Funding contraceptive development

Levels of funding for contraceptive development remain remarkably modest and uncertain. Pharmaceutical industry interest in development of new contraceptives has all but vanished; public sector R&D on methods of fertility control is conducted by small-scale organizations with limited, short-term funds. Contraceptive development is not attractive to industry because of its high cost and risk, the length of time required to obtain regulatory approval, and lack of adequate product liability insurance. Public sector R&D organizations have difficulty in obtaining substantial support from governmental and private donors because of impatience for short-term results, concern that small-scale operations are not effective, tensions between US and European donors, and even ambivalence on the usefulness of new technology. Positive developments include collaborative efforts by several public sector contraceptive development groups among themselves and with industry and the initiation of World Bank funding for contraceptive research. A solution to the product liability crisis must be found, however, if contraceptive development, testing and marketing of new contraceptives in the United States is to continue.     

The organizational context of public interest science

Technological development is shaped not only by the research and production activities of government and private firms, but also by the activities of “critical” scientists and public interest groups. Groups involved in nuclear waste and solar cell research are particularly revealing with respect to the nature and operation of public interest activities, owing to their different orientations to the technologies. This study compares the organizations activities, communication patterns, and ideologies of members of public interest groups with individuals in “traditional” research sectors. The results show that public interest organizations tend to be smaller, less bureaucratic, and less specialized than traditional research contexts, but their members spend a good deal of time on research-related activities. They are more tightly linked to the nuclear waste system, where they play an oppositional role, than to the solar cell system, but their opinions of government actions are quite low in both instances. Although traditional researchers in both systems do not rate their technical contributions highly, public interest researchers play an important role in the innovation process.     

Science, technology and the economy: An Indian perspective

During the first three decades after 1947, the Indian economy grew only 3% per year but there was vast expansion in the science and technology (S&T) infrastructure. Decades later, especially during the last few years, the economy has grown much faster, but the S&T systems have not experienced the transformation that business and industry have. The net result is that the public sector S&T system is facing a major crisis even as the private sector contributes little to the national R&D effort. Wealth generation in India by private S&T services, especially in information technology, has led to greater prosperity for the educated middle class, but has also led to greater inequalities in income. The national scene is one of generally uneven achievement and extraordinary potential. This paper argues that unless another major shift in S&T policy occurs, there is real danger that India will not move beyond its status as a blue-collar S&T power.     

Science and technology policies: The case of India

During the years preceding India's independence on August 15, 1947, the Indian National Congress focused considerable attention on the importance of science and technology, including scientific planning in an independent country. Jawaharlal Nehru, the first Prime Minister of independent India, held the portfolio for science and technology, as have most of his successors. Nehru was largely responsible for Parliament's adoption of the 1958 Science Policy Resolution. In 1971, the governments of Indira Gandhi and her son, Rajiv Gandhi, took important steps to integrate scientific planning with economic planning. During these years, significant new government institutions were created. The current government of Manmohan Singh, which maintains an active national science advisory committee, has made significant changes in the Indian government's science and technology structure and is creating new institutions for science, technology, and higher education.Currently, India's total investment in research and development is somewhat less than 1% of the gross domestic product, but this ratio is expected to rise to 2% or more in the next few years. The government currently accounts for 85–90% of the country's R&D, but there are indications that private-sector investments will become more important.India has long enjoyed wide-ranging cooperation with several countries, including the US, Western Europe, the Soviet Union, and Russia. During the years immediately following independence, the UK exerted more influence on Indian science than any other country. Today the US has considerable influence, especially as it is also a preferred destination for Indian students and post-doctoral fellows.     

Increasing the return on investment from federally-funded research and development

Abstract

Each year, the United States invests approximately $495 billion in research and development (R&D) – about a quarter of the total global investment. While the private sector accounts for about 67% of U.S. investment, the Federal government plays a critical role in funding R&D, particularly in areas that address societal needs in which the private sector does not yet have sufficient clear or strong incentive to make the required investments. The Federal government invests approximately $150 billion each year in R&D conducted at Federal laboratories, universities and other research organizations. As Federal R&D investments wind down or are completed, additional work is often still needed to translate the knowledge accrued from that R&D into products and services that will improve lives and provide economic growth. Technology transfer is the process by which existing knowledge, facilities or capabilities developed through R&D are utilised to fulfill public and private need. The transfer of technology from federally-funded R&D to the private sector is crucial to realising the taxpayer’s return on investment in the Federal R&D ecosystem. However, moving innovations from the lab to the market is more than inventing products for people to buy. Technology transfer is about creating jobs and growing the economy; ensuring a strong, secure, and resilient Nation; and improving Americans’ health and environment, fostering the conditions for America to maintain leadership in global innovation.     

