Some characteristic aspects of science policy in the federal republic of Germany

In the Federal Republic of Germany, as in nearly all countries, science policy is increasingly oriented along the planning of science and research, including the systematic establishment of research priorities, and enquiry into the theoretical and methodological foundations of research planning.The most distinguishing characteristic of science policy in the Federal Republic of Germany, however, is the fact that the influence exerted by industry and the state on the planning of research is conspicuously weak compared to other countries. After a brief characterisation of research policy in Germany the author comes to the conclusion that it is not government R & D expenditure which is strikingly small, but the extent to which the government assumes direct political responsibility for research, and demands the coordination of the fragmented responsibilities in research policy and research planning in the Federal Republic.The steps taken so far in this direction will, however, have far-reaching consequences, in particular, a differentation between research and teaching. Furthermore, the author is doubtful whether the political power of government and parliament in the Federal Republic of Germany will suffice to take full advantage of enlarged competences in research policy.     

Application of ppbs to r&d planning

As R & D are the main sources of social and economic progress, decisions in the field of scientific research cannot be taken on the basis of scientific criteria alone. The goal and programme oriented planning process of PPBS facilitates the orientation of R & D planning along extra-scientific criteria and leads to a more efficient use of the means available.PPBS, however, neglects the problem of operationalisation of goals. As the ‘national goals’ are regarded as given and the operational goals leading to their realisation as easily deducible, the planning process starts on too low a level.The integration of research planning into the comprehensive mean-term planning of governmental goal achievement requires the inclusion of future R & D activities into the planning process. Only then can the priority of the individual R & D goals and their relationship with general political goals to whose fulfillment they contribute be assessed correctly.     

West German science policy since the early 1960's: trends and objectives

The trends in West German science policy since the early 1960' are analyzed and compared to other industrially advanced countries. Government expenditures on research and development (R & D) are compared in their totality and also with regard to specific objectives such as defence, civil space, civil nuclear, general advancement of science, mining and manufacturing, agriculture, economic and social services.The trend of total government expenditure on R & D in West Germany iss characterized by a growth rate higher than in many other countries, such as the USA, the UK, France, Japan and the Netherlands. Also in each of the single objectives of government R & D, West German expenditure as a rule grew faster than in these countries. Among the different objectives, “general advancement of science” is given highest priority in West Germany, whereas the military sector is relatively small. In both trends and priorities, West Germany is more similar to Japan and the Netherlands than to the USA, the UK and France.The author discusses motives and intentions which may have affected these trends. He argues that West German science policy cannot be understood as a response to immediate economic problems, such as labour shortage or an alleged lag in technological progress in West German industry. In the early sixties West German science policy was still determined by efforts to catch up in certain technological fields from which West Germany had been excluded up to 1955 by allies' restrictions. In the late sixties, concern focussed on West Germany's long-term technological competitiveness in general.     

基于深化科技体制改革的陕西技术创新模式转变路径与政策体系研究

经过改革开放40年的经济和科技体制改革,我国科技力量的数量布局已发生了根本性变化,到2017年,企业占全社会研发经费总量达到78%,已取代高校、科研院所成为全社会研发经费投入的主体,我国科技成果转化模式向技术创新模式转变的微观基础条件已经形成。但在陕西,企业占全社会研发经费总量仅为47.7%,这种微观基础远未形成。在新时代,陕西实现技术创新模式转变的路径和政策措施主要一是以加大企业研发投入强度为着力点,促进企业真正成为技术创新的主体;二是以体制机制创新为保障,提高科技成果本地转化率;三是以切实落实带整体突破性的“陕九条”政策为突破口,引导科技创新人才在企业技术创新活动中“名利双收”并向企业流动;四是以推动企业走自主创新道路为方向,实现陕西强大的国家科技从创新链到产业链上下游链接下游的原始创新,强化大型企业和工程的集成创新,突出中小企业引进消化吸收再创新;五是要切实解决政府激励企业技术创新政策过剩、越位和错位问题,如要把激励企业技术创新事前的财政补贴,转向面向消费市场补贴,即把创新经费补贴给需求方、采购方、技术使用方或者是企业取得重大创新之后再予补贴。     

R & D coordination in industry and university

The high rate of growth of R & D expenditures, the enlargement of R & D organizations, and the increasing specialization of scientists bring with them the danger of disintegration. This concerns industrial research as well as university research. Whilst the coupling of people, programs and objectives in industrial R & D has been necessitated by economic pressure, the use of adequate management techniques in university research has been retarded. A new policy of the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, that promotes interdisciplinary research at German universities, focuses on the question of how to coordinate research work. After an analysis of the main problems of R & D coordination in universities, some cases are described.     

