Evidence from the USA
Bhaven N. Sampat
Columbia University
December 6, 2007
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Outline
Overview
The Early Years
WWII and the Bush
Report
Key themes in
postwar S&T policy
Conclusions
Outline
2 / 22
Overview
Outline
Overview
■
The Early Years
WWII and the Bush
Report
Key themes in
postwar S&T policy
Conclusions
■
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■
Historical overview of U.S. science and technology policy,
1783–2007
Pre–World War II: Little formal policy, outside of agriculture
The Watershed of World War II
Key argument: postwar policy: focuses mainly on promotion
of science, rather than specific technologies or industries
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Outline
The Early Years
Colonial era
1700s–early 1800s
mid–1800s to early
1900s: Emergence
of leadership in mass
production based
industries
Land Grants
Research Universities
Pre–World War II:
Summary
The Early Years
WWII and the Bush
Report
Key themes in
postwar S&T policy
Conclusions
4 / 22
Colonial era
Outline
The Early Years
Colonial era
1700s–early 1800s
mid–1800s to early
1900s: Emergence
of leadership in mass
production based
industries
Land Grants
Research Universities
Pre–World War II:
Summary
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■
Most S&T policy proposals during the founding era failed;
distrust of strong central government
Only mention of “science” in the U.S. Constitution: Article I,
Section 8
WWII and the Bush
Report
Key themes in
postwar S&T policy
Conclusions
5 / 22
1700s–early 1800s
Outline
■
The Early Years
Colonial era
1700s–early 1800s
mid–1800s to early
1900s: Emergence
of leadership in mass
production based
industries
Land Grants
Research Universities
Pre–World War II:
Summary
■
■
Indigenous technological community grows; decentralized
Important activities including montioring, adapting,
assimilating external technologies (social absorption
capability)
Much “catching up” via adapting, assimilating, stealing
technologies from frontier nations
WWII and the Bush
Report
Key themes in
postwar S&T policy
Conclusions
6 / 22
mid–1800s to early 1900s: Emergence of leadership in
mass production based industries
Outline
■
The Early Years
Colonial era
1700s–early 1800s
mid–1800s to early
1900s: Emergence
of leadership in mass
production based
industries
Land Grants
Research Universities
Pre–World War II:
Summary
■
■
■
American system of manufactures spurs industrialization
Begins with use of machine tools to produce rifles with large
numbers of standardized, interchangeable parts
Techniques of mass production spread to a range of
manufacturing industries
Sources of growth:
Large domestic market
Abundant natural resources
Shared cultural, linguistic networks faciliate diffusion of
best practice
◆ Organizational technologies
◆
◆
◆
WWII and the Bush
Report
Key themes in
postwar S&T policy
Conclusions
■
Little government S&T policy per se
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Land Grants
Outline
The Early Years
Colonial era
1700s–early 1800s
mid–1800s to early
1900s: Emergence
of leadership in mass
production based
industries
Land Grants
Research Universities
Pre–World War II:
Summary
WWII and the Bush
Report
Key themes in
postwar S&T policy
■
■
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■
■
Following advances in soil chemistry, recognition that new
knowledge can yield producitivity gains
1862 Morrill Act: applied universities doing research training
in agriculture
Later extended to mechanical arts
Focus on diffusion/dissemination in addition to knowledge
creation
Significant univeristy–industry interaction
Decentralized funding and competition encourages
“entrepreneurialism,” innovation, technology transfer
Conclusions
8 / 22
Research Universities
Outline
The Early Years
Colonial era
1700s–early 1800s
mid–1800s to early
1900s: Emergence
of leadership in mass
production based
industries
Land Grants
Research Universities
Pre–World War II:
Summary
■
■
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■
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Aside from the land grants, little “research” in leading
universities through much of U.S. history
Research universities emerge in late 1800s (Hopkins,
Chicago, Stanford)
The institutional form spreads in the pre-WWI years
(Harvard, Yale, Columbia)
Funded by private sector, philanthropies, not the government
Distrust of government funding by scientists
WWII and the Bush
Report
Key themes in
postwar S&T policy
Conclusions
9 / 22
Pre–World War II: Summary
Outline
The Early Years
Colonial era
1700s–early 1800s
mid–1800s to early
1900s: Emergence
of leadership in mass
production based
industries
Land Grants
Research Universities
Pre–World War II:
Summary
■
■
■
Division of labor: applied research in industrial laboratories,
land grant universities; basic research in handful of research
universities
Little formal STI policy, outside of agriculture
Despite this, U.S. at or near the technological frontier in
most industries at the eve of WWII
WWII and the Bush
Report
Key themes in
postwar S&T policy
Conclusions
10 / 22
Outline
The Early Years
WWII and the Bush
Report
World War II
Bush–Kilgore
Debates
Science the Endless
Frontier
The Bush Plan
Impact of the Bush
Report
WWII and the Bush Report
Key themes in
postwar S&T policy
Conclusions
11 / 22
World War II
Outline
■
The Early Years
■
WWII and the Bush
Report
World War II
Bush–Kilgore
Debates
Science the Endless
Frontier
The Bush Plan
Impact of the Bush
Report
Key themes in
postwar S&T policy
Conclusions
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■
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A technological war
FDR assembles the elite of the scientific and industrial
research communities to coordinate effort, led by Vannevar
Bush
Funding to a small number of elite institutions, mostly in
northeast
Key decisions made by elite civilian scientists
Science and technology win the war (atomic bomb, radar)
Science would no longer be an “orphan”; how to govern in
peacetime?
