61 



36/ IMPROVING THE ALLOCATION PROCESS 



ments are subject to greater public scrutiny than is direct federal funding to private firms with 

 patents held by those firms. 



30. Computer Science and Telecommunications Board, National Research Council, Realizing 

 the Information Future: The Internet and Beyond (Washington, D.C.: National Academy Press, 

 1994). 



3 1 . Committee on Science, Engineering, and Public Policy (National Academy of Sciences. 

 National Academy of Engineering, and Institute of Medicine), "The Federal Role in the Development 

 and Adoption of Technology," Chapter 4 in Science, Technology and the Federal Government: 

 National Goals for a New Era. 1993, pp 31-44. 



32. That principle is perhaps best exemplified in defense technologies developed with federal 

 funding, which can now be more expensive and less advanced than commercial technologies 

 Recent attention to acquiring dual-use technologies from commercial sources and exploiting defense 

 technologies in commercial markets stems from this reversal in the traditional flow of new technol- 

 og\. This circumstance is noted by the Committee for National Security' of the National Science and 

 Technolog)- Council, in National Security Science and Technologj' Strategy' (Washington, DC: 

 Office of Science and Technology- Policy, 1995). See also National Economic Council, National 

 Security Council, and Office of Science and Technology Polio', Executive Office of the President. 

 Second to None: Preserving America's Military Advantage Through Dual-Use Technology. Doc. No. 

 ADA 28(>~79 (Fon Belvoir.Va.: Defense Technical Information Center, February' 1995). 



33. Engineering Centers Division. Directorate for Engineering, National Science Foundation. The 

 ERCs: A Partnership for Competitiveness, NSF 991-9, X')')^. Highlights of Engineering Research 

 Centers Technolog)' Transfer NSF 92-6, 1992; and Highlights of Engineering Research Centers 

 Education Programs. NSF 95-56, 1995 (Arlington, Va.: National Science Foundation). 



34. The Foster Report (1995) at several points notes that NASA laboratories are "insular" and 

 that in many areas private firms have raced ahead of parallel NASA programs. Other reports also 

 cited above, most notably the Galvin Report (1995) and those by Bozeman and Crow and by 

 Markusen et al.(note 20), also point to difficulties in technology transfer from federal laboratories. 



35. Start-up of new firms, for example, has been a major source of innovation. The importance 

 of a culture" that nunures innovation has been stressed in several recent works, including that of 

 Ann Markusen et al.(note 20); Susan Rosegrant and David R. Lumpe. Route 128: Lessons from 

 Bostons High-Tech Community (New York: Basic Books, 1992);AnnaLee Sixcnizn. Regional 

 Advantage: Culture and Competition in Silicon Valley and Route 128 (Cambridge. Mass.: Har\ard 

 Universir\' Press, 1994); and Economics Department, Bank of Boston, .W/J Growing Businesses for 

 the Future (Boston: Bank of Boston, 1989) Markusen et al., in particular, suggest that policies to 

 encourage movement of expens and technologies out of government laboratories might well be 

 more effective than those, such as CRADAs. that retain talent and technology within laboratory walls. 



36. The Galvin Report (1995) concludes that CRADAs may have distracted DOEs major 

 multipurpose national laboratories from their central missions. The repon by Markusen et al. (note 

 20) suggests that CRADAs may be less effective than less expensive and more historically important 

 means of technology transfer and points out that evaluation is hampered by poor access to data. 

 Bozeman and Crow (note 20) obser\e that 90 percent of CRADAs produce no jobs, and also note that 

 a "one-size-fits-all" technology transfer policy for federal laboratories flies in the face of their diversin'. 

 The place of CRADAs in DOE national laboratories is an area of active controversy (see Colin 

 Macilwain, "US Weapons Labs Face Curb on Civilian KoXc,' Nature 376 QuXy 13): 106-107, 1995). 