Recoupment of government R&D expenditures: issues and practices in the USA

Recently there have been discussions in the US concerning the implementation of a recoupment policy for government expenditures on R & D.The basic questions in developing recoupment policies can be stated as: (1)“it appropriate to seek recoupment of government-supported R & D when such R & D subsequently is utilized to generate private profits? (2) If so, what options exist?”In addressing the first question, the authors develop some pro and con arguments with respect to recoupment. The authors conclude that there are no easy criteria for judging whether and when recoupment of government expenditures on R & D is appropriate. There is currently inadequate information about, and analyses of, the benefits and costs of a recoupment policy upon which to base a policy design. Reasonable people may disagree both on general criteria and on specific cases.In addressing the second question, a review of foreign programs that incorporate recoupment provisions was made to see what lessons they might provide for the US. Programs with recoupment provisions do not represent a major part of total government expenditures on R & D, although in some countries and time periods they have been a significant part of government expenditures on civilian, industry-related R & D, especially in selected industries. When employed, recoupment policies do not seem on average to have been particularly successful.     

Project planning in Soviet R&D

Science in the USSR has not escaped the general commitment of the authorities to centralized planning. But they have long been dissatisfied with the degree of de facto decentralization and isolation from production of the traditional science planning process, as well as the lack of flexibility of an institution-based system. This article examines the recent response to these problems — comprehensive goal-oriented programme methods of science planning and management, apparently derived from both Soviet and US defence R&D management. The problems of the approach are revelaed, primarily in terms of the excessive bureaucratization of science involved and the continuing isolation of R&D from production. The article concludes by speculating on the significance of the ‘entrepreneurial revolution’ in Western R&D for the Soviet system.     

基础研究绩效与企业R&D能力支撑关系研究

如何评价和更有效地发挥基础研究的作用是科技政策中的一项重要内容,本文在文献研究基础上指出,基础研究绩效如何,受到企业研究与开发能力的制约,企业R肋能力是基础研究绩效的平台。没有强有力的企业R＆D活动的支持,基础研究的作用是很难得到有效发挥的。在当前的科技政策中应特别注意正确估计基础研究的功能,全面衡量贴D活动的效果,使基础研究能够更有效地发挥作用。     

Science policy in New Zealand

New Zealand's science policy consists of spending about 0.5% of its G.N.P. on R & D. Of this expenditure 41% is spent on activities relating to agriculture and 9% on activities related to manufacturing. This imbalance in spending between agriculture and manufacturing is not consistent with the goals being placed on manufacturing and the importance of manufacturing in New Zealand's domestic economy. A change in emphasis of an expanded R & D programme coupled with new methods of technology transfer will be necessary for New Zealand to obtain her goals of economic expansion.     

Centres of decision in french science policy: The contrasting influences of scientific experts and administrators

Immediately after the war (between 1945 and 1954) the most dynamic element of the French scientific community was constantly demanding that centres of decision be established, capable of initiating and coordinating research policy. During the period after 1958 when the main decision-making structures of French science police were introduced, large numbers of ‘experts’ from the scientific community played an important part in the agencies coordinating science policy, or occasionally even in the centres of decision (Ministries, Délégation Générale à la Recherche Scientifique et Technique etc.). The role and influence of the committees of experts gradually diminished, however, after 1967, and scientists left more and more of their influence in the hands of the Administration. The reasons behind this phenomenon and its consequences are analysed here. It should be particularly emphasized that this development has led to neglect of the long-term view which is indispensable to any science policy. A final conclusion is that scientists have only occasionally set a real political debate in motion on the long-term objectives of a science policy.     

Harnessing the science base: Results from a national programme using publicly-funded research centres to reshape firms’ R&D

Since 2000 and the launch of Science Foundation Ireland, Irish policymakers have been involved in a large-scale national science policy programme. Starting from a position with little pre-existing research infrastructure beyond its traditional higher education system, Ireland allocated significant public resources to rapidly develop an extensive research centres programme. These centres are designed to harness knowledge embedded in the national science base to impact firm-level Research and Development (R&D). Each research centre focuses on basic and applied research (as opposed to development), targeted at prioritised sectors of the economy. Using a novel panel dataset (2007–2017), our analysis provides the first evaluation of these research centres. Results indicate that research centre collaborations increase firm-level R&D, and, over time, re-orientate collaborating firms' R&D towards more applied research. We also consider how impacts vary depending on the firms’ characteristics (size and sector), and research centre characteristics. Our findings demonstrate that Ireland's policy programme improved firms' R&D profile, and suggest key policy lessons for other economies who might consider adopting a similar strategy.     

