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FY1991 Title V Report on Science, Technology and American Diplomacy [2]
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FY1991 Title V Report on Science, Technology and American Diplomacy [2]
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Records of the White House Office of Press Secretary (George H. W. Bush Administration)
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Joint research in medical and health care will receive modest support through the
new U.S.-Czechoslovakia Science and Technology Agreement. However, access to
information available in the United States and elsewhere remains severely limited
due to budget stringencies that curtail subscriptions to basic medical journals and
on-line medical data bases, and limit attendance at international symposia.
Czechoslovakia also looks to the U.S. for assistance in developing medical and
health care organization, delivery and financing systems. USAID is funding Project
HOPE activities that focus on nursing education and women's and neonatal care, as
well as developing biomedical engineering programs.
Energy, Environment and Economics
Acquisition of reliable, environmentally benign sources of energy at both low cost
and free market prices is an elusive and perhaps not entirely realizable goal for
Czechoslovakia. However, as a country that has a very wasteful energy input-output
production ratio and some of the world's most serious environmental pollution
problems, and is dependent upon unstable neighbors for a large portion of its energy
supplies, Czechoslovakia can reap substantial incremental benefits from the right
mix of energy, environment and economic assistance and reforms.
There has been considerable U.S. government and private sector assistance in this
area. For example:
USAID provides technical assistance to the Czechoslovak government, including
advisors in environmental policy.
A 5-year, USAID-funded cooperative program between the Czechoslovak
Academy of Sciences and Florida A&M University will use mayflies, an aquatic
invertebrate thought to be very sensitive to environmental changes, to assess
environmental pollution caused by the burning of soft coal. This research project is
to be the first in a series of bilateral links with universities.
In environmental management, a center for a clean air policy assistance program
has been developed for local and regional governments, under a cooperative
agreement with USAID.
A $4 million USAID program with non-governmental organizations conducts
sectoral analyses in agriculture, energy and industry.
Battelle Pacific Northwest Laboratory, supported by USAID through the
Department of Energy, is working with Czechoslovak scientists, non-governmental
organizations, industry and government representatives to promote energy
efficiency, through the Center for Energy Efficiency in Prague. The program
encompasses policy research and development, promotion of private joint ventures
in energy-efficient technologies and services, training and demonstration projects,
and public education and information services.
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USAID, the Department of Energy and the Environmental Protection Agency
have established a joint regional energy efficiency project that continues and
expands assistance provided under the current U.S. Emergency Energy Program.
The four year, $34 million regional project seeks to improve energy efficiency,
reduce energy-related environmental damage and develop the policy and
institutional framework for energy investment and trade.
Emerging Technologies
Cooperation in critical technology areas is heavily dependent upon a country's
possession of advanced technology, much of which Czechoslovakia lacks.
Czechoslovakia nonetheless possesses some excellent scientific talent, especially at
the basic research end of the spectrum, in selected areas of optics, materials science,
life sciences, physics and chemistry which have broad technological applications.
Trip reports from U.S. scientists suggest that some world class work is being
conducted in a number of research institutes. Czechoslovak scientists are actively
seeking contacts with Western colleagues, but they often lack funding, specialized
laboratory equipment, and specific information about work taking place abroad and
on procedures for applying for joint research grants.
The Czech and Slovak Academies of Science are cooperating to promote the
development of industrial research in conjunction with selected domestic
universities and investment agencies.
Agriculture and Natural Resources
The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Cochran Fellowship Program provides high
quality training to Czechoslovak scientists on agricultural systems necessary to
meet domestic food needs and strengthen trade links with U.S. agricultural
interests. In FY-1991, 12 scientists (six each from the Czech lands and Slovakia)
received training in agricultural credit and banking; agricultural production,
marketing, service and supply industries; dairy breeding; sugar agribusiness; drug
use in animal feed; and privatization of veterinary services. Additional such
programs were slated for FY-1991. The Department of Agriculture also supports
exchanges of scientists and agricultural research administrators.
USAID provides a grant to Volunteers in Overseas Cooperative Assistance
(VOCA), a private, non-profit organization helping to promote development of
private agribusiness and other support systems for private farmers in
Czechoslovakia. USDA's Economic Research Service plans to work with
Czechoslovak counterparts to develop an institutional capability to carry out the
economic analyses necessary to support the emergence of a market economy. It is
also providing a commodity outlook program and technical assistance and training
in applied market economics, to assist government analysts and decision makers.
Finally, the Economic Research Service is helping Czechoslovakia develop a
domestic agricultural information collection, analysis and dissemination program.
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EUROPEAN COMMUNITY
General
The EC affords its research, development, and environmental policies equal status
with the other major areas of community policy in accordance with the Single
European Act of 1987. The Act calls for a framework program laying down the
objectives, priorities and overall budget for the community's R&D activities. It
allows for international cooperation in support of these objectives. The Act
stipulates that there be coordination between EC R&D policy, establishment of the
European common internal market, and implementation of Community policies
related to trade and competitiveness. The general approach used in deciding what
S&T the EC should support is "subsidiarity," i.e., only those things which require
intra-EC cooperation.
The EC made progress during FY-1991 toward full adoption of its framework
program of "pre-competitive" research for the years 1990-1994 (funded at a level of
$6.4 billion). The program includes the areas of information and communication
technologies, industrial and materials technologies, environment, marine science,
biotechnology, agricultural and agro-industrial research, biomedical and health
research, nuclear fission safety, nuclear fusion research, non-nuclear energies,
technology for developing countries, and development of human resources in the
S&T area. The EC also advanced proposals for S&T cooperation with eastern
Europe.
The U.S. and the EC continued during FY-1991 to broaden and strengthen their
cooperative relationship in science and technology. Central to this effort was the
first meeting, in February 1991, of the U.S./EC Joint Consultative Group on Science
and Technology -- a consultative body to consider priorities and mechanisms for
future S&T collaboration. Topics discussed included information technology,
biotechnology, energy and environment, cooperative S&T opportunities with eastern
Europe, and participation in international large-scale science initiatives.
Basic Science
With respect to large-scale science projects, the U.S. and EC co-sponsored a
meeting in Brussels involving the President's Council of Advisors on S&T
(PCAST) and senior European S&T officials to exchange views on international
collaboration in "megaprojects." One current example of such collaboration is the
International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) project. Representatives
from the participating entities, the U.S., EC, Japan, and USSR, reached agreement
during FY-1991 on location and plans for the project's next phase, engineering
design.
Health and Life Sciences
In the biomedical and health area, the EC Commission seeks to maximize the
effectiveness of member state investments in health research and to stimulate
Europe's diverse laboratories to provide a research base for emerging
bio-industries. EC projects emphasize work on (a) illnesses and conditions with
particular social impact -- AIDS, cancer therapeutic techniques, cardiovascular
disease, nutrition and development, neurological diseases and mental health;
-116-
(b) harmonization of clinical protocols, analytical methods, and use of biomedical
materials; and (c) human genome analysis. The Commission also attaches high
priority to addressing the health and environment needs of developing countries.
During FY-1991, U.S. and EC experts met routinely to exchange views on
biomedical and health issues. Also in 1991, a third in a series of meetings was held
between the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Commission to
discuss S&T concerns in the areas of food, human and veterinary medicines, human
biologics, and convening of a special session on medical devices.
Energy, Environment, and Economics
A major goal of the Commission is to harmonize environmental standards within
the Community, with particular emphasis on fulfilling the EC's commitment to
stabilization of CO₂ emissions. The EC is represented in international
environmental fora, working towards common positions on such issues as global
climate change and ozone layer protection. Two main issues for Europe in the
energy area are dependence on energy imports, and the damage to the environment
often associated with energy production, transportation and consumption.
Most of ten major U.S.-EC S&T cooperation agreements or exchanges of letters
are in the areas of nuclear affairs, environment, and energy resources, including:
peaceful uses of atomic energy; radioactive waste management and nuclear safety;
nuclear reactor safeguards; renewable energy sources; health and environmental
effects of radiation; environmental matters; mineral technology; and controlled
thermonuclear fusion. As of the end of FY-1991, proposals for expansion or
renewal of U.S.-EC agreements were in abeyance as the two sides had not yet
achieved agreed language regarding allocation of intellectual property rights.
In FY-1991, U.S.-EC environmental bilaterals resulted in agreement to continue
periodic technical consultations on hazardous chemicals and on motor vehicle
emissions. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and EC
representatives worked on a statistical study of greenhouse gas emissions to
establish a common statistical base to aid research in this area.
U.S./EC annual energy consultations during FY-1991 included energy policy
issues such as the balancing of environmental and energy policy objectives and
global climate change. Officials from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) also
continued work with their EC counterparts on a study of the socioeconomic costs of
producing electricity from a variety of fuel sources.
Emerging Technologies
The Community's 1990-1994 R&D program addresses many research fields
associated with emerging technologies, including information and communications
technology, new materials, improved materials production processes, chemicals,
aeronautics, biotechnology, and bioecology.
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The issue of advanced technologies was a topic of considerable discussion at the
FY-1991 session of the U.S./EC High Technology Working Group, which meets
annually to review emerging high tech priorities and issues, including specific
trade-related concerns as well as opportunities for collaborative R&D activities.
