The following policies build on the objectives of COSTIS to provide adequate guidance for the formulation of its strategic actions and programmes:

1. Implement cooperative actions to improve the quality of science, technology and innovation policy making capacity in the developing countries, providing means for policy makers to better analyze challenges and opportunities of new technologies and to devise effective national policies;
2. Strengthen the human resources skills base in the developing countries by increasing the number of scientists, technicians and engineers, and leveraging the skills needed to conduct economically relevant R&D, and to evaluate and adapt technology;
3. Promote the exchange of experiences and cooperation with developing countries that have a competitive advantage in areas such as information technology, communications and bio-engineering;
4. Promote South-South research cooperation, by linking R&D institutions and other centers of excellence to establish strategic programmes of R&D, and improving the quality of regional cooperation with the use of knowledge currently available in existing centers of excellence;
5. Promote interdisciplinary dialogue among scientific organizations of the North and the South;
6. Strengthen the capacity of regional economic bodies to mainstream science and technology into their programmes and projects;
7. Promote partnerships with the private sector to help create education systems which become a resource for economic growth;
8. Promote a broader vision for information society development, including digital inclusion strategies, to leverage the potential of information and communications technologies (ICT) in the South;
9. Promote capacity in local private industry, including high technology business development;
10. Promote innovative ways and means of financing science and technology;
11. Build indigenous science, technology and innovation capacity;
12. Promote and strengthen the role of women as full partners in the science and technology disciplines;
13. Promote regional cooperative mechanisms to address regional needs for sustainable development;
14. Strengthen the codes of practice and guidelines of the scientific and technological community in the South to increase environmental awareness, contribute to sustainable development, and facilitate the accountability of science and technology;
15. Strengthen national and international cooperation, including the non-governmental sector, to apply codes of practice and guidelines regarding environmentally sound and sustainable development;
16. Promote the implementation of appropriate construction technologies, and the dissemination and transfer of successful experiences on how to appropriate construction technologies;
17. Promote the use of alternative energy resources;
18. Promote adequate approaches to water management in the South, by building sustainable rainwater harvesting and ground water recharge capacity, and basic environmental drainages capacity for a better utilization in the habitat;
19. Promote global quality in health and facilitate the implementation of local health innovation systems;
20. Enhance diagnostic capacity and control measures of major transmissible diseases in the South, such as malaria, tuberculosis and AIDS;
21. Enhance diagnostic and control measure capacity of trans-boundary animal diseases;
22. Promote sociological and cultural challenges of adopting appropriate technologies by building STI capacity to meet global quality in agriculture;
23. Promote the implementation of local systems for delivering agricultural innovations, and the development and diffusion of appropriate technologies to rural areas.