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REPORTS - SPECIAL REPORTS |
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Methodological and Technological Issues in Technology Transfer |
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4.12.1 Publicly-funded research and publicly owned technology6
Historically, governments have played a key role in supporting research and development
through national laboratories, universities, and through international collaborative
ventures. In the report of the international expert meeting on the role of publicly-funded
research and publicly-owned technologies, it is stated that "…many governments
emphasise the contribution that public support to R&D can make to economic
competitiveness and the importance of commercialising publicly-funded R&D.
The country case studies presented at this meeting indicate that public funding
remains a major source for R&D activities in both industrialised and developing
countries. Public funding of R&D, according to the UNCTAD, UNEP and UNDESA
paper, usually takes two forms: general support to national R&D institutions
and laboratories, and direct funding of specific projects according to set government
priorities (UNCTAD et al., 1998). Investment by OECD governments in energy expanded
dramatically after the oil shocks, and was maintained at high levels during the
1970s, but overall government energy RTD has declined steadily since the early
1980s (Margolis and Kammen, 1999; Clark, 1999). However, some governments, especially
in Europe, have invested steadily rising amounts towards renewable energy and
other environmentally sound energy sources. The EU's fourth framework programme
on research and development for 1994 to 1998 provided significant financial resources
for non-nuclear activities. The framework programme also includes climate-related
research programmes such as EPOCH, and the science and technology for environmental
protection (STEP) programme. Many governments are very much aware of the international
dimension of global environmental degradation and the role of ESTs in addressing
the problems. A recent OECD study concluded that industrial output from non-OECD
countries will triple by the year 2010 as compared to 1990, and this would have
direct implication for cleaner production technologies; therefore, OECD member
countries must give attention to technology and information transfer (OECD, 1995).
There is a close relationship between the governments and the private sectors
because RTD results 'spill over'. The literature on the returns to RTD spending
consistently show that the social rate of return is higher than the private return
(for example, Evenson et al., 1979; Goto and Suzuki, 1989; Suzuki, 1993; Coe and
Helpman, 1995; Bernstein, 1996; Griliches, 1992). This is because part of the
return to RTD is a "public good" that cannot entirely be appropriated
by the organisation making the investment. It has been estimated that optimal
R&D investment is at least four times larger than actual RTD investment (Jones
and Williams, 1998). Similarly, the "new growth theory" has drawn the
attention of economists and development specialists to the spillovers from investments
in education and capital formation that raise social productivity above the gains
that can be realised by the private-sector agents making the investments (Romer,
1986a, 1986b, 1988, 1994; Lucas, 1988). These spill-overs constitute a strong
justification for public policy to raise the level of private investment. These
considerations apply to investments that transfer new and improved carbon-reduction
technologies.
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