Also in FY-1991, the U.S.-EC Task Force on Biotechnology Research convened its
second meeting to review respective activities. Included in these discussions was
the issue of promoting public acceptance of biotechnology. A meeting on
biotechnology and the environment was also convened in connection with U.S./EC
environmental consultations. Biotechnology was a topic on the 1991 agenda of the
U.S./EC High Technology Working Group.
Agriculture and Natural Resources
The Commission seeks to strengthen research and industrial applications in
agriculture and fisheries, oriented toward ensuring benefits particularly for small
and medium firms, harmonizing European guidelines in this sector, and benefiting
the environment. Research areas include: a) primary production in agriculture,
forestry, and aquaculture; b) agricultural and forestry "additives" -- environmentally
sound practices, pest control, management of genetically-modified organisms; c)
treatment of primary biological materials -- new processes of separation, extraction,
use of byproducts and waste management; and d) product utilization -- quality and
toxicological control, handling of biodegradable substances. During FY-1991, U.S.
and EC officials explored the possibility of strengthening cooperative activities in
these areas, consistent with similar U.S. bilateral efforts with EC member states.
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FRANCE
General
The French government continues to give high priority to research and
development (R&D) despite growing budgetary pressures. Government civil R&D
expenditures in 1992 are slated to increase by 7% over 1991, to 51.1 billion francs
($9.1 billion). Total national spending on R&D will rise to about 2.44% of GDP, a
percentage exceeded only by the United States, Germany and Japan. The French
government's share has remained stable at approximately 1.24%. Industry's
contribution has increased steadily in recent years, and, if current trends continue,
will match the government's share by 1993. Of government-funded R&D, about
one-third is defense-related.
Publicly-stated priorities for French R&D are: sustained R&D growth with the
objective of reaching an expenditure level of 3% of GDP, basic research, industrial
and technological research, and addressing the European dimension of R&D, e.g.,
through European cooperative programs.
French interest in U.S. science and technology remains high. Exchanges between
American and French researchers are active, although there is some concern in
France about the small number of U.S. researchers and students coming to France
for long-term stays. French science policy makers make it clear that they do not
want to see traditional French scientific ties with the U.S. weakened by the impetus
that EC economic union and European science programs are giving to
intra-European cooperation.
U.S.-France relations in the area of science and technology are generally healthy.
The French government shares U.S. concerns over the proliferation of nuclear
weapon and missile technology, as demonstrated by its decision announced in June
1991 to adhere to the nuclear nonproliferation treaty and by its active role in the
missile technology control regime.
France is a major participant, through the European Space Agency, in Space
Station Freedom and is also a leading proponent of an independent European
manned space program. France and the U.S. have differed in multilateral
negotiations over the need for targets and timetables to limit emissions of carbon
dioxide and other greenhouse gases. Under provisions of U.S. environmental
legislation, France has been identified as a high-seas driftnetting nation and as a
possible intermediary nation for embargoed tuna, which may lead to restrictions on
French fish exports to the United States. Differences on intellectual property rights
have held up the renewal of two bilateral science and technology cooperation
agreements, and French officials have called publicly for the revision of a 1987
Franco-American accord allocating patent rights for the AIDS virus blood test.
-119-
Basic Science
French basic research in such disciplines as particle and solid-state physics,
molecular biology, geophysics and mathematics is internationally respected. French
officials recognize that some institutional problems remain. Traditionally, a high
percentage of basic research has been carried out by civil servants working for
national government research institutions. At the largest one, the National Center
for Scientific Research (CNRS), almost 80% of the budget is for salaries, leaving
little for laboratories, equipment and materials. A modernization program has been
underway at CNRS for over a year but its impact has thus far been limited.
The rising cost of large-scale basic research facilities has been a matter of
concern. French officials look increasingly to international cooperation and
cost-sharing, particularly at the European level, as a possible solution. While the
French government has shown little interest in participating significantly in the
Superconducting Super Collider (SSC), it has favored strengthening research
capabilities at the European Particle Physics Research Center (CERN), located on
the French-Swiss border near Geneva. The European Synchrotron Radiation
Facility (ESRF), under construction in Grenoble, is scheduled for completion in
1993.
French investment in science (and R&D) is driven increasingly by concerns about
French commercial competitiveness, and the "competitiveness" of French defense
technology, which was perceived as wanting during the Persian Gulf War. These
priorities enjoy broad-based public support. France continues to give priority to its
grandes programmes" in space, aeronautics, nuclear energy, and
telecommunications. More recently, there has been increased emphasis on
computer and information technologies, micro-electronics and biotechnology.
Health and Life Sciences
Life sciences research in France is conducted principally by two public research
organizations, CNRS and the National Institute of Health and Medical Research
(INSERM), and by two government-supported private foundations, the Pasteur and
Curie Institutes. In addition, private firms are heavily involved in the development
of pharmaceuticals. French researchers played pioneering roles in genome
sequencing and AIDS research, and developed a contraceptive pill (RU-486) that is
already widely used in France and is under consideration in several other countries.
New information regarding the circumstances surrounding the discovery of the
AIDS virus has prompted French officials to call for the revision of a 1987
agreement dividing royalties from the AIDS blood test between U.S. and French
research teams. There has also been some controversy about U.S. connections with
French AIDS vaccine tests on human subjects.
-120-
Energy, Environment and Economics
The French government has in recent years placed increased emphasis on
environmental policy. In international fora, France has pushed for a ban on mineral
resource activities in Antarctica, called for targets and timetables to limit emissions
of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases, advocated a carbon tax to reduce EC
carbon dioxide emissions, and, in the context of the U.N. Conference on
Environment and Development (UNCED), called for new and additional assistance
for sustainable development in the Third World.
France has invested heavily in nuclear power, which now generates about
three-fourths of the country's electricity. The French government, which presides
over the world's second largest civilian nuclear program (after the U.S.), is
aggressively pursuing opportunities to market French nuclear technology abroad,
and has offered assistance to improve nuclear power plant safety in Central and
Eastern Europe. France has announced its intention to become a party to the nuclear
non-proliferation treaty, and to apply full-scope safeguards to transfers of nuclear
technologies.
Emerging Technologies
Notwithstanding such technological successes as the Ariane launcher, the TGV
high-speed train, the Airbus commercial aircraft, and the MINITEL Videotex
system, the French government remains concerned about the country's industrial
competitiveness. It has adopted tax incentives and other programs to encourage
industrial research and transfer of technology from government laboratories to
industry.
A special organization, the National Agency for the Promotion of Research
(ANVAR), was created in 1982 to promote industrial innovation and technological
development among small and medium enterprises. Since its founding, ANVAR
has invested approximately 11 billion francs ($2 billion) in 15,000 French firms.
The French are also looking increasingly to strategic acquisitions or alliances,
particularly of or with European and U.S. firms, to strengthen their position in
high-technology industries.
Agriculture and Natural Resources
In France, the world's number two exporter of agricultural products, government
policies have favored the agricultural sector and agricultural R&D. The National
Institute for Agronomic Research (INRA), with an annual budget of about 2.9
billion francs ($519 million), is the principal national organization for agricultural
research. Its mission is to carry out research on agricultural productivity, food
storage and processing, biotechnology, energy and chemicals from agriculture, and
natural resource management. Other government agencies involved in the
agriculture and resource sectors are the National Center for Agricultural Machinery,
Rural Engineering, Rivers, and Forests (CEMAGREF), with an annual budget of
about 184 million ($33 million); the Center for International Cooperation in
Agriculture and Development (CIRAD) (619 million francs/$111 million); and the
Institute for Scientific Research for Cooperative Development (ORSTOM) (952
million francs/$170 million).
-121-
GERMANY
General
The severe pressures on the German federal budget due to the costs of reunification
slowed the growth of federal funding for civil research 1991. The focal points for
Germany's S&T planning are restructuring and rebuilding of science and technology
in the five new states in eastern Germany; strengthening the competitiveness of
small and medium-sized companies; and building German competence in new
research fields. Almost 18% of the federal research budget, the largest single slice,
is allocated to space science and technology, followed by information technology,
environment and climate research, nuclear energy research, and health sciences. Of
these, the only areas where substantial growth in funding support is planned for
1992 are space science and technology (about 4.6%) and environment (6.8%).
On October 3, 1990, German reunification started the process of amalgamating the
science community of the former German Democratic Republic (GDR) with that of
the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG). Since funds for equipping these facilities
in the east with new instrumentation and for supporting the new research teams
being formed must come primarily from the federal research budget, federal
budgetary support has had to be curtailed for much of the research performed at
established scientific centers in western Germany.
The task of restructuring science and technology in the five eastern German states
has placed a heavy burden on the German science budget in the short run. However,
new research programs that are being established will strengthen German scientific
endeavors over the longer term. Areas of strength for the emerging research
institutes in eastern Germany include bio-medicine, optics, high energy physics, and
the geosciences. The research facilities and a portion of the manpower of the former
GDR science establishment are being integrated as part of the institutions (e.g., the
Max Planck Society and Frauenhofer Society institutes) of the FRG, and scientific
research is being linked more closely to the universities in eastern Germany.
Basic Science
Despite the pull of EC-centered programs, the German research community
continues to regard the United States as its most important scientific partner. The
success of U.S./German science cooperation is due in large part to the growing
number of researchers who participate in international exchanges. Over 5,600
scholars from both countries now take part in exchange programs each year, and the
number of university-to-university exchange programs now exceeds 200.