国际科技政策计量与可视化分析

科技政策是国家为了实现特定时期的科技发展目标而制定的方针、政策及其相关规定,其核心主要涉及如何为科学行为分配配套的资源,以实现最佳服务于公众利益的目标。本文在结合国内相关研究基础上,基于Web of Science 数据库间70多年(1947-2018)的研究文献,综合利用文献计量学工具和自研系统,全面定量展示了科技政策研究领域的现状、热点及前沿趋势。结果表明,截至2018年该领域研究尚处于成长期,成熟度为3091%;期间共有136个国家（地区）参与该领域研究,排名前5的国家为美国、英国、德国、荷兰和加拿大;6197个相关研究机构中,萨塞克斯大学（英国）、曼彻斯特大学(美国)、乔治亚理工学院（美国）、麻省理工学院（美国）、阿姆斯特丹大学（荷兰）等作品丰富且影响力较大;以“开放创新、企业、生物科技、技术转移、知识产权、专利、三螺旋结构、纳米科技”等突现词代表了该领域的前沿研究方向,值得高度关注。     

Some determinants of cost distributions in the process of technological innovation

Industrial research and development (R&D) is a set of activities within the broader set of decisions and activities: the process of technological innovation (TI). It is technology transfer (commercialization of the innovation) that leads to technology diffusion that permits production and employment expansion and hence economic growth — an important goal of industrial policy. Firms' managements and government policy- makers should recognize the close relationships among the phases of TI and direct their policy, planning, budgeting and control decisions to the complete process. Many policies currently focus their attention to only one or a few points (such as R&D).In this study we conducted a detailed cost analysis of a limited number of innovation projects and studied the distributions of TI cost over the process phases. We find that almost half of TI costs are devoted to R&D, which implies that government support of this phase is important. Different cost patterns emerge when we classify innovations by industrial sectors, firms' sizes and project complexity. Complex innovations require larger and more variable (risky) R&D budgets. Smaller firms need more assistance in technology transfer. These are only a few important policy implications. This study emphasizes the importance of post-R&D phases and concludes that differential industrial policy may be required for technological innovations.     

Post-Soviet science: Difficulties in the transformation of the R&D systems in Russia and Ukraine

In the late 1980s, the Soviet Union was among the foremost leaders of world science, thanks in large part to its heavy involvement in military programmes. The USSR developed a large research infrastructure but it lacked effective mechanisms for the commercialization of research results. The main aim of the transformation of R&D systems in the post-Soviet states in the 1990s and early 2000s was the re-orientation of scientific activities away from military and towards civilian goals. Analysis of statistical data at the macro-level suggests that this attempt was not particularly successful. Indeed, most newly independent states could not even preserve a ‘critical mass’ of scientific activities in order to remain among the list of significant producers of research results. In the post-Soviet countries (and in this paper we focus on Russia and Ukraine as the largest states of the region), inputs from the R&D system have failed to generate wealth-creating outputs because of a systemic inability to use the resources for generating commercially viable results effectively. All post-Soviet countries, including Russia and Ukraine, urgently need not only a major transformation within the R&D system, but also important changes in the wider ‘environment’. It is important to stress that, in recent years, changes in R&D have been determined not only by the general economic situation itself but also by the general policy of the post-Soviet states. While Russia has expressed ambitions to regain its former influence as a great power and to use S&T to achieve this goal, Ukraine has no clearly determined objectives for the development of its national science system. However, both countries face certain common problems. The development of relevant institutes and the stimulation of demand for R&D results from the side of industry, broader involvement in the international division of scientific work, and the introduction of adequate legal protection for intellectual property rights are all of critical importance for S&T institutes and other research organizations in Russia and Ukraine. This paper shows that the reforms in the R&D sector have been relatively modest and rather unsystematic over the last one and a half decades. The key challenges, which relate to the inertia and the negative aspects of the previous period (for example, a extremely low level of replacement of aging manpower, largely outdated scientific equipment in research laboratories, and institutional mechanisms that are not relevant to the market economy), pose serious problems for the transformation of the R&D systems in both countries, despite new possibilities and a willingness to increase financial support for R&D.     

