performs it, while it may benefit some other 

 company or some other sector. Hence there is 

 reason for the public, through Government 

 funding, to bear some of the cost. 



The second great issue is overregulation of 

 research by government. This too was widely 

 reported. With this issue, however, there was 

 more diversity from sector to sector. Thus the 

 problem of government demands for account- 

 ability in the use of government-provided 

 research funds was felt especially in univer- 

 sities and Government laboratories. From these 

 sectors came requests for more flexibility in the 

 way fundscould be used, and less red tape in the 

 process of applying for funds and accounting 

 for their use. Concern about the constraints 

 imposed by policy-based regulations was 

 universal. There were some suggestions that a 



broad study should be undertaken to determine 

 the cumulative cost of complying with 

 regulations, particularly at universities. In 

 some instances FFRDC's wished that fewer 

 specific constraints might be imposed on their 

 activities by the Department of Defense. 



Industry felt particular concern about Federal 

 regulations. Some statements of this concern 

 reflected the particular product line of an 

 individual company. However, there was a 

 broadly expressed desire to see more favorable 

 patent legislation, tax incentives, or the 

 possibility of relaxing antitrust regulations so 

 as to allow competing companies to pool some of 

 their research efforts. These measures were 

 proposed not only to remedy instances of 

 overregulation, but also to create positive 

 incentives for doing basic research. 



FREEDOM IN THE RESEARCH SYSTEM 



69 