With German science regaining the preeminence it achieved prior to World War II,
scientific exchanges are anticipated to expand. For American scientists visiting
Germany, the primary interest has been physics/astrophysics/astronomy, followed
by biosciences, and then by chemistry/pharmacy/food sciences. German scientists
visiting the U.S. have been primarily interested in the biosciences and in medicine
and veterinary medicine, followed by physics/astrophysics/astronomy and then by
-122-
mathematics/statistics/computer sciences. The German research foundation (DFG)
has initiated new programs to support short-term visits from eastern Germany, thus
helping to provide opportunities for establishing research collaboration with this
emerging science community.
In contrast to the flourishing of contacts between individual researchers, proposals
for increased cooperation between U.S. and German technical agencies have been
held in abeyance in many fields as efforts continue to find a formula for protecting
intellectual property rights that is acceptable to both governments. Areas in which
proposals for new agreements as well as renewal of existing ones have been put on
hold include non-nuclear energy technology, the geosciences, health sciences and
nuclear safety. However, cooperation in space and environment programs has
continued to grow.
Space research and technology is a particularly important area of science
cooperation between the United States and Germany. Germany plans to supply the
propulsion module subsystem and scientific instrumentation for the Comet
Rendezvous and Flyby (CRAF) mission currently scheduled for launch by the
mid-1990's. Germany also contributed one of the four high energy telescopes for
the U.S. Gamma Ray Observatory, which was launched in April, 1991. In Spring
1993, a shuttle launch will be dedicated to carrying aloft a German spacelab, D-2.
Working through the European Space Agency (ESA), Germany is a major
participant in Columbus, the European contribution to Space Station Freedom.
Although Germany has not decided to contribute to the Superconducting Super
Collider (SSC), the German high energy physics community has expressed strong
interest in collaboration on the next generation of major projects, including
detectors, accelerator technology, and superconducting cavities. U.S. researchers
are participating in the Hadron Electron Ring Accelerator (HERA) project, which
should be commissioned in early 1992 and is part of the German electron
synchrotron facility in Hamburg (DESY).
The German continental drilling program in Windischeschenbach in northeast
Bavaria has attracted widespread international interest. NSF has funded two
projects related to this program, and ten more have been proposed. Pending a
resolution of the intellectual property rights issue, DOE has been participating on an
informal basis in the program. A ten-kilometer-deep bore hole is being drilled to
examine the suture between two continental plates. Drilling has already reached a
depth of 4,500 meters and is expected to be completed in 1994.
Health and Life Sciences
Bio-medicine was one of the relatively few areas in which the former GDR
research institutes clearly excelled. German research capabilities will be
considerably strengthened as the eastern and western German research programs are
linked. The German gene-engineering program amounts to only one-tenth of the
U.S.'s in terms of funding and manpower, but produces output of high quality in
certain areas.
-123-
Energy, Environment and Economics
Reflecting the widespread public support for an activist approach, Germany has
taken a number of major technology-forcing initiatives to address environmental
concerns. Prior to reunification, the cabinet set a goal of reducing CO₂ emissions
by 25% by the year 2005, a goal which the parliament increased to 30% following
unification. The technological paths for complying with these regulations or
meeting these goals have in most cases not been fully defined. German industry has
been encouraged to develop and implement its own solutions in ways which
minimize the economic impact.
For its part, German industry has pressed the government to campaign for similar
initiatives on a global, or at least a European, basis so that it will not be at a
competitive disadvantage. An energy strategy is being prepared which will set forth
the principal steps required to meet Germany's CO₂ emissions target. An EC-wide
energy tax is expected to be an important element of this strategy. It is not yet clear
whether additional reliance upon nuclear power will also be a key element, since
strong public concern over nuclear safety would first have to be successfully
addressed. There is substantial U.S.-German interaction in areas such as fusion,
through the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor; fission, on various
advanced reactors programs; and renewable technologies, through the International
Energy Agency.
Emerging Technologies
German research funding is oriented increasingly towards information
technologies, manufacturing processes and technologies, biotechnology, physics
technologies, lasers, materials research, and the environmental sciences. Special
government programs encourage research in new fields such as biosensors,
neurobiology, brain research, and nano technologies, together with the transfer of
these technologies to the private sector.
Biotechnology research programs have been productive. Research discoveries at
genetic research centers in Heidelberg, Cologne and Munich have been the basis of
a growing number of pharmaceuticals based on recombinant DNA. These German
laboratories have attracted a rising number of foreign visitors, including U.S.
post-doctoral researchers. At the same time, German researchers have been
constrained by legislation restricting genetic screening and by narrow interpretation
of other laws governing biotechnology. This restrictive regulatory environment
reflects long standing and deeply held public concerns about genetic research.
These restrictions have led German industry to move much of its biotechnology
activity abroad, including to the United States.
Agriculture and Natural Resources
The federal Agriculture Ministry's research budget increased by over 50% between
1990 and 1991, reflecting in part the requirements for funding research programs in
the five new states in eastem Germany. Strong German research programs in
animal health and animal nutrition have provided opportunities for fruitful bilateral
collaboration. U.S. and German scientists have also cooperated on programs keyed
to the third world, such as grasshopper eradication in the Sahel.
-124-
HUNGARY
General
During FY-1991, its first full year of implementation, the U.S.-Hungarian Science
and Technology Joint Fund granted a total of U.S. $1.0 million and the equivalent in
Hungarian currency to 49 projects. Approval of funding was in accordance with
priorities stipulated in the Joint Fund Agreement of October 1989: basic science
20%, environmental protection 20%, agriculture 14%, medical sciences and health
14%, engineering research 14%, energy and natural resources 14%, others 4%.
Fundamental reform continued in Hungary's scientific community, particularly at
the Academy of Science (MTA) and its 39 constituent institutes. Designed to free
scientific research from traditional bureaucratic constraints, a new draft Academy
Act which would establish self-governing status for the MTA was submitted to
Hungary's Parliament and was due to be considered in early 1992. In addition,
institute directors are now elected directly by the institute boards and only
confirmed by the MTA secretary general. Previously, institute directors had been
appointed by the Secretary General.
Many organizational and policy changes have taken place at the National
Technical Development Committee (OMFB), the coordinating body for Hungary's
S&T programs. In February 1991, the Hungarian government decreed that OMFB's
Office of International Relations will manage all S&T agreements with
industrialized countries. A new open grant system was created concurrently, funded
initially at 6 billion Hungarian forints (1 U.S. dollar equals about 70 forints) and
open to both Hungarian and foreign researchers and corporations resident in
Hungary. Under the new system, peer review and grant decisions are conducted
outside OMFB to preserve integrity and independence.
Hungary's scientific ties with European Community programs continued to
multiply. A joint S&T subcommittee with the EC was set up in December 1990 to
study how Hungary could be more effectively integrated into European scientific
programs. In April 1991, Hungary signed a cooperative S&T agreement with the
European space agency. There were discussions on possible membership for
Hungary by mid-1992 in CERN, the European nuclear research agency. The
Hungarian Academy of Science has been a member of the European Science
Foundation since late 1990.
Basic Science
MTA and the institutes continued to face increasingly stringent budgetary
constraints. Efforts continued to cut expenses, for example, through workforce
attrition. MTA granted more financial leeway to the institutes, and, most
noteworthy, permission for the institutes to earn income on their own.
To address the budget problem, and specifically to assure foreign collaborators that
adequate Academy resources would be available, the MTA Presidium examined
new schemes to strengthen the Academy's financial position and to institute
-125-
forward budgeting procedures. MTA has received government funding in monthly
installments. As of late FY-1991, a proposal was under active consideration that
MTA receive its entire annual budget appropriation in one lump sum, allowing the
academy to utilize these funds as it sees fit.
Cooperative MTA agreements currently exist with over 35 countries. In 1990 and
1991, new agreements were signed with counterpart academies or agencies in
Belgium, France, Israel, Norway, Estonia, Taiwan, Sweden, Finland, and
UNESCO. The volume of exchanges dropped 25% in the last year, principally with
the Soviet Union (down from 450 in 1990 to 100 in 1991). The number of
exchanges with western countries remained constant.
The U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) and the Hungarian Academy of
Science organized a two-stage workshop on science policy in Washington April 29 -
May 2, 1991 and in Tihany, Hungary September 29 - October 3, 1991. The
workshop examined each country's national research system, the bilateral
relationship and how it could be strengthened, and Hungary's formulation of a new
science policy. Of special value to the Hungarians was information on the U.S. peer
review and competitive grant systems. In addition to the NSF-MTA workshop,
three representatives of the Hungarian scientific establishment received USAID
fellowships for a one month program to study the U.S. peer review system.
In an attempt better to coordinate scientific research and post-graduate training,
help young university researchers keep pace with developments in their fields, and
make institute expertise available to universities, MTA established "the Athenaeum
Project." This comprises a commission of representatives from the Academy and
Hungarian universities, which has been tasked to elaborate a common national
system of post-graduate scientific curricula designed to preserve high standards for
degrees in science.
Hungary remained highly concerned over a perceived brain drain of top scientists,
especially to the U.S. In the last year the requirement was dropped that Hungarian
scientists obtain permission of Academy or other supervisory authorities in order to
travel, and many are expected to seek out the best research opportunities available
outside of Hungary. On the positive side, most scientists already outside of
Hungary maintain contacts with their former Hungarian institutions.
