The changing structure of the US national innovation system: implications for international conflict and cooperation in R&D policy

Abstract

The paper summarizes recent trends in the structure of the US national innovation system. Among these trends is a decline in R&D spending by the federal government, largely due to reductions in defense-related R&D spending. Another important shift in the profile of US R&D spending is the reduction in the share of basic research funded by industry. Other policy-related changes are the introduction of federal programs that have sought to strengthen civilian technology capabilities by subsidizing and promoting joint research and collaboration between US universities and industry and the federal laboratories and US industry. The paper claims that sporadic efforts to limit the international dissemination of the results of publicly funded R&D have in many cases been frustrated. Similar efforts to restrict foreign firms' access to EU R&D programs have had little effect. It further concludes that the efforts to restrict foreign participation in US or EU publicly funded R&D programs seem to be ill-advised and infeasible. Considerable evidence suggests that the critical competitive weakness for both US and EU firms lie more in the translation of R&D advances into commercial products, rather than in the R&D capabilities per se. Consequently, the participation of non-European firms in EU technology development projects and non-US firms in publicly funded technology projects could convey powerful learning and `demonstration' benefits.