The Norway/UN Conference on Technology Transfer and Capacity Building, hosted by the Norwegian Ministry of Environment in collaboration with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), convened in Trondheim, Norway, from 23-27 June 2003. This meeting was the fourth Trondheim Conference on Biodiversity. The Conference focused on practical and technical follow-up measures for technology transfer and capacity building as called for under the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). Approximately 240 participants from 96 countries, representing governments, inter-governmental and non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and scientific and academic institutions, attended the Conference.

Technology transfer and capacity building will be major themes at the ninth meeting of the CBD's Subsidiary Body on Science, Technological and Technical Advice (SBSTTA-9), to be held in November 2003, and at the seventh Conference of the Parties to the CBD (CBD COP-7), which will meet in February 2004. The fourth Trondheim Conference sought to provide input for these two meetings as well as to support UNEP's work in the development and implementation of an intergovernmental strategic plan for technology support and capacity building to developing countries.

The meeting's conclusions and recommendations will be incorporated into a Chair's report and Proceedings of the Conference and will be submitted to SBSTTA-9 as an information document and communicated to other relevant fora. The discussions leading to these conclusions contributed to achieving the Conference's objectives to: enhance the knowledge base on issues related to technology transfer and capacity building; identify more efficient ways and means of building capacity and developing sustainable and useful institutions; present lessons learned and identify success factors regarding technology transfer and capacity building; explore the role of traditional knowledge in capacity building and technology transfer; and provide a forum for cross-sectoral and multi-disciplinary dialogue between scientists and policy makers on issues related to the implementation of Articles 16-19 of the CBD, dealing with technology transfer, exchange of information, scientific cooperation and biotechnology.