U.S. Government Funding of Cooperative Research and Development in North America

U.S. Government Funding of Cooperative Research and Development in North America
Author: Caroline S. Wagner
Publisher: RAND Corporation
Total Pages: 74
Release: 1999
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN:

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Since 1993, U.S. government agencies have spent, on average, more than $100 million a year on research and development projects involving the participation of researchers from Canada and/or Mexico. These activities have been focused primarily on environmental, agricultural, and earth sciences, as well as biomedical and genetic research. The U.S. government's R&D relationship with these two countries, while having common scientific interests, differs in character: The R&D relationship with Canada has the quality of a partnership between equals. In contrast, the relationship with Mexico, while sound and growing, is not an equal exchange, being more formal and having more one-way transfer of information and assistance.

Cooperative Research and Development: The Industry—University—Government Relationship

Cooperative Research and Development: The Industry—University—Government Relationship
Author: Albert N. Link
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 231
Release: 2012-12-06
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 9400925220

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We must all hang together or surely we will all hang separately. Benjamin Franklin The significant apathy that characterized relationships between indus try and universities and the adversarial nature of relationships between industry and government have both faded rapidly in the 1980s as the realities of global competition have surfaced in the United States. Both industry and government leaders articulate a number of constructs for regaining our competitiveness in world markets. One of the more fre quent strategies prescribed in this new competitiveness era is cooperation. Different individuals or groups may espouse different definitions, inter pretations, or areas of emphasis, but the overall importance of this concept is substantial. Although examples of cooperative research have existed for several decades, the number and variety of relationships have expanded rapidly in the 1980s as corporations, universities, and governments have embraced this strategy. Joint ventures involving two or three firms increased from under 200 per year in the 1970s to over 400 per year by the mid-1980s. Multiple-firm cooperative arrangements are a more recent phenomenon, made possible by the National Cooperative Research Act of 1984. By mid- 1988,81 of these industry-level consortia had formed under the provisions of the 1984 Act. The rapid growth in cooperative research and development (R&D) is primarily a response to the pressures of international competition. As a corporate strategy, cooperative R&D meets short-term needs for assets to implement new approaches for coping with intensifying competition.

The Evaluation of Federal Programs in Agricultural Research, Education, and Extension

The Evaluation of Federal Programs in Agricultural Research, Education, and Extension
Author: United States. Congress. House. Committee on Agriculture. Subcommittee on Resource Conservation, Research, and Forestry
Publisher:
Total Pages: 368
Release: 1996
Genre: Technology & Engineering
ISBN:

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Three House of Representatives' subcommittee hearings were held in March, May, and July 1996 to evaluate the goals, priority setting, and advisory mechanisms of federal programs in agricultural research, education, and extension. To become competitive in global markets, farmers will need to rely on the research community to provide up-to-date technology and market information. The purpose of the hearings was to establish research priorities for the 21st century, improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the federal research investment, and improve accountability through the establishment of a coordinated advisory and priority setting mechanism. Testimony was received from U.S. Senators and Representatives; Under-Secretaries from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA); and spokespersons for agribusiness associations, agricultural science associations, research institutions, land grant universities, and the Extension Service. The following topics were discussed: the role of the National Center for Agricultural Utilization and Research (Peoria, Illinois) in commercialization of agricultural products; financial and political threats to the federal government's role in agricultural research and education; research priorities related to human nutrition, new agricultural and livestock pests and diseases, food safety, and farming's environmental issues; replacing petrochemical ingredients in industrial products with agriculture-based ingredients; proposed participants and processes in setting research priorities for government funding; importance of sustainable agriculture; the needs of rural families and communities that are not usually well supported in USDA budgets and extension programs; worldwide research on consumer food preferences; structure and funding of federally funded agricultural research programs conducted by land grant universities, the USDA Agricultural Research Service, and the agribusiness industry; and the role and methods of the Cooperative Extension Service in disseminating research-based information to farmers. (SV)

Cooperative Research Centers and Technical Innovation

Cooperative Research Centers and Technical Innovation
Author: Craig Boardman
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 337
Release: 2012-09-18
Genre: Science
ISBN: 1461443881

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At a time when scientific and technical innovation now requires a multitude of heterogeneous inputs and expertise from the public and private sectors alike, cooperative research centers (CRCs) have emerged as the predominant vehicle for cross-sector collaboration. In the U.S. alone, there are thousands of CRCs on university campuses, and agencies like the National Science Foundation, National Institutes of Health, Department of Defense, and more recently the Department of Energy fund CRCs to address some of the nation’s most formidable challenges with science and technology, including cancer and other diseases, terrorism surveillance and the detection of weapons of mass destruction, and new energy technologies and smart energy grid development. Industry oftentimes participates in CRCs for access to knowledge, capacity development, and to mitigate risk. This volume includes research investigating CRCs from North America, Europe, Australia, and Asia to explore the dynamics of CRCs, including but not limited to resource allocation, structure, level of sponsorship, organization and membership, management and operations, objectives and goals, and in doing so identifies both differences and similarities across institutional and national contexts. The volume sheds light on the role of CRCs in promoting innovation, S&T policy, and economic development, and on the practical aspects of successful CRC management. Moreover, the works included in the volume consider the implications for the various stakeholder groups (firms, universities, researchers, students, policymakers) invested in CRCs.

