development of computer technology be raised to this 

 special national program status. Brezhnev, on the 

 other hand, stressed to the congress the importance 

 of formulating comprehensive programs for the devel- 

 opment of the fuel and power complex, metallurgy, and 

 the leading branches of machine building. 



As regards science policy specifically, movement 

 towards programmed-goals planning is most evident in 

 the switch from "coordination plans" to "integrated 

 programs" for high priority S&T problems. The number 

 of basic problems has also been reduced to around 200. 

 Much more than before, the accent is on the actual in- 

 troduction of R&D results into the economy, on inte- 

 grating science, technology, and production. This 

 follows Brezhnev's own stress at the 1976 congress 

 on the need to focus planning and management more on 

 "end results." "This approach becomes especially ur- 

 gent," he explained, "as the economy grows and be- 

 comes more complex, when these end results come to 

 depend more and more on a multitude of intermediate 

 units, on an intricate system of intrabranch and in- 

 terbranch ties." "In these conditions," Brezhnev in- 

 sisted, "It is easy to overlook the most important 

 thing — the end results." 5 ^ Scientific R&D has in 

 particular frequently been caught in "the activity 

 trap," when activities become an end in themselves 

 and their end results are lost to sight. As we have 

 noted, even the coordination plans for priority S&T 

 problems have tended to end with the experimental de- 

 sign and testing stage and, in exceptional cases, 

 with the production of prototypes. For all practical 

 purposes, the planning process has stopped short of 

 series production. Scientific R&D thus has failed 

 to produce substantial practical results, to follow 

 through to industrial assimilation. Suffice it to 

 note that another important aim of the new integrated 

 S&T programs is to facilitate more effective coordi- 

 nation of R&D plans with investment plans and with 

 the allocation of material and technical resources. 

 Thus, the change in planning involves more detailed 

 control and managerial surveillance, not just the in- 

 troduction of R&D results. 



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