Science and technology policy in France— from planning to strategy

Abstract

A crucial factor in the competitiveness of businesses is their technological capability. This is the basis of product and process innovations,’ which can be considered the source of a new industrial revolution. A mastery of technology and of innovation thus seems to be one of the determinants of the redistribution of economic power at the global level. In addition, the military strength and degree of political independence of states is measured today-more so than everin terms of the relative level of countries’ technological and industrial capabilities.2 The US Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI), dubbed ‘Star Wars’, can be viewed as a result of fierce technological and industrial competition between major political blocs or, perhaps even more, between the major global economic powers. In sum, ‘technological capability’ is one of the major forces which will shape the geopolitical map of the 21st century. Further, we can also consider how technology will contribute to solving the major social and environmental problems of our age, such as health, education and nutrition.’ Such a view of technology as a major strategic factor is evidently not a new one -and we do not intend to discuss further here either this view or its components. What is new, however, and what is of concern here, is that this analysis has been taken up increasingly by the governments of a number of countries. We find evidence of this in the declaration of heads of government at the 1981 Versailles summit,4 in various official reports, government white papers and