Health and Life Sciences
Concept legislation for a complete overhaul of Hungary's health care and social
insurance system pointed to adoption of a western European health and social
insurance model in due course. While the level of collaboration between the
National Institutes of Health (NIH) and Hungarian medical institutions remained
essentially unchanged during the past year, additional U.S.-sponsored health related
programs for Hungary were channelled through USAID. Two projects under the
Partnerships in Health Care program for central and eastern Europe were approved.
An influenza vaccine program begun in 1990, sponsored by USAID and managed
through Project HOPE, continued. Project HOPE commenced programs in
post-secondary education for nurses and postgraduate health management training at
medical schools.
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Energy, Environment and Economics
Hungary continued to grapple with crafting a full range of economic and
environmental laws to replace the existing discredited legal structure. With the
assistance of outside experts, the Ministry of Environment and Regional Planning
continued drafting a completely revamped environmental code which incorporates
OECD-type policies, standards and penalties. However, the difficulties confronted
by the GOH in its efforts to implement, within the existing regulatory vacuum, laws
on privatization, banking, investment, and other essential financial and economic
issues distracted parliamentary attention from proposed environmental legislation.
Serious consideration of an environmental code by Parliament was not expected to
take place before early 1992.
In July 1991, EPA and USAID reached agreement with Hungary on specific areas
for bilateral environmental cooperation. Primary focal points of the agreement
were: 1) policy, strategic planning and management; 2) education and public
awareness; 3) legal and regulatory frameworks; 4) pollution remedying and
mitigation; 5) international cooperation; and 6) natural resources management.
The first step in the EPA/AID assistance program was long-term assignment of a
senior institutional analyst to assist with local government programs.
Most domestic fuel and energy price subsidies were eliminated by July 1991. In
order to cushion the impact of these price increases on lower income energy
consumers, and as a condition for a USAID energy sector grant, the GOH was to
budget resources to assist these groups. The USAID program seeks to support the
institution of a system to monitor and regulate energy consumption and to help the
GOH continue policy reform. In addition, USAID, in cooperation with the
Department of Energy and the Environmental Protection Agency, agreed on an
energy assistance package for Hungary to improve energy efficiency, reduce
energy-related environmental damage, and develop a policy and institutional
framework for energy investment and trade.
The extent of serious environmental damage at former Soviet bases became clear
only after the final withdrawal of Soviet troops in June 1991. Much direct
contamination occurred shortly before the troops' departure. Action to reverse
spreading groundwater pollution from the bases became a top priority but resource
constraints will likely make the cleanup agonizingly slow.
A longstanding heated controversy remained between Hungary and the Slovak
Republic over completion of the allegedly environmentally unsound
Gabcikovo-Nagymaros hydroelectric project on the Danube river. With widespread
public support, the GOH has decided to dismantle the Nagymaros portion of the
project, which is wholly located on Hungarian soil, and restore the Danube bend to
its original state. Dismantling work could begin in 1992. Stated Slovak intentions
to complete the Gabcikovo portion unilaterally led to confrontations with
environmentalists and a serious row with the Hungarian government.
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Regional Environmental Center for Central and Eastern Europe
During his July 1989 visit to Hungary, President Bush announced a U.S.
Government initiative to establish in Budapest a Regional Environmental Center
(REC) for central and eastern Europe. By the end of its first year of operation in
September 1991, the Regional Environmental Center had already approved over 100
grants totalling approximately 1.3 million ECU's for distribution to central and
eastern European environmental non-governmental organizations (NGO's);
established an environmental clearinghouse network and database for environmental
information; co-sponsored numerous workshops and conferences in the region; and
created a system to facilitate business collaboration and assistance. The USG's
three-year, $5 million contribution to support the REC leveraged donations from the
EC and its member countries, and from Canada and Japan. In-kind contributions
from regional governments and the private sector were also forthcoming.
During its first year, most of the Center's programs and grants were oriented
toward Hungary, but during FY-1991 the Center expanded its outreach to member
countries. As of the end of FY-1991, four focus centers were to be set up soon in
Warsaw, Bratislava, Bucharest and Sofia. They are to be linked to Budapest
through a "RECNET" computer network, whose establishment was to benefit from
considerable "pro bono" work by a U.S. firm. The Center hopes that the focus
centers will help to decentralize REC activities, enhance the dispersal of
information and help overcome the severe communications, financial and
transportation infrastructure handicaps which afflict central and eastem Europe.
Emerging Technologies
In April 1991, the GOH created an Office for International Technology
Cooperation (NTEI) to support the spread of advanced technologies for commercial
purposes. To encourage foreign capital investment in Hungary, NTEI locates and
promotes indigenous technologies, usually those being developed at institutes of the
Hungarian Academy of Science, which have commercial potential but require
additional development and capital. An NTEI seminar on the commercialization of
technology, co-sponsored by the U.S. Department of Commerce, was held in
Budapest in September of 1991.
Hungary possesses significant commercial and collaborative potential in the areas
of biotechnology, software development, chemistry and agro-technologies. Those
areas which Hungarians believe could greatly benefit from more collaboration with
U.S. industry include applied fields such as energy, environmental protection, and
space research.
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INDIA
General
India has a long tradition of scholarship. It has a very large science establishment
with several elite research and teaching institutions. Most research is carried out at
institutions of the central government (Council of Scientific and Industrial Research,
Atomic Energy Commission, Department of Space) or at universities that are
centrally funded. India is also among the world's largest industrial nations, but
there is an almost complete dichotomy between industry and trade on one side and
the scientific establishment on the other. This largely frustrates the expectation that
science and technology will enable India to feed, house and employ its masses of
people. Only the chemical industry collaborates closely with academic research,
and the rate of innovation in the rest of Indian industry is low. Indian scientists
rarely work on problems with direct industrial or commercial applications. S&T
collaborations between the United States and India are therefore generally limited to
fundamental scientific research.
Indo-U.S. collaborations began in the early 1960s, first in agriculture, then in
education, life sciences and medical services, and finally in a broad range of
scientific areas. As these collaborations expanded, both governments began to
realize their political value. Several U.S. Presidents and Indian Prime Ministers
have pointed to this connection and, beginning in 1973, bilateral agreements
between the two countries formalized S&T collaboration. A further agreement in
1987 provided a dedicated source of funding, the United States India Fund (USIF).
Indo-U.S. collaborations have generated significant and tangible scientific results
in support of basic science. They have also developed capabilities and institutions
that will endure after specific collaborations have ceased. Examples are the
Wildlife Institute of India, which grew out of a collaboration between the U.S. Fish
and Wildlife Service and USAID with the Ministry for Environment and Forests;
and the Rehabilitation Program for Persons with Handicaps, developed jointly by
the National Institute of Disability Research and Rehabilitation (NIDRR) of the U.S.
Department of Education and the Indian Ministry of Welfare. Indo-U.S.
collaborations have also led to numerous useful personal contacts, promoted access
to high level government officials and opinion leaders, and created a reservoir of
goodwill that furthers our political objectives.
Basic Science
Indian scientists carry out research in nearly all areas of science that are of current
interest in the U.S. or Europe. The Indian government strongly supports this
research, much of which is of excellent quality. Several laboratories are working on
high temperature superconductivity, a topic where Indian scientists have made
strong, fundamental contributions. Physics and chemistry of metal oxides is a
traditional research subject in India, which has large deposits of rare earths, a main
ingredient in high temperature superconductors. Cold fusion experiments
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were paralleled in India only weeks after the first publications in the U.S. and are
still continuing. Formal Indo-U.S. collaborations cover all of the subjects that
tantalize today's physical scientists: high energy physics, including work on the
Superconducting Super Collider (SSC); lasers; particle accelerators and storage
rings; supernova physics; relativistic electron beam-plasma interactions; and
computer modeling and simulations -- for example, studying large-scale weather
phenomena over the Indian ocean.
There are over one hundred collaborative physical science projects either active or
in various stages of implementation. Among the participating U.S. federal agencies
are the National Science Foundation, representing a large number of universities;
the National Institute of Standards and Technology; the Office of Naval Research;
several bureaus of the Department of the Interior; and the Department of Energy.
These and other U.S. agencies use the collaborations to support their domestic
mission objectives by taking advantage of unique facilities or environments in India,
and of special capabilities of Indian institutions. U.S. universities enrich their
teaching programs by enabling students to work in India on topics related to their
field of study.
Accomplishments of these collaborative projects have been impressive. Many
scientific papers have been published in reference journals, many new scientific
concepts and methods have been developed and a large number of Masters and
Ph.D. theses have been completed. In 1990, the Indian Department of Science and
Technology performed an internal audit of the accomplishments of the program, the
positive findings of which surprised and pleased even the most faithful supporters of
the collaborations.
Collaboration in certain areas has been limited because of U.S. concern for Indian
lack of patent protection.
Health and Life Sciences
The laboratories of the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), the All India
Institute of Medical Science (AIIMS) and several other central government
institutions carry out a wide ranging research program aimed at fighting India's
many endemic diseases and improving medical services to the public. The U.S.
Public Health Service (PHS) participates with Indian scientists in research on many
tropical diseases which are endemic in India and afflict American travelers, or occur
in the United States but often in numbers too small to carry out research on therapy
or vaccine development.
