Challenges for U.S. Policymaking 



A large majority of the EC's member governments 

 appear to be increasingly, albeit reluctantly, willing to 

 relinquish traditional notions of sovereignty over S&T 

 matters, as they have done previously in economic 

 affairs. The U.S. is thus presented with a pressing need 

 to develop a coordinated response to a Community-level 

 S&T structure for policy and research programs. Yet 

 U.S. government agencies, including the National 

 Science Foundation, have little substantial knowledge of 

 or prior experience with EC S&T programs, having 

 focused their efforts on bilateral cooperation with 

 individual countries or research field-specific 

 organizations like ESA or CERN. Decision-making is 

 further handicapped by uncertainties, equally prevalent 

 in Europe, over the extent to which future progress in 

 S&T cooperation will be coordinated and 

 centrally-planned from Brussels, or ad hoc and directed 

 loosely by national governments. 



Several challenges to U.S. policymaking stem from 

 this situation. The first is one of accuracy in U.S. 

 perceptions of the nature, intent and scope of S&T 

 integration in Europe. Current analytical resources and 

 mechanisms are inadequate to provide extensive and 

 reliable information or assessments on individual 

 countries, research fields or overall European 

 capabilities and resources in S&T. Thus it is difficult to 

 make comparisons of these areas either with 

 corresponding U.S. research capabilities or with the 

 policy objectives and claimed accomplishments of 

 European multilateral programs, particularly within 

 FRAMEWORK or EUREKA. 



The second challenge involves the resolution within 

 the Federal government of different views on how best 

 to utilize U.S. influence on European S&T evolution. 



The question remains open in most quarters of how 

 quickly and energetically to proceed in developing a 

 relationship with the EC which, de facto, lends support 

 to European multilateral S&T. The question is posed 

 against a concensus on emphasizing the continued 

 predominance of bilateral cooperation with the member 

 states. Looming over this is the more elusive issue of 

 whether openness and cooperation in international 

 research can be maintained and strengthened 

 independently of the often-conflicting interests of trade 

 and commercial competitiveness. 



Another challenge is that of resource allocation 

 policy. Given a consensus that recognizes a growing role 

 in European and international S&T for the Community 

 and other European multilateral organizations, the U.S. 

 will be confronted with decisions on measures to support 

 effective collaboration in a multilateral research 

 environment. Participation to any significant degree will 

 further stretch or bring about redirection of U.S. 

 resources devoted to bilateral international cooperation, 

 which by some estimates are already inadequate. 



These issues are complicated by uncertainty and some 

 skepticism over whether centrally-guided and 

 administered, multilateral S&T will actually become a 

 reality in Europe. The evidence is far from conclusive 

 that the kind of synergy evolving in Europe in the 

 microelectronics field will characterize other research 

 fields as well. Yet evidence is abundant of an evolution 

 toward some sort of strategic framework for the 

 multilateral utilization of S&T resources. For U.S. 

 policymakers, there is a growing appreciation that the 

 U.S. is already a principal factor in this process, the final 

 form of which is not much clearer in the capitals of 

 Europe than in Washington. 



Salient Factors in U.S.-European S&T Relations 



As U.S. policymakers begin to define U.S. interests in 

 pursuing a formal relationship with the European 

 Community, there are a number of salient factors 

 relating to EC S&T integration and US-EC relations 

 which should be kept in mind. Some point to apparent 

 divergences in U.S. and Community S&T objectives and 

 research-related activities, while others seem to indicate 

 continuing, even increasing, opportunities for 

 convergence and cooperation. Taken together, they 

 argue for U.S. recognition of the growing importance of 



Community-level funding for research and infrastructure 

 support, while highlighting the need to maintain for the 

 foreseeable future a strong pattern of bilateral 

 cooperation with the individual member states. 



• The European Community, under the provisions of 

 the Single European Act, has a principal 

 responsibility for stimulating multilateral S&T 

 cooperation among the member states, with the aim 



