Conflict And Cooperation In National Competition For High Technology Industry

This unique volume contains a powerful set of recommendations on issues at the center of international discussions on investment, trade, and technology policy. They take into account the globalization of industrial activity and the special characteristics of high-technology industries while recognizing the continued policy role of national governments. The book identifies the rationale for promotional measures for high-technology industries, delineates sources of friction among the leading industrial countries, and proposes policies to enhance international cooperation and strengthen the multilateral trading regime. This volume also examines the factors driving collaboration among otherwise competing firms and national programs, highlights the need to develop principles of equitable public and private international cooperation, and emphasizes the linkage between investment, government procurement, and other trade policies and prospects for enhanced international cooperation.

This unique volume contains a powerful set of recommendations on issues at the center of international discussions on investment, trade, and technology policy. They take into account the globalization of industrial activity and the special characteristics of high-technology industries while recognizing the continued policy role of national governments. The book identifies the rationale for promotional measures for high-technology industries, delineates sources of friction among the leading industrial countries, and proposes policies to enhance international cooperation and strengthen the multilateral trading regime. This volume also examines the factors driving collaboration among otherwise competing firms and national programs, highlights the need to develop principles of equitable public and private international cooperation, and emphasizes the linkage between investment, government procurement, and other trade policies and prospects for enhanced international cooperation.

This report reviews a variety of partnership programs in the United States, and finds that partnerships constitute a vital positive element of public policy, helping to address major challenges and opportunities at the nexus of science, technology, and economic growth.

The growth in government programs to support high-technology industry within national economies and their impact on international science and technology cooperation and on the multilateral trading system are of considerable interest worldwide. Accordingly, these topics were taken up by STEP in a study carried out in conjunction with the Hamburg Institute for Economic Research and the Institute for World Economics in Kiel. One of the principal recommendations for further work emerging from that study was a call for an analysis of the principles of effective cooperation in technology development, to include lessons from national and international consortia, including eligibility standards and assessments of what new cooperative mechanisms might be developed to meet the challenges of international cooperation in high-technology products.

Small businesses have increasingly been recognized as a source of innovation, and one way in which the Federal government encourages such innovation is through the Small Business Innovation Research program. SBIR sets aside 2.5 percent of federal agencies' R&D budgets for R&D grants to small business. Although the program's budget was nearly $1.2 billion in 1998, SBIR has been subject to relatively little outside review. As part of the STEP's ongoing project on Government-Industry Partnerships, the Board convened policymakers, academic researchers, and representatives from small business to discuss the program's history and rationale, review existing research, and identify areas for further research and program improvements.

The Sandia National Laboratories asked the Board on Science, Technology, and Economic Policy (STEP) to hold a one-day symposium to review Sandia's proposal to develop a science and technology park. In light of the importance of industry-laboratory cooperation for the STEP Board's project on Government-Industry Partnerships for the Development of New Technologies, the Board convened a workshop bringing together executive branch officials, congressional staff, representatives from the private sector, and regional economists to discuss the Sandia S&T park initiative. The Sandia S&T Park, which Sandia National Laboratories, the City of Albuquerque, and the State of New Mexico are jointly developing, is a 285 acre site located adjacent to Sandia National Laboratories. Groundbreaking for the park took place in May, 1999.

This report examines the operations of the APT, reviews its extensive assessment program, and provides NRC Committee findings concerning the ATP's operations and recommendations for potential improvements to the program. The report includes a summary of a major conference held in April 2000 as well as seven papers, including surveys of the industry participants or users of the ATP program, a summary of the results of fifty awards, detailed assessments of major joint ventures, and a description of the current selection process. It is the most comprehensive study to date of the program's origins, operations, achievements, and assessment. Its conclusion: the program works.

This title was first published in 2000: Due to budget cuts and competitiveness pressures, determining the outcome of technology transfer from government R&D laboratories to private industry and entrepreneurial start-ups is of increasing interest. This book presents a series of case studies of successful technology transfer by examining the same list of topics for each case. It presents a format for analyzing the cases, topic by topic - a methodology that could be used by any R&D laboratory. The book also goes one step further and compares the cases that took place prior to national technology transfer legislation with those cases that took place after passage of such legislation. An additional feature is the summary of existing attempts to measure and evaluate technology transfer. This follows a backgroudn section on the technology policy context. The analysis finds that there is a significant commercial impact from government laboratory transfer using this approach.