During FY-1991, the broad Vaccine Action Program (VAP), which is jointly
funded by USAID and PHS, continued to emphasize developing and utilizing
vaccines to prevent important diseases such as polio, typhoid, cholera and other
enteric (digestive tract) diseases, rabies, hepatitis and respiratory diseases. Some of
these diseases occur only rarely in the U.S. For example, during 1982-86 there were
an average 369 typhoid cases in the U.S. per year, four cases of cholera in
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1987 and none reported of human rabies or polio. Research must be carried out
where appropriate studies are possible due to prevalence of the disease in question,
and where sufficient infrastructure and stability exist to allow studies to be
successfully completed. India provides the most appropriate study environment for
many diseases.
A wide range of collaborative projects continued to deal with the development of
treatment methodologies and health care delivery systems, rehabilitation and
training of persons with a variety of handicaps, control of iron deficiency anemia in
rural India, health manpower training, prevention of blindness in children caused by
dehydration and vitamin A deficiency, and early intervention services for children
with delayed development. Many projects deal with the collection of data, for
example, on oral cancers, assessing the incidence rates of diseases, and other health
statistics. Neurological and mental disorders are also studied and treated.
Energy, Environment, and Economics
India's per capita electric power generation is about 300 kwh per year vs. 12,000
kwh per year in the United States. Over 40% of the country's energy needs are
supplied by non-commercial sources: fuel wood, dried cow dung, and agricultural
waste. The depletion of forest resources is dramatic. Air pollution in the major
cities is among the worst in the world. But India can only devote a small share of its
limited resources to dealing with the issues of environment and climate change,
which are perceived as remote. Nonetheless, the seriousness with which Indians at
both public and private levels have seized upon these issues is impressive.
India's climate change program focuses on those areas where climate change may
affect large sectors of the population, especially sea level rise and impacts on
agriculture. The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) has set up a
task force made up of several of its laboratories to investigate, among others, the
following areas: greenhouse gases and global warming, sea level monitoring,
air-sea interactions, earth system history, and mathematical modeling for possible
global climate change. The GOI also has a small but growing program to
investigate non-conventional sources of energy production, including wind, solar
and biogas.
Since the early 1970's, the GOI has enacted a variety of laws to protect forests and
wildlife, control water and air pollution and to regulate, from an environmental
standpoint, factories, mines, and the use of insecticides, toxic chemicals and atomic
energy. Most importantly, the Environment (Protection) Act of 1986 was designed
to fill gaps left by earlier legislation and provide a comprehensive focus for
environmental protection throughout the country.
Emerging Technologies
The commercialization of technology is hampered in India by many of the same
problems encountered in the United States and, in addition, by cultural and societal
problems unique to India. The rate of innovation, i.e., the embodiment
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of new technology in products or processes, is very low. According to a high Indian
government official, only 4-5% of products manufactured in India were developed
there. Most "innovation" in India consists of technologies long known abroad but
replicated by Indians for import substitution and indigenous production. The slow
rate of commercialization is in part caused by market conditions and the business
climate in India, a lack of "technology pull" (i.e., interest in newer technologies),
and in part, by lack of a functioning system to move discoveries from the laboratory
into the market place. A few of the CSIR laboratories work closely with industry
and have collaborated successfully with Indian companies in developing new
technologies.
Materials
During FY-1991 a very lively program of U.S.-India collaboration in the materials
sciences was continued. A collaborative study between the Naval Research
Laboratory (NRL) and the Indian Institute of Science (IISC) has resulted in the
synthesis of a new quasi-crystal phase. An NRL/Bhaba Atomic Research Center
(BARC) investigation of corrosion cracking has led to the development of a new
pulse laser deposition technique for the coating of surfaces with corrosion resistant
alloy films. An NRL study in collaboration with India's naval chemical and
metallurgical laboratory is examining the accelerated corrosion of marine alloys. It
was found that a specific aerobic bacteria reduces the corrosion rate. An
NRL/Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) study of tribological coatings has led to
the characterization of several friction-reducing carbide and nitrite films. An
NRL/National Metallurgical Lab (NML) project is on the development of advanced
high strength ferrous alloys, and an extension of this project deals specifically with
the basic understanding of the physics of very low carbon steel alloys.
The U.S. Office of Naval Research (ONR), in collaboration with India's defense
R&D laboratories and various other Indian institutions, has sponsored workshops on
various aspects of materials science. The subjects have included spectral analysis,
microstructural characterization of materials, solidification principles, materials
processing, properties of interfaces, advanced ceramics and metastable
microstructures. The interaction resulting from the many NRL projects and the
various ONR-sponsored workshops has generated a significant and mutually
beneficial flow of information between U.S. scientists and scientists from India's
defense research and development institutions.
Manufacturing Processes and Technologies
Because of insufficient protection of intellectual property rights afforded by Indian
patent law, U.S. engineers and scientists have long avoided collaborative work in
India that could lead to new products or processes. Also, there are few Indian
institutions that carry out first class research in frontier areas of manufacturing
processes and technologies. Therefore, no collaborative work on manufacturing
technologies was carried out during FY-1991.
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Information and Communications Technologies
Research and development in India in this area is still catching up with
developments in the West. The opportunities for collaborations during FY-1991
were therefore limited. Also, the insufficient protection of intellectual property
rights afforded by Indian patent law continued to dissuade U.S. scientists and
engineers from collaborating with Indian colleagues. A project dealing with
underlying theories for characterizing optical fibers and components, and
developing standard measurement methods to be used in trade, continued with
excellent results.
Biotechnology
Biotechnology is a high priority area in India. Research and development policies
are set by the Department of Biotechnology (DBT) and to a lesser extent by the
Department for Non-Conventional Energy Sources (DNCES), and are carried out by
a broad range of institutes and universities. Work sponsored by DBT includes
development of drugs, pharmaceuticals and other fine (pure) chemicals, as well as
bulk chemicals. DBT also sponsors research in genetic engineering, although most
of that work is carried out by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR).
U.S. scientists collaborate on many aspects of this work, specifically in the
development of fundamental concepts of enzyme catalyzed reactions and coherent
sets of thermochemical data that are of value to a broad range of biotechnology
applications. DNCES supports biogas generation from agricultural waste.
Energy and Environmental Technologies
In recent years, also, the GOI has taken steps to implant an infrastructure capable
of implementing its corpus of environmental legislation, and has set up a network of
laboratories and scientific institutions with capabilities to monitor the Indian
environment. Among the leading scientific institutions in this field are the National
Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI) in Nagpur, the National
Chemical Laboratory in Pune and the National Physical Laboratory in New Delhi,
all part of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR).
Because of the Intellectual Property Rights problem, U.S. scientific institutions do
not collaborate with Indian institutions on technology development but do carry out
collaborative research on the underlying scientific concepts. USAID, however,
continued a highly successful Program for Acceleration of Commercial Energy
Research (PACER) that brings together U.S. and Indian companies to develop
commercially viable energy technology for use in India and for export. USAID also
has a new, similar program on Energy Management, Consultation and Technology
(EMCAT) which makes U.S. energy technology available to the Indian private and
public energy sector. The main purpose is to increase power output from existing
Indian plants and distribution systems through incremental improvements in
management and technology. Both programs will strengthen the Indian private
sector and develop business opportunities for U.S. companies.
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Agriculture and Natural Resources
Over the past twenty years India's agricultural production has risen dramatically
on the basis of new crop varieties and massive inputs of irrigation water, fertilizers
and agrochemicals. Increased demand for food, fiber and fuel has made agricultural
production on marginal lands essential. These lands include dry, low rainfall,
partially irrigated, salty and/or swampy wetlands and other non-traditional
production areas. Almost half of India's surface area consists of marginal lands, in
many of which areas the Indian government has research institutes where
collaborative research goes on.
During FY-1991, Indian and U.S. scientists continued to collaborate on developing
adapted crops and testing new approaches and technologies to enable production on
these marginal lands. Other collaborative work looked to enhancing production
predictability and sustainability and reducing producer risks while protecting the
environment and natural resources. The work entails developing and testing
systems for biological control of pests, effective use of fertilizers and agricultural
chemicals, and improved cropping sequences. Systems that prove effective under
Indian conditions may also be introduced into the United States. Indian and U.S.
researchers are also able to study animal and plant diseases which do not occur in
the United States but constitute a potential threat to U.S. agriculture.
Reduction of the atmospheric ozone layer could have potentially detrimental
effects on plants as well as humans and animals. Therefore, collaborative studies of
the effect of increased ultra-violet-B (UV-B) radiation on photosynthesis and plant
growth are being conducted, as are studies on the effect of an increase in greenhouse
gases on plant production.
It is estimated that 25% of the total increase in the concentration of atmospheric
methane is due to rice cultivation. During FY-1991, researchers from the U.S.
Department of Agriculture and their Indian colleagues considered research to
identify practices and cultivars (cultivated varieties of plants) which produce less
methane as well as nitrification inhibitors.
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INDONESIA
General
The government of Indonesia assigns high priority to the role of science and
technology in stimulating and supporting its industrial development. A renegotiated
U.S.-Indonesia Agreement on Cooperation in Science and Technology, signed in
November 1991, put into place key new provisions for protection of intellectual
property rights.
Since 1978, activities under or enabled by U.S.-Indonesia science and technology
agreements have not only stimulated joint research and economic development
activities, but provided major commercial opportunities for U.S. suppliers of such
goods and services as aircraft and aircraft components, avionics, civilian nuclear
technology, and telecommunications equipment. Through extensive collaborative
programs in rural development, aerospace engineering, nuclear power, health care
and others, the U.S. has done much to advance its own and Indonesian national
interests.