Patent evolution in relation to public/private R&D investment and corporate profitability: Evidence from the United States

Summary In this paper we analyze the (historical) co-evolution of technological development and economic progress (by relating public and private R&D investment, patenting, and corporate profitability). We relate to the work ofSchmookler(1966),Griliches(1990),Pakes&Griliches(1980) andPakes(1986) who all have studied the techno-economic interplay by considering patents as in indicator of technological performance. We use United States industry and government data over the period 1953-1998 (45 years). Co-evolution analysis over this period reveals a strong interdependency among the variables. Patent evolution is strongly related to the development of private R&D and corporate profitability; the levels of public and private R&D expenditure in combination with the level of technological output (i.e. patents) have a strong predictive and explanatory power towards corporate profitability (R² value of 94.9%). Causality tests reveal a joint determination between R&D investment and corporate profitability (L=2; p<0.01).     

Perspectives on science and technology in development: Does the urgent drive out the important?

Around the world every year, nations urgently need assistance to cope with natural disasters, refugees, famines. Such chronic urgencies for “foreign aid” tend to drive out actions aimed at achieving crucial goals for long-term economic development. Just as these pressures affect all donors of foreign assistance, they undermine the capacity- building essential in all developing countries. The program of the US Agency for Development (AID) is a prime example of the distortions that result. Past priorities in foreign assistance on enhancing science and technology, and on nurturing human capital, now rate much less attention. Yet progress in S&T is central for economic growth, and historical trends show that the path to innovation demands multiple incentives rewarding autonomy, diversity, and experiment within the private sector. Further, development must be bolstered—over decades—by patiently reinforcing and building the educational and technological institutions of the recipient of “aid.” Accordingly, this article proposes that AID appoint an S&T Adviser and establish a $50 million R&D effort. And it is also imperative to restore an emphasis on human capital throughout AID's strategy. To do this well means conducting rigorous evaluations of results and responding thoughtfully to the priorities seen by the recipients of aid.     

Patent and literature statistics – The case of optoelectronics

The aim of this paper is to provide an overview of different statistical analyses from patent and literature databases that in combination are helpful for a variety of mostly strategic decision settings in firms. For the case of optoelectronics we assess the patenting and publishing activity of firms and individuals and their citation frequency.The analyses identified leading players in the field, revealed technological dependencies, and the existence of patent clusters as patenting strategies. Co-citation analysis highlighted technological similarities between two firms involved in patent litigation trials. In this science-based technology field individuals combining characteristics of key inventors (a high activity and citation level in patenting) as well as core scientists (a high activity and citation frequency level in publishing) – therefore labelled “R&D dualists” – successfully bridge the gap between science and technology, but are exceptionally rare. Citation-weighted patent counts demonstrated the pivotal impact of one “R&D dualist” in an industrial R&D laboratory, severely affecting the laboratories’ outcome when this individual left. An increasing level of R&D cooperation in particular technological subfields after the individual’s departure could be found. However, patent analysis did not find evidence for long-term competence transfer in these subfields.     

Effects of China''s communication industry policy on domestic cellphone manufacturers

China's economy has matured so dramatically recently that it has become a major player as well a huge market, eyed eagerly by the rest of the world. In the communications industry, China is focused on extending the market share of domestic vendors by combining an overarching industrial policy with the supply and demand of the domestic market. The policy for the cellphone industry resulted in domestic vendors seeking a greater market share of domestic brand names. Due to these policies, gaining market share became a top priority for China's cellphone manufacturers, and domestic vendors paid less attention to enhancing their innovative capacities. Today, the manufacturing and technological capability of China's cellphone industry needs improvement. Therefore, due to industry policy, capital, cost, and risk issues, latecomers in the 3C (computer, communications, and consumer) industries in developing economies often expand their market share first before they engage in R&D. Today, the Chinese government is promoting domestic intermediate-goods vendors, such as the communications IC industry, to build an upstream component supply stream that will help promote the R&D capability of China's cellphone manufacturers.     

