Government's role in energy technology R&D: A proposed model for strategic guidance

摘要

There is very little argument that the federal government has a role in the funding of basic research. There is also consensus that the federal government should not fund research that the private sector would do on its own volition. In this paper, we examine the role of government in the ''grey'' area between these extremes. This area includes generic, crosscutting, and applied technology development and deployment. We first present some general trends in US R&D investment and make international comparisons. These trends clearly show that the amount the US spends on R&D has fallen precipitously since the 1980s. The R&D expenditure data also reveal striking differences in the shares of government R&D allocated to different social objectives between the US and other major industrialized countries. We then review the linear model--the model that characterizes much of the postwar paradigm for US technology policy-- and evaluate alternatives to it. These alternative models allow for different types of innovation and explicitly account for feedback from the marketplace and linkages to the private sector, universities, national laboratories. Based on the nonlinear model of innovation, we outline a structure for an R&D technology council that would provide guidance to DOE on energy technology R&D. The energy technology R&D council would advise DOE on funding priorities for different types of research. Basic research would be conducted at universities and national laboratories as appropriate. Generic technology development would be conducted by teams consisting of national laboratories, the private sector, and universities. The private sector would participate directly in the generic technology development by supplying information and funding. For those activities requiring the development of applied technology, the private sector would cost share in much the same way as is done in the current system with cooperative research and development agreements (CRADAs).