Basic Science
Indonesia possesses a reasonably strong tradition of basic scientific research in
tropical biology, tropical medicine and agriculture. Governmental actions beginning
in the mid-fifties have also produced a state-sponsored science establishment
heavily oriented toward applied research and engineering in support of national
economic development.
Presidential decrees from 1978 to 1984 required the State Minister for Research
and Technology, advised by the National Research Council (DRN), to prioritize and
coordinate the activities of a host of sub-departmental agencies. These agencies
(LPNDs) are publicly financed research organizations through which the
Government of Indonesia (GOI) strives to link the application and benefits of S&T
to the attainment of basic economic and industrial development needs. LPNDs have
been built up in the past decade to be Indonesia's key institutions for science and
technology research. University research, which for the most part is under the
auspices of the Department of Education and Culture, is of a more theoretical
nature. Efforts are underway to bridge the gap between university basic research
and LPND applied research. Currently, basic research in the private industrial
sector is still embryonic.
GOI direction and coordination of state science and technology programs are
implemented in compliance with a so-called national matrix for research and
technology which embraces five priority areas: basic human needs; natural
resources and energy; industrialization; defense and security; and social affairs,
economics, culture, philosophy, politics, law and regulations. The matrix is linked
in turn to "strategic industries" deemed crucial to economic development via
technological and industrial transformation: aeronautics and aerospace;
shipbuilding and maritime transportation; surface transportation;
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telecommunications; energy; engineering; agricultural equipment; and defense.
Linkages among these eight "vehicle" industries and their supporting services are
defined as a "ninth vehicle" for industrial transformation.
Health and Life Sciences
U.S. Naval Medical Research unit no. 2 (NAMRU-2), located in Jakarta, is part of
the U.S. Naval Medical Research and Development Command and has been present
in Indonesia since the late 1960's. NAMRU-2 operates under a continuing
intergovernmental agreement. It conducts research in the Indonesian archipelago on
diseases of both military medical and public health importance. All programs are
conducted with Indonesian counterpart participation. Significant areas of research
during FY-1991 included malaria, typhoid fever, cholera and other diarrheas,
dengue, HIV and other viral diseases.
The NAMRU laboratory's specific activities include World Health Organization
(WHO) sponsored field trials of oral typhoid vaccines on the island of Sumatra and
in Jakarta; trials of oral rehydration solutions in Jakarta on adults with severe
secretory diarrhea caused by cholera; evaluation of a recombinant cholera vaccine;
and defining the spectrum of drug resistance of malaria parasites throughout
Indonesia. There is a cooperative study to investigate the entomological factors in
malaria transmission and develop methods to reduce man-vector contact.
Two more studies deal with novel approaches to control transmission vectors of
dengue virus, the techniques of which are being evaluated for control of vector
populations in both urban and rural environments. Another program is developing
radioactive and enzyme labelled salmonella typhi DNA probes for rapid diagnosis
of typhoid fever. Still another study involves isolation and identification of
pathogens that cause diarrhea among expatriates living in Jakarta. Finally, malaria
and filarial parasites are cultured for pharmacological, biochemical and
immunologic studies.
Included are efforts aimed at development of an anti-malaria vaccine, and
identifying the frequency of occurrence of drug resistant parasites. The Department
of Defense (DOD) malaria vaccine development program, to which the NAMRU
laboratory is a contributor, benefits from Indonesia's geography and medical
professionals. Indonesian scientists trained at NAMRU-2 have transferred both
their skills and life saving medical technology back to their parent organizations.
Energy, Environment and Economics
Among the developing countries, Indonesia has been a leader in officially
recognizing the wisdom of environmental and natural resources management in
supporting a sustainable pattern of economic development. Indonesia has shown
increasing awareness of its international environmental responsibilities; it signed
(although by the end of FY-1991 had not yet ratified) the Montreal Protocol on
substances that deplete the ozone layer, and has participated in the
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and other international
environmental fora.
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The U.S. Information Service (USIS) regularly attracts Indonesian governmental,
academic and private sector representatives to its Worldnet interactive program
series on environmental issues, notably those on protection of the ozone layer, urban
environment, global climate change and tropical forest management.
USAID/Indonesia has actively encouraged improved policy direction from the GOI
and coordination among donors interested in environmental assistance. USAID has
developed a seven-year, $25 million project ($18.5 million USG grant) in natural
resource management (NRM). The NRM has two main sets of activities: on
sustainable economic development, and on sustainable management of forests and
protected areas.
Other areas of activity include global change and climate studies. This broad
category includes current and prospective cooperation in atmospheric,
oceanographic and natural hazards research. During FY-1991, the National Oceanic
and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the Indonesian Agency for the
Assessment and Application of Technology (BPPT) conducted negotiations toward
a Memorandum of Understanding on collaboration that may include climate studies
and ocean and atmospheric monitoring. It was anticipated that other U.S. technical
agencies such as NASA, NSF, USGS, and ONR may also participate in
collaborative research under this MOU.
Amindo Jaya ("American-Indonesian Success") is the name of a joint survey
program between the U.S. Naval Oceanographic Office and the Indonesian Navy's
hydrographic office. The program encompasses geodetic, hydrographic and
magnetic surveys. Indonesian waters are presently the most important of the
"accessible requirements" areas in the Pacific region because the archipelago
straddles all communications lines between the Pacific and Indian Oceans.
Indonesia, an OPEC member, has rapidly expanded its domestic production of both
natural gas (often processed as LNG) and coal, but capacity constraints and market
forces more than OPEC production allocations will likely constrain further
increases in Indonesia's oil production. The Minister of Mines and Energy has
stated that Indonesia could become a net importer of crude oil by the year 2000 if
new discoveries continue to lag the depletion of proven reserves and the rapid
increase in domestic consumption. Natural gas is becoming a major source of
domestic energy as well as a major export in the form of LNG. Production has
grown at a 7.5% annual rate since 1981, making Indonesia the world's largest LNG
exporter. The coal sector is also growing, as total foreign investment of $1.5 billion
will result in increased production to over twenty million tons annually by 1994,
mainly for export.
Indonesia is also planning for nuclear power in its long-term energy strategy. Civil
nuclear cooperation is highlighted by the successful U.S.-Indonesia Joint Steering
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Committee (JCS) arrangement, which was created to enhance cooperation in key
nuclear fields including radioisotope production and application, instrumentation,
nuclear safety and training. Indonesia has also invited the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory
Commission to consult on approaches to strengthening the GOI's regulatory
structure, and the National Atomic Energy Agency (BATAN) has requested that the
JCS expand its scope to include nuclear power technology.
Under a USAID assisted project at the Indonesian Center for Science, Research
and Technology, Indonesia is also establishing a high-quality non-oil/gas energy
research laboratory as part of a larger effort to improve capabilities in assessing
energy efficiency and conservation options. Although not yet formally inaugurated,
by late 1991 the laboratory had procured research equipment for investigating
combustion properties of domestic coal and technologies for efficient combustion
and pollution control. A technical assistance team of long-term advisors and
short-term specialists will assist in developing the laboratory's capabilities.
Emerging Technologies
During the past two decades, a number of factors, including oil export earnings,
political stability, and government economic policy, have resulted in Indonesia's
achieving rapid economic growth. Nevertheless, Indonesia has yet to become
competitive as a source of research or production in the critical technology areas of
materials, manufacturing, information and communications, biotechnology, surface
transportation, or energy. A strong aircraft industry is a notable exception, and
Indonesia's nuclear research capacity is promising.
Indonesia is an industrializing nation whose strategy is to lift itself into economic,
technical and scientific modernity through judicious selection of "strategic
industries" rather than through "critical technologies." However, these industries
often apply critical technologies and are significant due to their contributions to the
development of Indonesia's intellectual and physical infrastructure (e.g.,
aeronautics, air transportation, communications systems, and trained manpower).
Agriculture and Natural Resources
The U.S. Agriculture Department's Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS/Jakarta)
supervises USDA's cooperative program with Indonesia in a wide range of
activities from human health and nutrition to livestock and poultry breeding, feed
technology, training in aquaculture, and upgrading of the flour milling industry.
USAID/Indonesia employs a number of USDA scientists and agricultural experts to
implement specific research and assistance programs. FAS staff also provide
guidance to the GOI in areas of agricultural policy. A number of U.S. land grant
colleges and universities have research partnerships with Indonesian institutions in
pest management, crop diseases and food research. USAID supports what has been
evaluated as the world's most impressive integrated pest management program. It is
presently aimed primarily at rice culture but USAID hopes to expand it to other
crops. FAS/Jakarta is also involved in coordinating special training in the United
States for Indonesian officials in inspection techniques for poultry meat and other
foods.
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ITALY
General
During FY-1991, Italy attempted to reduce its budget deficit significantly as a part
of preparations to enter the European Monetary Union (EMU) and for internal
political reasons. Cuts were planned in many programs, including government
spending for R&D and by the Environment and Research Ministries. The budget
stringency posed the potential for lowering Italian resources invested in S&T
research further from their peak of about 1.38% of GDP in 1989. Such reductions
would run counter to recommendations of the Organization of Economic
Cooperation and Development (OECD), which completed a one year study of the
Italian research scene in March 1991.
