The beginning of the catching-up process has a precondition: a certain level of internal scientific development. This paper's hypothesis suggests that, given the scarce resources for scientific activities, these countries might concentrate their scientific development in key disciplines, specially those that are sources for their industrial development. This paper surveys the literature and presents data about the role of science during the catching-up process. The literature's findings and conjectures are evaluated in the light of patent and scientific publication statistics.