Government aid for the development of innovative technology: lessons from the French

The French Aid to Development Program provides a reimbursable subsidy to industrial firms for the development of specific new products and processes. The program has been used variously to induce traditional firms to be more technically venturesome; to average the risk where the project is too large for the firm; to support projects with important external benefits; and as a general aid in support of French industrial policy. The program serves as a substitute for the risk capital market for the small and medium firm. The bulk of the funds have gone to large corporations for medium-sized projects. For firms with a portfolio of R&D investments, aid for any specific project acts by displacement to fund the firm 's most marginal project.     

RESEARCH FUNDING IN AUSTRALIA: A VIEW FROM THE NORTH

This paper seeks to contribute to the continuing controversy in Australia on the best way to deploy that country's scientific and technological research and development (R & D) resources. It puts forward and discusses some policy options relating to the ‘restructuring’ of the Australian R&D system currently underway, for the consideration of the research community and those responsible for the research policies. In particular, the paper comments on how overall objectives and priorities for R&D can be set, the need for evaluations of the research and development that is conducted, the need to develop a dialogue between the public and the scientific community over the setting of research and development directions.     

奖惩机制下废弃电器电子产品回收处理商合作研发决策研究

为研究奖惩机制与回收处理商创新研发决策之间的相互影响,考虑存在技术溢出效应和回收竞争,构建有无奖惩机制下回收处理商独立研发与合作研发的4种决策模型。研究表明:无论政府是否实施奖惩,回收处理商合作研发时的利润始终不小于独立研发时的利润,而研发水平的相对高低与技术溢出率和奖惩力度有关;当回收处理商合作研发时,奖惩机制总可以激励回收处理商提高研发水平,而回收处理商是否获得更优的利润,受到技术溢出率和奖惩力度的影响。     

The impact of the French policy mix on business R&D: How geography matters

Based on a spatial extension of an R&D investment model, this paper measures the macroeconomic impact of the French R&D policy mix on business R&D using regional data. Our measure takes into account not only the direct effect of policies but also indirect effects generated by the existence of spatial interaction between regions. Using a unique database containing information on the levels of various R&D policy instruments received by firms in French NUTS3 regions over the period 2001–2011, our estimates of a spatial Durbin model with structural breaks and fixed effects reveal the existence of a negative spatial dependence among R&D investments in regions. In this context, while a-spatial estimates would conclude that all instruments have a crowding-in effect, we show that national subsidies are the only instrument that is able to generate significant crowding-in effects. On the contrary, it seems that the design, size and spatial allocation of funds from the other instruments (tax credits, local subsidies, European subsidies) lead them to act (in the French context) as beggar-thy-neighbor policies.     

Decision-making in big science—the development of the high-voltage electron microscope

This paper discusses the science policy implications of the development in the United Kingdom of one recent addition to the range of scientific instrumentation available to metallurgists and biologists — the High Voltage Electron Microscope.This case-study forms part of a larger study carried out at the R & D Research Unit, Manchester Business School for the Department of Education and Science, which is investigating the relationship between scientific techniques and fundamental research. The study shows the influence of prestige and competition as a stimulus towards the development, and concludes that the scale of such “Big Science” developments in this country, as the HVEM may well prove unjustifiable in relation to achieved or anticipated research and other benefits, and that in the future closer public scrutiny needs to be made of alternative funding policies in relation to anticipated benefits.     

R&D laboratory classification and public policy: The effects of environmental context on laboratory behavior

R&D laboratories have changed dramatically in the last few decades. These changes have included the emergence of new laboratory forms such as cooperative and joint venture laboratories and the evolution of existing industrial, university and government laboratories into new and different entities. The utility of classifying R&D organizations as being industrial, university or governmental in character and then further assuming certain behavioral traits based on sector status appears to be limited. Science policy analysts need an updated classification typology that captures the nature of the existing institutional framework for R&D laboratories. To address this need, this paper presents a new conceptual typology for R&D laboratory classification and evaluates the implications of this re-thinking for science policy analysts.It is argued that R&D laboratories, like most organizations, are to a large extent functions of their environment. Realizing that the environment of R&D organizations are heavily influenced by the government, the market or both, the typology presented in this paper classifies R&D organizations accordingly. The resulting classification typology establishes 9 clearly different research laboratory types.Using survey data from a study population of 250 laboratories and case study data from 32 laboratories, it was found that the typology did capture the significant structural and behavioral differences among the array of laboratories operating today. A preliminary analysis of the policy implications of the new classification typology indicates that new initiatives to increase the level of market influence on R&D laboratories or to create more cooperative research ventures should be carefully considered before implementation.