12 / 22
Bush–Kilgore Debates
Outline
■
Liberals, led by Kilgore, don’t like the wartime model
The Early Years
WWII and the Bush
Report
World War II
Bush–Kilgore
Debates
Science the Endless
Frontier
The Bush Plan
Impact of the Bush
Report
◆
◆
Want research funding to be less elite, more democratic
Want research to be directly responsive to social
objectives, not scientific goals
Key themes in
postwar S&T policy
Conclusions
13 / 22
Science the Endless Frontier
Outline
■
The Early Years
WWII and the Bush
Report
World War II
Bush–Kilgore
Debates
Science the Endless
Frontier
The Bush Plan
Impact of the Bush
Report
■
■
“Basic research is the pacemaker of technological progress”
(linear model)
“We cannot expect industry to fill the gap ... basic research
is non–commercial in nature” (market failure)
“Basic research performed without thought of practical
ends” (cannot plan)
Key themes in
postwar S&T policy
Conclusions
14 / 22
The Bush Plan
Outline
■
The Early Years
■
WWII and the Bush
Report
World War II
Bush–Kilgore
Debates
Science the Endless
Frontier
The Bush Plan
Impact of the Bush
Report
■
Significant funding for basic research
Key decisions made by scientists, on the basis of peer review
Only broad accountability
Key themes in
postwar S&T policy
Conclusions
15 / 22
Impact of the Bush Report
Outline
■
The Early Years
WWII and the Bush
Report
World War II
Bush–Kilgore
Debates
Science the Endless
Frontier
The Bush Plan
Impact of the Bush
Report
Key themes in
postwar S&T policy
Conclusions
■
Organizationally, minimal: Mission–oriented agencies
dominate funding in postwar era
Ideologically, siginificant:
Funding basic research is necessary, sufficient to realize
benefits of S&T
◆ Scientists in best position to determine allocation (peer
review)
◆ Micromanagement undesirable
◆ The “social contract” for science: government funds
science, scientists govern the allocation process, broad
accountablity
◆
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Outline
The Early Years
WWII and the Bush
Report
Key themes in
postwar S&T policy
Strains on the social
contract
The swinging
pendulum: patent
policy
Schitzophenia:
Technology and
Industrial Policy
Key themes in postwar S&T policy
Conclusions
17 / 22
Strains on the social contract
Outline
■
The Early Years
■
WWII and the Bush
Report
Key themes in
postwar S&T policy
Strains on the social
contract
The swinging
pendulum: patent
policy
Schitzophenia:
Technology and
Industrial Policy
■
Pork barrel versus peer review
What has science done for us lately?
Issue of the day: Measurement and evaluation, and a
“science” of science policy
Conclusions
18 / 22
The swinging pendulum: patent policy
Outline
■
The Early Years
■
WWII and the Bush
Report
Key themes in
postwar S&T policy
Strains on the social
contract
The swinging
pendulum: patent
policy
Schitzophenia:
Technology and
Industrial Policy
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■
■
Patent laws: balance tradeoffs between innovation, access
Patent policy shelved during Bush–Kilgore debates
Postwar era:
A range of “stronger” patent laws implemented in 1980s,
1990s in response to productivity crisis
Serious rethinking: patent reform the issue of the day
◆
Concern that overly broad patents, patents on science,
and “low quality” patents, could be hindering innovation
Conclusions
19 / 22
Schitzophenia: Technology and Industrial Policy
Outline
■
The Early Years
WWII and the Bush
Report
Key themes in
postwar S&T policy
Strains on the social
contract
The swinging
pendulum: patent
policy
Schitzophenia:
Technology and
Industrial Policy
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■
■
Aside from patents, little explicit civilian “technology policy”
in U.S.
Some exceptions, notable (moonshot, SEMATECH) and
obscure (MEP)
Resistance to “picking winners”
Bush report in part reponsible: sins of commission and
omission
But perhaps a de facto technology policy
Conclusions
20 / 22
Outline
The Early Years
WWII and the Bush
Report
Key themes in
postwar S&T policy
Conclusions
Concluding
Thoughts
Conclusions
21 / 22
Concluding Thoughts
Outline
■
The Early Years
WWII and the Bush
Report
Key themes in
postwar S&T policy
Conclusions
Concluding
Thoughts
■
■
■
In postwar era emphasis is on funding science: technology
policy has not been prominent
Little formal coordination across policies
Currently, significant uncertainty about what aspects of the
regime have have worked, and why
Strongest lesson from U.S. may be that we shouldn’t try to
draw strong lessons from the U.S.
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