The OECD suggested that Italy increase the share of its GNP going to R&D,
particularly in the private sector, if it wished to be competitive in the Europe that
will emerge after 1992. The OECD also recommended that public research bodies
and universities be held more closely accountable for the results of their research
spending and be funded in a manner that produced quality research -- not just an
equal distribution of research funds. Among many other suggestions, the OECD
recommended that Italy step up its international S&T cooperation.
Italy has long been one of the United States' most valuable European partners in
S&T cooperation, in an extraordinarily wide variety of fields. An example was the
biannual U.S./Italy science and technology review meeting held in November,
1990. The two sides reviewed specific cooperative programs in ten traditional
fields: space, basic nuclear and sub-nuclear physics, earth sciences,
technology-meterology-standards. environment, human health and biomedical
sciences, intellectual property, energy research, basic sciences/engineering, and
agriculture. New areas of cooperation were developed including global climate
change and advanced materials research.
At a special concluding seminar on EC S&T cooperation programs, U.S. and
Italian participants agreed that bilateral science relations would remain important
after 1992. The participation of high-level Italian science and political figures in the
conference provided clear evidence of the importance which Italy attaches to the
bilateral S&T relationship. However, Italy and the U.S. continued to disagree about
intellectual property rights (IPR) in bilateral science cooperation. As of the end of
FY-1991, conclusion of two agreements, one on basic science and another on energy
cooperation, stalled for lack of agreed IPR language.
Basic Science
Italy is striving to revamp its scientific organization through a newly formed
Ministry of University and Scientific Research (MURST), which includes a
National Science and Technology Council (CNST) as a consultative and advisory
body to the Minister. Italy's National Research Council (CNR) had been the sole
responsible agency for addressing research in Italy, and at the end of FY-1991 it was
still unclear how CNR and MURST would interrelate.
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Scientific research in Italy has many sectors in which it is predominant or
promising. Areas of strengths such as particle physics, mathematics, informatics,
automation and space assure the continuity of an excellent cooperative relationship
between Italy and the United States. The Italian government is attempting to
promote science in the south of Italy (Mezzogiorno) through financial incentives to
research organizations to relocate there. Also, science parks are increasing in
number throughout Italy in an effort to extend research facility support to small and
medium sized firms.
During FY-1991, Italy continued to exploit its comparative advantage in particle
physics by putting more emphasis on its Gran Sasso laboratory, with the cooperation
of several scientists of different nationalities, including Americans; and to expand
facilities at the Frascati national laboratory. Italy continued to show strength in
fusion energy research, including high field tokamak machines. U.S.-Italian talks
were held during the year regarding possible Italian interest in participating in
construction and operation of the Superconducting Super Collider (SSC), but Italy
continued to reply that it considers the large hadron collider, to be built at the
European Center for Nuclear Research (CERN) on the French-Swiss border, to have
priority. In the fall of 1991, an important step in space cooperation came when U.S.
and Italian negotiators reached agreement on a bilateral cooperative program on use
of Space Station Freedom and the construction of logistics modules.
Health and Life Sciences
Public sector research is not as advanced as other research areas, to the point where
Italy may be coming to lag others in molecular biology and biotechnology.
Diagnostics are adequate but the application of therapy is a weak point of Italy's
public health system, which is plagued by financial deficits and what some charge is
excess political influence. During FY-1991 the Italian Parliament moved toward
major reforms to lessen political influence in the health care system by increasing
the share of administrative appointments going to persons with proven medical or
managerial skills.
Italy's private sector health research establishment was more internationally
competitive. In the search for new drugs, firms like Fidia and Sigma Tau, and in
biotechnology the Fiat group's Sorin company, compared favorably with the most
advanced European research organizations. Cancer study was quite advanced at the
Milan National Institute of Cancer and the private research foundation "Mario
Negri." Drug abuse is still a growing problem in Italy in terms both of increased
mortality and as a means for HIV virus transmission among the young. Nutrition
began to concern Italian health authorities as affluence shifts many consumers away
from a healthy "Mediterranean" diet to choices traditionally associated with more
northern climes and diet-related health problems.
Italy's population growth rate may be the lowest in Europe, even below that of
such countries as Germany or Sweden. The aging of the population is generally
attributable to a liberal abortion law, difficulty for newlyweds to find suitable
housing, and increased desire for personal consumption.
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As acknowledged at the S&T review meeting, a great deal of U.S.-Italian
cooperation in health and biomedicine is informal and arranged on a scientist to
scientist basis. Scientific cooperation fostered by government agencies is
particularly noteworthy in pre-clinical and clinical research related to cancer,
immunotherapy and comparative studies of health problems of the elderly such as
cataracts and Alzheimer's disease. Past and current cooperation was reflected in
several U.S.-Italy workshops and symposia covering such topics as cardiovascular
diseases in women, prenatal medicine and the health effects of air pollution. In late
FY-1991, both governments were considering further cooperation in molecular
biology, biotechnology and human genome mapping and sequencing.
Energy, Environment and Economics
Italy took a leading role in highlighting the interplay of energy and the
environment when, during Italy's presidency, the EC agreed to a cap on carbon
dioxide emissions and a burden sharing arrangement in the context of the global
climate change negotiations. During the same period, Italy developed a modest but
complete research program for global change. One fruit of Italy's increased
research is its cooperation with a climate modeling agency of the U.S. Department
of Commerce located in Colorado (NCAR). Italy also took steps in cooperation
with France, within the framework of the Committee on Earth Observation
Satellites (CEOS), to establish an earth observation world information center in
Venice. Italy also offered to host a branch of President Bush's proposed Global
Change Research Institute.
In the summer of 1991, ENEA, Italy's Nuclear and Alternative Energy Agency,
completed a long conversion from its earlier focus on nuclear power to emphasizing
research into alternative energies and innovative environmental technologies.
(Italians voted to abandon nuclear power in a 1987 referendum.) ENEA, together
with the National Electricity Board (ENEL) and the National Hydrocarbons Agency
(ENI), is actively studying new methods to decrease air pollution caused by the oil
and coal fired power plants from which most Italian electricity is obtained. Italy is
increasingly using imported natural gas for heating and cooking, with consequent
decrease in carbon monoxide and nitrogen oxide emissions. ENEA is seeking to
revive solar energy and photovoltaic research through a former nuclear enterprise,
Fabricazioni Nucleari.
U.S.-Italian cooperation has tended to approach energy, environment and
economics as separate disciplines. In the environmental area, the two countries
continue discussions on hazardous waste management, particularly cleanup
activities, and have begun a few exchanges at Italian regional levels. The U.S. and
Italy also continue to work together to advance environmental programs in NATO's
Committee on the Challenges of Modern Society. In the energy area, research is
focused on clean fuel technologies utilizing coal, combined cycles and fuel cells,
photovoltaics, and nuclear power reactors with passive safety features.
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Emerging Technologies
The EC's European Research and Coordinating Agency (EUREKA) and other
framework programs tend to steer Italy's public sector international cooperation
initiatives in technology to other European countries. Italian private sector research,
which is also affected but to a lesser degree by programs of European integration,
shows a greater tendency to seek out U.S. partners, particularly in technology
sectors where the U.S. continues to lead.
Italy joined the race to develop and utilize new materials rather late compared to
Japan and the U.S. Current efforts are concentrated on ceramics and plastics.
Interest in ceramics stems from a long artisan tradition, and advanced production
methods are coming on stream intended to launch new and imaginative
applications. Plastics are also a mainstay of Italian research and are being studied
for new uses in the automotive industry. The two leading companies conducting
this kind of research are Fiat and Montedison. During FY-1991, a plant to produce
200,000 tons a year of polyethylene based on the Montedison Spherilene method
was under construction at Lake Charles in Louisiana.
The public sector is also joining in this type of research. The CNR recently
approved a research project dealing with special materials for advanced
technologies, with total financing of 135 billion lire (about $100 million) over a five
year period. In addition, the Ministry of University and Scientific Research has
approved a national program of research for advanced and innovative materials with
financing of 725 billion lire (about $560 million).
In the area of manufacturing processes and technologies, Italy has developed
several CAD and CAM systems for applications in small and medium size
traditional industries. It has become a leader in and an exporter of simple and
modular robotic systems that reduce both labor costs and production time. Fiat is a
leader in this field by virtue of its ownership of the robot maker Comau, which has
engineered and developed for its parent company some of the world's most
advanced production facilities. Fiat's car production facilities in central and
southern Italy are among the most automated plants in the world.
Technology and research parks are a relatively new development on the Italian
research scene. The government is using them to help small and family businesses
to computerize their production processes. A recent example is Bari's
"Technopolis," which provides such services to about 60 small shoe producers
operating in southeast Italy. The public sector is also conducting research into
factory automation through CNR research projects such as robotics, with a five-year
budget of 70 billion lire ($56 million); fine chemicals, with a five-year budget of
about 145 billion lire ($116 million); and building technology, with a five-year
budget of about 155 billion lire ($124 million).
