Generic Policv Issues 1 7 



in tax laws and regulatory policies, than on direct means 

 to encourage industry to increase its long-term research 

 investments and to improve the climate for commercializ- 

 ing results of R&D activities. 



UNIVERSITY-INDUSTRY COOPERATION 



Given that industry primarily does applied and develop- 

 mental research and will continue to do so, and given that 

 university research is primarily basic and will continue to 

 be so, increased linkages between industries and univer- 

 sities have an obvious appeal in that their research is 

 complementary, and such linkages promote the interplay 

 between technology and science. At present, cooperative 

 programs between industry and universities account for 

 no more than about 5 percent of the financial support for 

 university research. But interest in such cooperation ap- 

 pears to have increased considerably during the past 2 or 3 

 years, and this may be one of the most significant current 

 trends affecting both the science and technology base and 

 the innovative capability of U.S. industry (NRC-14; 

 AAAS-2). 



Both groups have a great deal to gain from closer 

 cooperation. Industry can facilitate its acquisition of sci- 

 entific sources of ideas and knowledge on which to base 

 new technology. Industry can also easily make use of 

 competent scientists from around the country without 

 expanding in-house capabilities. Furthermore, such coop- 

 eration increases the pool of potential research employees 

 sympathetic to industry's needs, since many students 

 would probably become involved in the cooperative re- 

 search activities." 



There are also obvious benefits for universities. Indus- 

 trial research support complementary to Federal funding 

 could be increased. The industrial connection would also 

 provide a broader educational experience and additional 

 potential employment opportunities for students. In addi- 

 tion, university faculty could be stimulated through inter- 

 action with industrial scientists and engineers and through 

 access to specialized equipment.'- 



There also are some potential disadvantages in univer- 

 sity-industry cooperation. For example, increased in- 

 volvement with industry should not unduly alter univer- 

 sity research programs from their basic research 

 orientation toward applied and development-oriented 

 projects. On the industry side, loss of proprietary infor- 

 mation must be guarded against. But those constraints are 

 not insurmountable, as long as research cooperation is in 



the area of overlap between basic and applied research and 

 between science and technology. 



Although relatively rare, cooperative research projects 

 between individual university and industry scientists or 

 engineers arranged by the individuals themselves have 

 gone on for many years. The recent trend toward in- 

 creased cooperation involves more formal commitments 

 between institutions rather than between individuals. 

 Forms of cooperation vary considerably and include per- 

 sonnel exchange programs, unrestricted grants to univer- 

 sities or university departments, contracted research, 

 jointly owned or operated research facilities, and univer- 

 sity-based institutes that serve industrial needs. At pres- 

 ent, most cooperative research programs are in the engi- 

 neering disciplines, computer science, and agriculture. 

 There are also some cooperative research efforts in the 

 physical sciences, and the merits of closer university- 

 industry research links in the biomedical area are being 

 widely discussed." One interesting development has been 

 the support provided by several State governments to 

 establish university research facilities that can attract co- 

 operative funds from private industry for research on very 

 high speed integrated circuits. 



The Federal Government is playing a role in encourag- 

 ing cooperative activities in several critical areas. '^ The 

 Department of Defense supports industry-university co- 

 operative research on very high speed integrated circuits 

 (Section II-B). Additionally, there is the Defense Ad- 

 vanced Research Project Agency (DARPA) Joint Re- 

 search Program in the materials sciences within the De- 

 partment of Defense, and the Office of Naval Research has 

 a Selected Opportunities Program, which specifically en- 

 courages joint university-industry projects. The National 

 Science Foundation provides support for cooperative re- 

 search activities through its Industry/University Coopera- 

 tive Research Projects and University/Industry Coopera- 

 tive Research Centers programs. 



Given the potential benefits to both parties, university- 

 industry research cooperation is almost certain to increase 

 during the next 5 years, with or without added Federal 

 incentives. The increased activity should permit an eval- 

 uation of the relative effectiveness of various cooperative 

 modes and should also provide information on which to 

 develop guidelines about the effectiveness — and appro- 

 priateness — of Federal support for such cooperation. An 

 indepth review of the current state of university-industry 

 cooperative research will be provided by the 14th Report 

 of the National Science Board, due for release in the fall of 

 1982. 



REFERENCES 



I. "The Nation's Economy." President's Address to the Nation. Febru- 

 ary 5. 1981. 



2. Slinuilaring Technological Progress. Washington. DC. Commit- 

 tee for Economic Development, January 1980, 



3. Edward Mansfield. "Basic Research and Productivity Increase in 

 Manufacturing." American Economic Revien- (December 1980). pp. 

 863-873. 



