Time to rethink the roles in R&D

"Many [government] policies on S&T [science and technology] are being restyled into innovation policies. Moreover, the predominance of the private sector in countries that have succeeded in developing and applying S&T suggests that there is a need to rethink the roles of governments, universities and research institutes."

That's how the introduction to UNESCO Science Report 2005 opens up a debate on the subject. This data mine, the report claims, "provide ample, remarkable evidence" for the notion that everything has changed on the R&D front, and that the private sector now calls the shots.

"The importance of the private sector’s role is reflected in the fact that it finances the lion’s share of national R&D in the developed nations. For every country or region aspiring to play a role in today’s emerging knowledge societies, this is now an ineluctable challenge that goes beyond simply making funds available for R&D from the public purse. The private sector must play a leading role and this role can no longer be stimulated artificially by massive government subsidies."

The report also says that it is important "to develop systematically the interaction between universities, research institutes, enterprises, local and regional governments, chambers of commerce, schools, banks, venture capital funds or private investors. This will result in networks or systems of innovation and clusters of economic activity, the very fabric out of which innovative economies and societies are woven; for even in a globalizing world where ICT is driving global technology flows, local, regional and national knowledge networks play a crucial role in shaping innovative success and social progress."

It does, though, warn against confusing the roles played by the various parties. "The private sector plays a crucial role in both the innovation cycle and the technology cycle, but much less so in the science cycle. That is one reason for the private sector to strengthen links with universities. Universities and institutes for basic science dominate the science cycle, but for them too, closer links with industry or public sector stakeholders have become essential."