Co-ordinating research and technological development in Europe: Lessons from the German system

The Treaty on European Union which came into force on 1 November 1993 states that the Community and the Member States shall co-ordinate their research and technological development activities. This paper examines some of the issues that would have to be tackled in the pursuit of such an objective. It describes one model on which such co-ordination might be based—the organisation of research and development in Germany. It concludes that in this case coherence has been achieved, but only through consensus about the place of science within the national framework and a high degree of centralisation. Such centralisation and consensus is not, however, necessarily exclusive of local initiative.