The effects of R&D subsidies and network embeddedness on R&D output: evidence from the German biotech industry

Although policy makers subsidize firms’ R&D projects to increase innovational output in an industry, region, or country, it remains unclear whether such subsidization triggers additional R&D efforts or crowds out private investments. To address this question, we assess the effectiveness of subsidization for individual and collaborative research in the German biotech industry while also examining the relevance of network embeddedness for patent output. Our results indicate that subsidies do lead to increased patent output, with additional benefits from involvement in more than one project. However, the amount of money is only significant under certain circumstances. Also, it is higher degree centrality in the firm network that significantly increases R&D success.     

The role of government-industry-academia partnership in business incubation: Evidence from new R&D institutions in China

it is very important to encourage the incubation of new companies for innovative economic growth. Many countries in the world are encouraging “innovation orchards” in the form of government-industry-academia partnership to facilitate the incubation of new technology enterprises. The research focuses on the impact of this partnership between the government, industry, and academia in establishing new R&D institutions on business incubation. Specifically, the research aims to investigate what is the separate effect of the government, enterprises, universities, and public institutions in the establishment of new R&D institutions on enterprise incubation, and the role of cooperation between government-enterprise-academia in the enterprise incubation of new R&D institutions. In empirical tests using data from the 2020 official survey of the Ministry of Science and Technology of China, the results show that for each single cooperator, participation in the establishment of governments, academia has a positive impact on start-ups, while the participation of enterprises has no significant impact. In terms of cooperation, the co-established new R&D institutions are better in business incubation than the single establishment of new R&D institutions. The cooperation between government and academia in the establishment of new R&D institutions has a positive effect on business incubation, and other types of cooperation between government-industry, industry-academia, and government-industry-academia have no significant impact on business incubation. The research conclusion can provide a policy reference for optimizing the holding mode of new R&D institutions.     

Sustainable competitive participation: A role for the federal government and the national laboratories

A clear and appropriate role is presented for the federal government and the national laboratories with respect to technology development, technology utilization and competitiveness. The selective use of federal policy tools and resources for enhancing economic competitiveness and for providing “sustainable” economic development is proposed. A novel approach to a coherent national R&D strategy is advocated with three major components: tax credits, technology facilitation, and federal investment directed towards sustainable competitive participation Sustainable competitive participation is based on the blending of the concepts of economic competitiveness and sustainable development. Four sectors of technology development and competitiveness are considered for this comprehensive national science and technology strategy. Several examples illustrate the appropriate federal government and national laboratory role in sustainable competitive participation.     

Linking R&D with production in the third world

Developing countries see science and technology as keys to their modernization. In both agricultural and industrial production, however, science and technology often do not seem to be linked effectively with the needs of the productive organizations. A United Nations Panel recently considered this subject. The principal choices turn on designing and managing R&D programs, building the crucial communications channels among technical staffs in R&D vis-a-vis users and producers, establishing incentives in the country's overall economic pattern, and analyzing the roles of the public and private sectors.     

Research,development and growth in state-owned enterprises: empirical evidence from Ecuador

ABSTRACT

Investment in R&D is essential for the survival and growth of organizations. Recent literature has focused on the study of effects of R&D on the growth of private companies. However, there is no research studying the effects of R&D on the growth of Latin American public companies. This paper estimates, using an endogenous growth model, the effect of investments in R&D on sales growth in public enterprises of Ecuador. Data corresponding to a sample of 86 public companies have been taken from the Survey of Activities of Science and Technology (ACTI) of Ecuador for the period 2012 to 2014. These data are estimated by OLS. The results show that there is a statistically significant positive relation between investment in research and development and the growth of sales in public companies.     

