Report of the Federal Government on research 1993 : abridged version / Federal Ministry for Research and Technology.

  • Germany. Bundesministerium für Forschung und Technologie
Date:
1993
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Report of the Federal Government on research 1993 : abridged version / Federal Ministry for Research and Technology. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    1. Outlines and current functions of research and technology policy 1.1 Outlines The Federal Republic of Germany has a broad-based and varied research sector. The level of research and technological efficiency constitutes an important basis for the industrial future of this country. It creates know-how and room for manoeuvre to safeguard and shape the environment in which we live. In addition, scientific results are important cultural achievements. To guarantee and expand the development potential as well as the wealth and freedom of research is there- fore a major objective of the Federal Government. The challenge of completing German unity, a dramatically changed international environment, safeguarding our natural resources and, not least, concern about Ger- many as a location for industry, increase the necessity of using the opportunities offered by research and technology. Research and technology policy has to take into ac- count the trends of scientific and technological change in the early 1990s: It is obvious that as economic activities are becoming more and more global the research activities of the in- dustrialised countries and some newly industrialised countries in South-East Asia continue to converge. The proportion of scientific publications published in inter- national co-authorship has tripled over the past two decades. For Germany it amounts to almost 30 %. In the 1980s, private companies increased their world- wide direct investment considerably. Thus they have not only become actively involved in technology trans- fer, but they have also acquired foreign research po- tentials. Technological competition is becoming tougher as new states are joining this competition. New important markets emerged and continue to emerge in Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Indonesia and other dynamic industrialised countries in the Asian region. For Germany these countries are both strong competi- tors and important partners. They complement the increasing involvement of the Federal Republic of Ger- many within the European Community as well as the close and established cooperation with the USA. In view of the worldwide mobility of knowledge as well as the capital to be invested in research and develop- ment it is one of the central responsibilities of research and technology policy to maintain and increase the long-term attraction of Germany as a location for re- search and technology. At the same time the importance of — often regional — research networks is growing: As a result of the increas- ing complexity of scientific and technological pro- gress, the emergence of new, rapidly growing research areas at the fringes of traditional disciplines and cor- porate prioritiy activities, shorter innovation cycles and, in many areas, increasing costs of research and development, researchers depend more and more on the cooperation and the intensive exchange of know!]- edge with suitable partners in a flexible research envi- ronment. This is why established partnerships and the ability to develop new cooperative relations between the many different players in the research sector have to remain a primary advantage offered by this country to research and development. One of the characteristics of technological develop- ment in the early 1990s is that most technological areas which have the highest patenting rates rely to an ex- traordinary extent on the most recent scientific results. Basic research which typically is a function of the state, and applied research and development which in a free market system have to be performed mainly by pri- vate-sector companies converge in these areas. For many high technologies, research stages do not follow one another from basic research in government re- search institutions to industrial application. As a tech- nology matures the working steps rather overlap in many ways. Scientific results which today are devel- oped in laboratories will tomorrow determine the suc- cess in new markets. Even at more advanced stages of technical development applied research falls back on results yielded by basic research. New technologies enable basic research to acquire more knowledge. In view of these developments the search for varied and flexible forms of cooperation becomes a central task of public and private research management. Joint efforts by science, industry and government are re- quired to speed up the translation of laboratory results into marketable products and processes, to acquire ap- plicable know-how to safeguard the world in which we live, and to implement environmentally friendly production processes. This is why promoting the in- tensity of the dialogue between the partners from in- dustry, science and society as well as furthering their willingness to engage in this dialogue are important elements of the Federal Government’s research and technology policy. Over the next few years at least, public budgets in the Federal Republic of Germany will have to operate un- der restrictive financial conditions. This is why govern- ment, industry, science and society have to arrive at the widest possible consensus in order to make use — on the basis of a division of labour — of opportunities to increase the efficiency of funds spent on research and development. Basic conditions for research need to be improved fur- ther so that performance, creativity and scientific com- petition at the international level can be furthered. Regulating research is only justified in those cases where other societal goals are affected; such regulation must be limited to what is absolutely necessary. Re- search in humans must not exceed the limits set by ethics. The genetic heritage of the Earth has to be pro- tected, creation to be cherished. In some areas, such as genetic engineering, practical experience gathered with