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Science and Technology Policy in Large OECD Economies

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Science and Technology Policy

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Abstract

Government science and technology policies today have a wide social and economic impact. This impact is so great that no government can safely ignore the ramifications of its science and technology programmes nor avoid difficult choices for long. Electorates are increasingly realizing that almost every facet of modern life, the quality of our life, the future prospects for mankind and our hopes for a better world depend heavily on the nature of S & T change. Increasingly there is the fear that collective advances in S & T will enslave or master us rather than remain our servant. Can we be sure that new S & T advances will be employed to provide us with a better life however this may be defined? As discussed in earlier chapters we cannot be sure of this at all. The prospects of us becoming trapped by collective advances in S & T cannot be dismissed as a wild fantasy. This raises the question of alternative government policies.

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Notes and references

Federal Republic of Germany

  1. For a review of German science policy in the 1960s see Keck, O. (1976), West German science policy since the early 1960s: trends and objectives, Research Policy, 5, 116–17.

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  4. Fifth Report (see ref. 2) p. 16.

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  5. OECD (1978), Science and Technology Policy Outlook, Paris, p. 55.

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  6. Fifth Report (see ref. 2).

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  8. Fifth Report (see ref 2) p. 5.

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  12. Fifth Report (see ref. 2) pp. 8, 9. A number of the general arguments for such assistance are covered in Chapters 1–3 of this monograph.

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Japan

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  9. See, for instance, Environment Agency (1976), Quality of the Environment in Japan 1976,Japan.

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  13. Ibid. (ref. 28) pp. 33–40.

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  14. Ibid. (ref. 28) p. 40.

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  15. Ibid. (ref. 28) p. 40.

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  16. Ibid. (ref. 28) p. 21.

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  17. Ibid. (ref. 28) pp. 77–80.

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  18. Ibid. (ref. 28) pp. 62–65.

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  19. OECD (see ref. 166) Part 6.

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United Kingdom

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  3. For further details and charts of government organization of British science and technology, see, for instance, The British Council (1976), Government Organisation of Science and Technology in Britain,London.

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  6. Lord Privy Seal (see ref. 38) pp. 3, 4.

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  7. The British Council (see ref. 39) p. 4.

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  8. House of Commons (see ref. 40) p. 87.

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  9. Ibid. (see ref. 44).

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  10. See The OECD Observer,March, 1979, p. 12.

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  11. For some details of British policies for the stimulation of innovation in industry, see OECD (ref. 16b) Part 7.

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  12. National Research Development Corporation, 28th Annual Report and Statement of Accounts 1976–77,NRDC, London.

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  1. Science and Technology for Development (1979), US National Paper for 1979 UN Conference on Science and Technology for Development, Department of State, Washington, DC, p. 8.

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  2. United States Congress, National Science and Technology Policy, Organization, and Priorities Act of 1976,Section 102(b).

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  3. United States Congress (see ref. 50).

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  4. National Science Foundation (1978), Science and Technology: Annual Report to the Congress, NSF, Washington.

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  5. NSF (see ref. 52) p. 3.

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  6. For the criterion of selection see Congress of United States (1979), OTA Priorities 1979: With Brief Descriptions of Priorities and of Assessments in Progress, Office of Technology Assessment, Washington.

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  7. Subcommittee on Domestic and International Scientific Planning and Analysis of the Committee on Science and Technology (1976), Review of Federal Research and Development Expenditures and the National Economy: Special Oversight Report No. 7, US House of Representatives, Washington, p. vii.

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  8. It should be noted that the Budget submitted annually by the President to Congress, contains within it an R & D budget specifying the funding for R & D within the individual agency budgets. For an outline of such a budget see for example, Greenberg, D. S. (ed.) (1977), Science and Government Report International Almanac —1977, Science and Government Report, Inc. Washington pp. 245–83.

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  9. The figures for 1979 are budget estimates. See NSF (ref. 52) p. 7.

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  10. For some details see OECD (ref. 16b) Part 3.

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  11. See NSF (ref. 52) pp. 46, 47.

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  12. Science and Technology for Development (see ref. 49) p. 10.

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Some observations

  1. Ronayne, J. (1979), The Allocation of Resources to Research and Development: A Review of Policies and Procedures (mimeo), School of History and Philosophy of Science, University of New South Wales, p. 2. This monograph also reviews the science policies of Germany, Japan, UK and USA.

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  2. Ibid. (see ref. 61) p. 125.

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  3. This is so despite increased co-ordination and explicit statements about priorities at the level of the Research Councils in the UK.

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  1. University of Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia

    C. A. Tisdell (Professor of Economics)

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© 1981 C. A. Tisdell

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Tisdell, C.A. (1981). Science and Technology Policy in Large OECD Economies. In: Science and Technology Policy. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-6932-5_4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-6932-5_4

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