Science and Technology Integration in Europe and Influences on U.S.-European Cooperation: A Report of the National Science Board Committee on Europe in 1992

摘要

Science and technology (S&T) in Western Europe is quickly evolving toward an umbrella structure for strategic policy planning, research coordination and resources development and allocation. The EC Commission is becoming the largest source of funding and administrative and planning resources for such cooperation. It is assuming a growing but contentious role in stimulating, guiding and making this cooperative paradigm operational. The Commission is also moving quickly to develop Community policies and activities for international cooperation in S&T, particularly in fields such as environmental protection and global warming. However, the EC member nations' primary responsibility for research support, facilities and human resources remains paramount; the EC superstructure is to be integrative, and supplementary of member state S&T activity. This implies challenges for US decision-makers, by way of: assessing the pace and directions of European S&T integration; achieving US interagency consensus on exercising US influence on that process; and allocating resources among bilateral and multilateral cooperative activities. The report also provides policy and operational recommendations for appropriate US government responses, highlighting those pertinent to the National Science Foundation.