Technologial policies in Europe

While governments in the advanced market economies have for many years beeninvolved in the formulation of policies designed to stimulate scientific advance and technologicalchange, it was not until the mid-1970s that explicit “innovation” policies emerged. Innovationpolicy represented an integration of the more traditional “industrial policy” and “scienceand technology policy”. During the early 1980s public policy emphasis once again shiftedwhen governments began to introduce so-called “technology policies”. Technology policy involvesthe selection and development of particular generic technologies or high-technologyproduct groups. Today all advanced European economies have adopted technology policies forthe support of information technology and biotechnology. This article discusses and comparestechnology policies in the United Kingdom, France, and the Federal Republic of Germany, aswell as policies operating at the European level promulgated by the EEC. JEL Classification: O38; O30.