925 



40 



contacts and bilateral relations with the United States are not a 

 current possibility. 



On another level, the U.S. museum world has derived benefit from 

 the advisory and consultative function that UNESCO has performed. The 

 U.S. academic community also has benefited from some of the research 

 projects supported under this UNESCO program, including an effort to 

 develop a cross-national typology of science policy issues. 



Alternatives 



There are certain other UN organizations that could engage in 

 enhanced science policy activities. These include the UN Center for 

 Science and Technology for Development (UNCSTD), which has already 

 focused on some of these issues, and the UN Development Program (UNDP) . 



The United States could also enhance its participation in multi- 

 lateral and bilateral associations outside the United Nations. For 

 example, OECD already is engaged in some of the same type of science 

 policy work of concern to UNESCO, although it focuses primarily on 

 policies of its member states. The UN Economic Commission for Europe 

 (ECE) carries out similar work, and other regional organizations such 

 as the Organization of American States (OAS) or the Association of 

 South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) could also expand their efforts in 

 this area. 



The United States, primarily on a bilateral basis, is already 

 involved in cooperative research or action projects related to science 

 policy and the impact of science and technology on society. Projects 

 on the former are supported or conducted by the Agency for International 

 Development and the National Institutes of Health, and on the latter by 

 the National Science Foundation. These programs could be expanded. 

 Another possibility would be working with developing country associa- 

 tions, such as ASEAN, which are involved in technical cooperation. 



Finally, there are possibilities that NGO channels might be utilized 

 to promote further work on the development of science and technology 

 infrastructure. For example, the role of the International Council of 

 Scientific Unions (ICSU) could be expanded to include a greater focus 

 on the problem of building scientific infrastructure and coherent 

 science policies in developing countries. In a similar fashion, 

 intellectual attention to the impacts of science and technology on 

 society could be promoted through formal or informal networks that 

 include private foundations and academic centers of excellence with 

 an interest in the problems both here and abroad. 



Future funding of these potentially valuable activities will 

 involve new institutional arrangements. With respect to those projects 

 having to do with science policy and/or S&T infrastructure in developing 

 countries, the U.S. Agency for International Development--which already 

 has similar work ongoing- -would represent the appropriate venue with 

 possible collaborative arrangements with the National Research Council; 

 particularly its Board on Science and Technology for International 

 Development (BOSTID) . In the case of the science, technology, and 

 society projects, the professional oversight responsibility is less 



