U.S.-EC Human Resources: Supply, 

 Education and Mobility 



Issues: Does adequate support exist, on the part of the 

 U.S. government, academia and industry, for 

 U.S. students and S&T professionals for 

 long-term visits to Western Europe? Should 

 the U.S. government provide greater 

 flexibility and support for foreigners to visit 

 the U.S. for education and professional work 

 in S&T fields? Is continued trans- Atlantic 

 mobility of researchers and engineers linked 

 to a collaborative approach to solving the 

 common problem of an insufficient supply of 

 human resources? 



Policy Recommendations: 



1) Federal and university laboratories and U.S. 

 private sector R&D-performing firms should be 

 encouraged to seek participation in European 

 basic and pre-competitive research programs at 

 the Community and national levels, in order to 

 improve U.S. access to expanding European 

 investment in S&T and human resources. The 

 U.S. government should attempt to expand the 

 opportunities for such participation and should 

 publicize widely those opportunities that exist. 



2) Immigration and naturalization laws and 

 regulations that hinder long-term residence in 

 the U.S. of U.S. -trained foreign nationals with 

 advanced degrees in scientific and engineering 

 disciplines should be modified. Liberalized 

 measures should apply also to foreign career 

 professionals and post-doctoral researchers 

 seeking employment in the United States. 



Operational Recommendations: 



3) Increased funding should be made available by 

 the U.S. government, through such means as 

 direct competitive grants or interest-free loans, 

 to support exchanges of U.S. and European 

 students for pre -doctoral and post-doctoral smdy 

 and training. As a beginning measure, the U.S. 

 government, through NSF, and the EC should 

 explore the possibility of a joint program to 

 provide support for one-year research 

 sabbaticals. 



U.S. Access to European Research Programs and 

 Results 



Issues: In what ways should, and can, the U.S. 



government intervene on behalf of the U.S. 

 research community to secure equivalent U.S. 

 access to publicly-funded research in Europe? 

 Given the relationship of intellectual property 

 rights (IPR) to access, what is the nature of 

 NSF interests in IPR discussions with the 

 Europeans? Should IPR negotiations be 

 conducted primarily through the EC or 

 directly with each member state government? 

 How can the U.S. and the EC create the 

 widest possible access to information on 

 research projects and results consistent with 

 the objective of openness in public research 

 funding? 



Policy Recommendations: 



1) If the U.S. government decides to negotiate a 

 cooperative S&T agreement with the EC, the 

 assurance of equivalent and mutual rights of 

 access to research and results of research 

 projects that receive public funding should be 

 included in the agreement; the level of 

 specificity in individual research fields should 

 be left to agency-level MOUs and agreements. 



2) A two-track formula to secure agreement on 

 intellectual property rights (IPR) protections 

 with the EC member states individually and 

 with the EC collectively, through the 

 Commission, should be initiated and pursued 

 vigorously by the U.S. 



Operational Recommendations: 



3) The U.S. should jointly develop with the EC a 

 shared database and communications network 

 for access to information concerning ongoing 

 publicly-funded, civil research programs and 

 projects and their results; access to the network 

 and database should be unrestricted for research 

 communities in these countries. 



