$60 billion in current dollars), or almost half that of the 

 U.S. Public sector R&D spending of $25 billion 

 annually is again almost half that of the U.S. However, 

 public sector civil R&D expenditures for the three total 

 $15.5 billion, which is around 60% of the corresponding 

 U.S. figure. Adding public civil R&D for Italy and the 

 Netherlands brings the total to $2 1 .5 billion, or roughly 

 85% of the U.S. total for that category (still using 

 constant 1982 dollars). 



The importance of this fact is that the top three 

 countries are the predominant factors in resources, 

 revenues, expenditures, policies and planning associated 

 with Community S&T. No Commission-funded 

 activities can emerge without the solid backing of at 

 least two of them. Moreover, these are the countries 

 within which the Commission-funded programs are 

 implemented, because the majority of Community 

 capabilities and resources reside there. 



Lack of Commonality in National 

 R&D Activities 



• There is no consistent pattern of policies, planning 

 or organizational structure for public sector S&T 

 among these five countries. 



Generally stated, the United Kingdom and the 

 Netherlands have strongly emphasized increasing the 

 level and proportion of private sector R&D spending; 

 however, the UK stresses that non-defense, public sector 

 support should go overwhelmingly to basic research, 

 while the Netherlands has stressed public support of 

 industrial technology development. On the other side of 

 the fence, France and Italy have both supported a 

 predominance of public sector spending in national 

 R&D; yet French government funding has been moving 

 toward technology development, while Italian support 

 has emphasized basic research increases. Germany has 

 opted for strong encouragement of private sector R&D 

 (the highest percentage in the EC), yet attempts to 

 balance public funding for both applied technology and 

 basic research. 



France, and increasingly Italy, are emphasizing use of 

 public funds for large-scale human resource 

 development to meet a rapidly approaching dearth of 

 scientists and engineers in those countries. Germany has 

 not until very recently acknowledged a need for public 

 intervention in this area, while the Netherlands appears 

 to see a sufficient supply on hand for its needs. The UK 

 government has for several years largely avoided 

 dealing with an acknowledged, rapidly worsening crisis 



in both availability and quality of young British 

 researchers. 



In the area of defense spending, half the British public 

 budget goes to military R&D, overwhelmingly in 

 development. One-third of the French national budget is 

 devoted to defense R&D, and the proportion has been 

 rising. Germany spends a declining 12.4%, Italy 8.5% 

 and the Netherlands only 2.6%. Collectively, the 

 proportion of EC public R&D going to defense is 

 probably somewhat less than 25%. 



The organization of public S&T policymaking varies 

 considerably among these countries: a loose, collegial 

 and well-functioning structure in the Netherlands; a 

 loose, fragmented and not well-coordinated one in 

 Germany; effective centralized policymaking aligned 

 bureaucratically with centralized operational 

 responsibilities in France; tightly centralized 

 policymaking in the UK combined with a loose and 

 collegial operational bureaucracy; and in Italy, a 

 transition from the absence of an S&T ministry, with a 

 highly fragmented policy and operational structure, 

 toward a new and potentially large and highly 

 centralized S&T ministry and policy structure. 



The overall picture is one of a highly diverse 

 grouping of S&T performing countries that lack 

 sufficient commonality to engage effectively in a loosely 

 confederated structure for policymaking, coordination or 

 strategic planning of multinational S&T. Thus, the 

 opportunity is present and obvious for a major EC 

 Commission role in performing these functions. 



S&T Growth As a National Priority 



• Substantial efforts are being implemented in all of 

 these countries to upgrade quickly their resources, 

 capabilities and planning for S&T. 



The percentage of gross domestic product (GDP) 

 devoted to R&D is above 2.3% in four of the top five. 

 Although Italy's ratio is only 1.5% (1987), it has 

 doubled since 1980, and reaching equivalence with 

 France and the UK by 1992 is an identified national 

 priority. This compares with a U.S. figure of 2.8% (of 

 which at least one-fourth goes to defense). 



Support for basic research ranges from 15% to 20% 

 of the national budget among the top five; however, only 

 in Italy is the trend upward in both rate of growth and 

 total expenditures. However, pressures at the national 

 level to furmel substantial additional support to S&T 

 infrastructure building and to applied technology 



