EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 



Few, if any, developments since the end of the 

 Second World War will prove to have influenced the 

 course of science and technology (S&T) in Europe so 

 extensively or radically as the evolution of the European 

 Communities (EC), specifically the constitutional 

 revision in 1987 that produced the Single European Act 

 and brought S&T officially under the umbrella of EC 

 responsibilities for the first time. Scientific and 

 technological integration is occurring within the EC 

 apart from, but parallel to, the 1992 Plan for a fully 

 integrated economic base — the "Single Market." The 

 issues and forces driving economic integration, and its 

 political and social components, apply equally to the 

 realm of S&T. 



The Commission of the European Communities (the 

 "Commission") has taken the lead role in this area with 

 its FRAMEWORK Programme of multinational applied 

 R&D, which began in 1985. Hitherto independent 

 national S&T policies, R&D programs and educational 

 planning are increasingly coordinated with and through 

 the EC Commission in Brussels. EC member states have 

 already begun to take the FRAMEWORK policies and 

 programs into account in their national strategic 

 planning and funding decisions, and in the process are 

 beginning to relinquish substantial degrees of autonomy 

 over major areas of R&D activity. Although 

 FRAMEWORK was conceived and implemented 

 separately from the 1992 Plan, economic integration and 

 its accompanying monetary and fiscal harmonization 

 have contributed greatly to the impetus for change in the 

 organization, method of funding, and goals of science 

 and technology in Europe. 



State planning for S&T is being undertaken in 

 conjunction with complementary EC research programs, 

 including joint EC-member state consultations on shared 

 responsibilities for emerging technologies and fields of 

 research. Commission leadership in some fields (human 

 resource development, environmental affairs, energy 

 research, standards setting, global warming, computers 

 and microelectronics, and large-scale scientific projects) 

 has already been conceded in large part by the EC 

 member countries. The needs of advanced, 

 internationally-competitive R&D activity for access to 

 capital and manpower, for harmonized regulatory 

 regimes, for open and consistent procurement policies, 

 for barrier-free trade in both products and material 

 resources, have tied science and technology intimately to 

 the success of the Single Market. As this symbiosis has 

 received wider recognition, S&T has become accepted 



increasingly in Europe as central to the tightening weave 

 of a federally unified Community. 



Significant differences continue to exist among the 

 member states over the preferred, or even tolerable, 

 extent of EC responsibility for basic research. Several 

 countries, particularly the smaller and less advanced 

 ones, appear to welcome the EC role as a stimulus and 

 increment to their own research base. The principal 

 S&T-performing members have been, until quite 

 recently, ambivalent about or unambiguously opposed to 

 sharing control with the Commission at this level of 

 science. There are definite signals, however, that 

 growing demands on national resources for applied 

 technology investments are beginning to undermine this 

 last bulwark. Commission groundwork for a major role 

 in evaluating basic research needs and stimulating and 

 coordinating national programs is well-advanced, and an 

 extension of its policy and funding involvement is 

 virtually assured. 



As authority in economic matters has accrued 

 incrementally to the EC Commission, and as its 

 influence on national S&T activities consequently has 

 grown, the EC role in regional and global S&T matters 

 outside the Community is expanding significantly. To 

 note the more important aspects of this role, the 

 Commission represents EC countries in GATT 

 negotiations, including topics that have S&T 

 implications; it coordinates for the OECD G-24 nations 

 the channeling of aid to Eastern Europe, including 

 scientific and technological assistance; and it represents 

 the Community nations in international deliberations on 

 environmental issues. 



Non-EC coimtries in Europe are by now sensitized to 

 this aggregation of European S&T decision-making, and 

 the EFTA nations and those of Eastern Europe alike 

 acknowledge their future economic stake in having 

 equal access to EC advanced research, development and 

 human S&T resources in the Community. There are 

 signs that traditionally independent S&T bodies in 

 Europe (ESF, EMBO, CERN, ESA) are moving to 

 accommodate shared authority and responsibilities with 

 the EC, following signals that their national funding 

 sources are acquiescing in a broader, deeper role for the 

 EC. 



For industrialized countries outside Europe, this 

 movement provides enormous incentive for a 

 reassessment of the traditionally overwhelming 

 emphasis on bilateral S&T relations. A policy of 



m 



