OUTLINE OF KEY EC MEMBER STATE 

 S&T CHARACTERISTICS 



Chart 1 : Federal Republic of Germany: 



CH public sector S&T policymaking and operational authority is loosely shared among the following: BMFT ("big 

 science," international cooperation, non-university technology development, support of quasi-public R&D 

 institutes); MPG, FhG, and DFG (basic sciences support, general university research, funds for quasi-public 

 research); and the Lander (support to small-and-medium enterprises, innovation, university R&D, technology 

 development); 



D the FRG has the largest S&T expenditure among EC member states, $24.6 billion in current 1 988 dollars; for 

 1989, in current dollars, the figure is $26.6 billion; 



[H the BMFT budget is growing at nearly twice the rate of the entire FRG budget; 



n a high percentage of FRG S&T budget goes to basic research (20%) 



CH there exists a long-standing policy of encouraging private sector-performed, privately-funded, market-driven 

 technology development 



[H a very low proportion of national budget is spent on defense: 12.5% in 1986 (up from 12.4% in 1986); 



n the R&D budget is 4.2% of the total national budget (1 986) 



n a high proportion of GDP is devoted to S&T: 2.85 % in 1989 (up from 2.8% in 1988 and 2.7% in 1985); the 

 EC average is just over 2.0% 



LJ Priorities are: 



• advanced technologies development; 



• increased international cooperation; 



• improvement in conditions for R&D in SMEs; 



• maintenance of support for basic research; and 



• focus on preventive research. 



D Industry funds 65% of all R&D (1989); the trend is upward 



I I Basic research is funded 50/50 between the Federal government and the Lander; funds go through the 

 research societies and also directly to universities 



LJ 13% of basic research spending goes to engineering 



LH national R&D spending has experienced a 3.7% real, adjusted growth during 1985-88. 