Colleges of Agriculture at the Land Grant Universities

Colleges of Agriculture at the Land Grant Universities
Author: National Research Council
Publisher: National Academies Press
Total Pages: 166
Release: 1995-10-27
Genre: Technology & Engineering
ISBN: 0309052955

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Although few Americans work as farmers these days, agriculture on the whole remains economically importantâ€"playing a key role in such contemporary issues as consumer health and nutrition, worker safety and animal welfare, and environmental protection. This publication provides a comprehensive picture of the primary education system for the nation's agriculture industry: the land grant colleges of agriculture. Colleges of Agriculture at the Land Grant Universities informs the public debate about the challenges that will shape the future of these colleges and serves as a foundation for a second volume, which will present recommendations for policy and institutional changes in the land grant system. This book reviews the legislative history of the land grant system from its establishment in 1862 to the 1994 act conferring land grant status on Native American colleges. It describes trends that have shaped agriculture and agricultural education over the decadesâ€"the shift of labor from farm to factory, reasons for and effects of increased productivity and specialization, the rise of the corporate farm, and more. The committee reviews the system's three-part missionâ€"education, research, and extension serviceâ€"and through this perspective documents the changing nature of funding and examines the unique structure of the U.S. agricultural research and education system. Demographic data on faculties, students, extension staff, commodity and funding clusters, and geographic specializations profile the system and identify similarities and differences among the colleges of agriculture, trends in funding, and a host of other issues. The tables in the appendix provide further itemization about general population distribution, student and educator demographics, types of degree programs, and funding allocations. Concise commentary and informative graphics augment the detailed statistical presentations. This book will be important to policymakers, administrators, educators, researchers, and students of agriculture.

Technology Exchange

Technology Exchange
Author: John N. Lesko
Publisher:
Total Pages: 200
Release: 1995
Genre: Science
ISBN:

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International Cooperation in Research and Development

International Cooperation in Research and Development
Author: Caroline S. Wagner
Publisher: RAND Corporation
Total Pages: 0
Release: 1997
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 9780833025753

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The United States spends considerable sums on international cooperation in research and development (ICRD). Policymakers have expressed concerns about these cooperative activities. Some fear that the United States is paying more than its fair share of the work's cost. Others worry that the country is giving away critical technologies to potential foreign competitors. Additional concerns have been voiced that cooperative programs subordinate the interests of true science to strategic or political ends. These claims are difficult to test, however, for a number of reasons: the large number of projects; the long timelines of projects; and the focus on reporting research results, not measuring larger benefits. This report uses information from the RAND RaDiUS research and development (R&D) database, complemented by agency interviews, to catalogue international cooperative R&D and to construct a framework for assessing benefits the United States may derive from participation in such research. Based on the framework of metrics developed for this project, the author also presents a case study examining cooperation in earthquake sciences and seismology to test the ability of these metrics to provide feedback on benefits.

International Cooperation in Research and Development

International Cooperation in Research and Development
Author: Caroline S. Wagner
Publisher: RAND Corporation
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2001
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 9780833029256

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Scientific research is becoming increasingly more globalized and more collaborative. At the same time, there is growing pressure within the United States to justify government funding for science and technology (S&T). The potential conflict between these developments raises questions of whether U.S. investment in S&T benefits U.S. taxpayers and whether investment in scientific capacity building overseas has created competition rather than mere assistance. To understand the answers to these questions, this report describes the scope and nature of U.S. spending on international cooperative research and development (ICRD) in fiscal year (FY) 1997. Most spending (over 90 percent) is for collaboration on common research problems among scientists from different countries. Aerospace S&T dominated spending, with biomedical science a distant second. This book finds that the federal government spent $4.4 billion on ICRD in FY 1997, an increase of $1.1 billion over FY 1995. However, this figure may reflect better data collection and increased reporting, rather than an actual increase in spending. The only notable change in the two-year period involves a substantial increase in cooperative activity with Russia, tied heavily to space-related projects.