National security challenges and competition: Defense and space R&D in the Chinese strategic context

Over the nearly six decades since the People's Republic of China (PRC) was established, the United States and China have followed very different political, military, and economic development paths. Yet, the approach each country is currently pursuing to enhance its military and commercial technology development, particularly in the defense and space areas, is becoming remarkably similar in many respects. This article outlines China's past and present strategies for developing defense and space capabilities, Beijing's phased approach to defense industrial and space R&D, and compares and contrasts these R&D efforts with the American approach. The article concludes with an assessment of the prospects for future US–China competition and/or cooperation in the realm of defense and space R&D.     

An empirical study of university–industry R&D collaboration in China: Implications for technology in society

This research investigates the growing phenomenon of university–industry (U–I) collaboration in high-tech strategic projects in China. After significant changes in the trading policies of 1978, China has gained heightened attention in technology and innovation. To achieve the stated strategic national goals, Research and Development (R&D) collaboration is essential. Organizations preferred to collaborate in order to share the burden of R&D costs and efforts. The academic outputs (research publications) of Chinese academic institutions and technology patenting ratio are increasing daily in China. These increasing numbers signal the importance of R&D. High-tech industries are inclined to share projects with universities. Foreign enterprises, state supported enterprises and local industry have played key roles to strengthening university–industry relationships.     

State Supremacy in Decline

This paper discusses the dynamics of the international pharmaceutical industry, and how these are creating problems for the Australian government in its efforts to manage change within the regulated domestic industry. The paper argues that regulatory reform and industry development policy have eroded the capacity of the federal government to maintain the pricing regime associated with the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) since 1950. The bargaining strength of the transnational firms which dominate the pharmaceutical industry in Australia is increasing; current global rationalisation of manufacturing and of R&D make threats to relocate more credible than in the past.     

How to interpret the position of private sector institutions in bibliometric rankings of research institutions

This paper analyzes the positions of institutions from the private domain in bibliometric rankings of as many as 27,000 research institutions and highlights factors that are crucial for a proper interpretation of such positions. It was found that among the institutions with the largest output in terms of published research articles, private firms are underrepresented, whereas in the top quartile of institutions with the largest citation impact firms are overrepresented. A firm’s publication output is not a good indicator of its R&D investment: big firms in Pharmaceutics are both heavy investors in R&D and frequent publishers of scientific articles, whereas in Automobiles firms tend to invest heavily in R&D but their publication output is low. This is ascribed to the fact that the former need a validation of their results by the scientific community, while the latter do less so. Private institutions generating the largest citation impact tend to collaborate with the best public research institutions. This reflects the crucial importance of publicly funded research for the private sector.     

政府研发补贴与企业创新投入:数量激励抑或质量导向?

如何有效发挥政府“有形之手”对企业创新的激励作用,优化公共资源配置效率,是实施创新驱动战略和推动经济高质量发展的关键一环。基于2001-2017年中国非金融类A股上市公司面板数据,用研发投资衡量创新投入数量,用专利产出衡量创新投入转化质量,从理论上分析政府研发补贴对企业创新投入数量和投入转化质量的作用机制,并采用固定效应模型、联立方程模型等进行实证检验。结果发现:第一,政府研发补贴能够显著提高企业研发投资额,表明政府补贴对企业创新投入存在数量激励,同时,企业研发投资对专利产出具有显著正向影响,增加创新投入资金数量是确保投入转化质量的必要非充分条件;第二,在控制内生性后,政府研发补贴对企业专利产出具有不显著负向影响,表明政府研发补贴未能形成创新投入质量导向;第三,在政府干预程度较低、法治水平较好的情况下,政府研发补贴能够同时提升企业研发投资与专利产出,证实寻租行为、逆向选择行为和缺乏政府监管等是政府补贴无法有效发挥投入质量导向作用的潜在原因。     

First responders: problems and solutions: communications

This paper presents the narrative briefed at the “Engineering the Protection of Our Cities” Conference at Polytechnic University, Brooklyn, NY on 7 October 2002. DOB in supporting the new war on Terrorism within this country has vital engineering expertise, equipments and technologies that can assist the first responders. Particularly in the area of communications the distinct analogy of how the US Army is equipping the individual war fighter is very similar to that equipment needed by the police, firemen, EMS personnel, etc. Both need to operate within the urban environment, within the buildings and knowing where each is located. Several ongoing R&D and fielded communications solutions are described as potential solutions for the first responders.