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16 SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNOLOGICAL COOPERATION 



(out of discussion initiated at the request of President Lyndon B. John- 

 son), as a new prototype for international cooperation on pressing 

 global problems. Because the charter dictates that a nongovernmental 

 organization must represent each member nation, the institute is os- 

 tensibly nonpolitical in nature. Nevertheless, due to a combination of 

 internal and external factors, the U.S. government withdrew NSF 

 funding in 1981. In the absence of U.S. financial support for its in- 

 volvement, the National Academy of Sciences, which was the U.S. 

 national member organization, resigned its membership. Subse- 

 quently, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences established a 

 mechanism to support U.S. membership in IIASA, seeking funds from 

 nongovernmental agencies in the United States. The decision to with- 

 draw NSF support also has had negative ramifications beyond the 

 context of IIASA. It has raised serious questions about the viability of 

 nongovernmental organizations involved in international S&T coop- 

 eration that must depend, even indirectly, on government funding. 



Industrial Cooperation 



Another promising channel for future nongovernmental S&T coop- 

 eration is direct contacts between two or more industrial firms. While 

 most arrangements of this sort focus on applied research and joint de- 

 velopment, some basic scientific research also is supported. Among 

 the major objectives of and motivations for industrial S&T coopera- 

 tion are: (1) exchange of information to promote modernization and/ 

 or new product development, (2) pooling of technical talent and/or 

 financial resources across national boundaries to facilitate projects 

 that otherwise would be prohibitive, (3) conservation of resources to 

 avoid unnecessary duplication and provide economies of scale, and 

 (4) preservation of market share. ^'^ 



The frequency of private-sector technical cooperation, while still 

 relatively low, is increasing. A survey of announced private technical 

 cooperation agreements conducted in 1980 found that at least 78 such 

 contacts were made in that year, involving either research and devel- 

 opment or collaboration on the development of new products or pro- 

 cesses. The survey also revealed, however, that two-thirds of the 

 agreements were in just two industries— electronics and aircraft. Co- 

 operation agreements in other manufacturing technologies remain rel- 

 atively rare.^'' 



In a world inhabited increasingly by transnational private compa- 

 nies, cooperative S&T arrangements that benefit a private firm may 

 not necessarily be viewed as advantageous by the host government. 



