal, policy and operational changes to overcome barriers to the efficient exchange and sharing of health data and to establish an integrated health information system.

Twenty-first-century health systems will be built around data and information. An integrated health information system enables the secure flow of data to where they can be used to create information and knowledge to advance policy and health system objectives. This report describes the requirements and the benefits of an integrated health information system; outlines the current situation in Korea in the context of progress across OECD countries; and recommends policy and operational changes to overcome barriers to the efficient exchange and sharing of health data and establish an integrated health information system that supports continuous learning, improvement and innovation.

In a context of considerable interest in apprenticeship in recent years, Cedefop and the OECD decided to explore its future from the perspective of a number of megatrends, including sociodemographic changes, the accelerated adoption of emerging technologies and new forms of work organisation. They also considered how these trends have affected, and will continue to affect, the design and delivery of apprenticeship in European and OECD countries. The combination of the emerging economic crisis as an aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic, together with long-term structural trends affecting global economies, will entail a profound transformation of the world of work and require effective policy responses in the years to come. This publication provides insights from 16 papers by researchers from Europe, Australia and the United States; nine were presented and discussed among policy-makers, practitioners and researchers during the joint Cedefop-OECD symposium on the future of apprenticeship held in October 2019 in Paris. Evidence and analysis in these papers will help inform political decisions shaping the future of apprenticeship.

Power Point slides showing the latest official statistics on Internet consumer transaction presented at the last meeting of the OECD Committee for Consumer Protection.