Diana HICKS et Sylvan KATZ
STEEP Centre-Science Policy Research Unit University of Sussex Falmer
A NATIONAL RESEARCH NETWORK
VIEWED FROM AN INDUSTRIAL
PERSPECTIVE
Mots clés : Science, technologic collaboration, industrie, université. Key words : Science, technology, collaboration, industry, university.
Introduction
To analysts of science and technology policy, the relationship between science and technology is of enduring theoretical interest and increasing policy and management significance. The relationship can be problematic because science and technology, even if produced within one organisation, tends to be produced by different people. Thus useful scientific results have to be transferred to engineers in order for them to be incorporated in technology. Although the relationship between science and technology is fundamental, equally fundamental disagreements exist about its nature. These disagreements have at their core divergent views about what the outputs from basic research are and how easily they move from the site of their production to places where they can be applied.
To economists, scientific research produces discoveries and information. These are, or can be, codified and the resulting documents circulate easily around the economy, indeed around the world. Such information helps applied research by, for example, suggesting which areas might be fruitful to investigate and which are likely to be useless. Thus economists suggest we focus attention on externalities, examining the extent to which this freely circulating information has benefited industrial innovation. They believe that the free circulation of the information is of utmost importance for transferring scientific results to technologists and so should be encouraged by incentives and not restricted by misguided nationalism (David, 1995).
In contrast, sociologists demonstrate that research depends upon and generates an interwoven stream of heterogeneous assemblages comprising codified
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