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In information and communications technologies, Italy is above the European
average in some sectors and is holding its own in others. During FY-1991, an
Italian laboratory announced construction of a massively parallel supercomputer
(APE 100) currently designed to reach a speed of six gigaflops (billions of floating
decimal point operations per second), and projected eventually to reach 100
gigaflops. To support the use of supercomputers, Italy has developed a high speed
computer network called GARR with 2 megabit (million bits of information per
second) trunk lines. Olivetti is a European industrial leader in the computer and
information field and, notwithstanding a recession in the information industry, is
active in the whole gamut of informatics from personal computers to education
systems, expert systems and neurocomputers with voice recognition and artificial
intelligence.
Italy is moderately advanced in Optoelectronics compared to other Western
European and U.S. competitors. Optoelectronic applications are being sponsored by
the government, and optical fiber cables for communications and data networking
are being installed throughout the country. The public sector is also contributing
through CNR research projects in telecommunications with a five year budget of
about 79 billion lire ($63 million), and informatic systems with five year financing
of about 83 billion lire ($66 million).
The Italian government is seeking to reduce a biotechnology gap between Italy and
its international competitors by launching a 41 billion lire ($33 million) national
research plan in biomedical technology. Italian problems in this field were recently
highlighted by Italy's disproportionately small presence in the EC biotechnology
research program named Bridge, which has a budget of $110 million over a four
year period. 524 European research laboratories are participating in the project,
only 46 of which are Italian. Private industry investment in this research sector is
scant. A bioethics national committee was created in 1990 to advise the government
on legislation concerning biotechnology research and applications. The CNR has
started a research project on biotechnology and bioinstruments, with five year
financing of about 85 billion lire ($68 million).
Italy continues to do well in pharmaceutical research, where it is seventh in the
world in number of researchers and and value of investment. There is government
funding of 276 billion lire ($221 million) for a national plan on pharmaceutical
research.
In the area of space/aeronautics and surface transportation, since the early 1960's
and the construction of the San Marco launch facility, Italy has been deeply
involved in space technology. Spending in this sector has skyrocketed over the last
fifteen years, and Italy projects space expenditures of $1 billion per year in the
current five year plan. The large size of the Italian program has helped to push Italy
to the forefront of some space-related fields.
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Italy's strong participation in the European Space Agency has encouraged research
into sophisticated apparatuses for use on satellites, and these are now being
manufactured by such leading firms as Laben, Fiat and Telettra.
Italy is also joining the movement in Europe toward high speed rail transportation.
In summer 1991, it formed a company called TAV (Treno di Alta Velocita - High
Speed Train), 45.5% of whose capital belongs to the state railway and the remainder
to Italian and foreign banks. Italian companies involved include Ansaldo, Fiat and
ENI in a five to seven year project.
The private sector, mainly Fiat, has for some time been testing an electric powered
vehicle to be employed in city transport to combat urban air pollution. Ansaldo is
participating with Dutch, French and Belgian firms in the manufacture of an urban
transportation bus using alkaline combustion cells and nickel/cadmium batteries.
The vehicle should be ready for testing by 1994.
Agriculture and Natural Resources
A cooperative effort in this field ended in 1990 when the USDA's biological
control of weeds facility was transferred from the outskirts of Rome to France and
consolidated with another USDA lab. However, practical research cooperation,
which had languished, received a boost in November 1990 when the bilateral review
meeting on science and technology cooperation agreed to a series of short-term
exchange visits. During FY-1991, there were exchanges on biotechnology
regulatory policy, physiology and genetics of drought tolerant hardwoods, use of
geographic information systems and remote sensing for agriculture, as well as an
exchange on physiological responses of wheat to water stress. Italian private sector
firms formed a consortium called Agrital Ricerche to do agriculture research in the
province of Rome. In addition, private research is being performed at Cesena into
the use of bacteria to replace pesticides.
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ISRAEL
General
Israel is a small country in both size and population with few natural resources. In
order to prosper, Israel relies on the education and training of its citizens, with the
emphasis on scientific and technical fields. Today, Isreal has the highest number of
scientists per capita in the world. These scientists generate the largest number of
publications per capita in the world.
In FY-1991 Israel faced two big challenges, Soviet immigration and the Persian
Gulf crisis, that directly affected its science and technology community. A total of
approximately 350,000 Soviet immigrants have come to Israel since December
1989, many of whom have advanced training. The Persian Gulf crisis saw many
researchers called up for Army reserve duty for a substantial part of the Gulf War,
slowing the pace of their research activities. In addition, many international S&T
conferences scheduled to be held in Israel were cancelled or postponed due to the
crisis.
Cooperative S&T activities between the U.S. and Israel continued to be strong in
FY-1991. Three U.S.-Israeli binational foundations - the Binational Science
Foundation, the Binational Industrial Research and Development Foundation, and
the Binational Agricultural Research and Development fund obligated
approximately $35 million for cooperative R&D projects during the year. The
number of bilateral U.S.-Israeli S&T agreements increased to fifteen with the
signing of an MOU between EPA and the Ministry of the Environment (MOE) in
February 1991. USAID provided $7 million for trilateral R&D projects between
U.S., Israeli and Egyptian scientists under its Middle East Regional Cooperation
(MERC) program, and $2.5 million for bilateral projects between Israeli and
developing country scientists under its Cooperative Development Research (CDR)
program. A number of U.S. agencies, including NIH, DOD, and USAF, again
acknowledged the high standards of Israeli S&T research by funding a variety of
research activities during FY-1991.
An estimated 20% of the recent arrivals from the USSR are scientifically or
technically trained. While this influx offers a very large new pool of scientific
talent and expertise for Israel, a challenge lies ahead in creating jobs for them.
Basic Science
The Binational Science Foundation (BSF) continued to fund most of the
cooperative U.S.-Israeli activities in the basic sciences, supporting research in all
fields except agriculture. Ninety one new projects having total first year funding of
$2.6 million were approved in FY-1991. BSF spent a total of $12 million during the
year for new and continuing projects and workshops. Since its inception in 1974,
BSF has awarded approximately $110 million dollars for almost 2000 research
grants.
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Health and Life Sciences
Approximately 45% of the BSF's research budget was devoted to projects in the
health and life sciences in FY-1991, accounting for the bulk of support for bilateral
U.S.-Israeli projects in these fields. The fields of research of new BSF projects
included: cancer, heart and lung, allergy and infectious diseases; arthritis; and
neurological diseases.
Israeli scientists in the health and life sciences typically do well in competing for
NIH research awards. For FY-1990 (the latest year for which figures are available),
NIH awarded $5.3 million to Israeli scientists under BSF or through other channels.
USAID's MERC program funds two health projects for cooperative research
between U.S., Israeli, and Egyptian scientists. One project, entitled "Epidemiology
and Control of Vector-Borne Diseases" received approximately $600,000 in
FY-1991 and will have received a total of some $12 million over the life of the
project (10 years, ending in FY-1992). Research has centered on five diseases: rift
valley fever, malaria, leishmaniasis, filariasis, and rickettsia. In the U.S., the
project is administered by the NIH/National Institute on Allergies and Infectious
Diseases (NIAID). The second MERC health project is a new research program
entitled "Infectious Disease Research." It is administered by the Israeli Institute of
Medicine and has a five-year budget of $4.3 million. The research will focus on
chronic diarrhea and hepatitis B.
Energy, Environment and Economics
Israel imports virtually 100% of the fossil fuel it uses for power generation and
industrial purposes. In order to decrease its dependence on foreign energy sources,
the GOI has been exploring a number of options for potential indigenous sources of
energy. Through PAMA, the Israeli energy resources development company, the
GOI has been developing an oil shale-fired power plant. In FY-1991, the GOI
began discussions with U.S. companies on the possibility of building a 150
megawatt oil shale-fired plant. The Israel Electric Corporation (IEC) has begun
studying the feasibility of building a 800 megawatt pumped storage generating
facility on the Dead Sea. IEC has had discussions with U.S. companies on this
project. The Minister of Energy has also stated his interest in developing an Israeli
nuclear power generating capability. However, Israel's refusal to sign the Nuclear
Non-proliferation Treaty will be a barrier to international cooperation on such a
project.
On February 20, 1991, a new MOU on cooperation in the field of environmental
protection was signed between the EPA and the Israeli Environment Ministry. The
first activity under the MOU was a workshop, held in Israel in October 1991, on
environmentally safe reuse of wastewater.
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Emerging Technologies
The Binational Industrial Research and Development Foundation (BIRD) supports
joint projects between U.S. and Israeli companies for industrial R&D leading to the
introduction of new products or processes into the marketplace. In FY-1991, 39
projects, with total funding of $13.7 million, were approved. Since it was
established in 1978, BIRD has spent approximately $98 million in support of 296
projects. The fields in which BIRD has supported projects (and the percentage of
BIRD funds devoted to those fields) are: Computer software (29%);
communications technologies (18%); medical products (17%); semiconductor
equipment (15%); electronic equipment (11%); machinery and equipment (7%);
and agrotechnology (3%).
Agriculture and Natural Resources
The Binational Agricultural Research and Development fund (BARD) provided $9
million dollars for the funding of 39 new projects between U.S. and Israeli scientists
in FY-1991. Since BARD's inception in 1979, $105 million have been approved for
the funding of 575 projects. BARD supports projects in the fields of agricultural
economics, agricultural engineering, animal production and protection, aquaculture,
cellular and molecular biology, field crops, horticulture, plant protection,
post-harvest studies, and soil and water conservation.
USAID has obligated $27.7 million for cooperative agriculture projects between
U.S., Israeli, and Egyptian scientists under its Middle East Regional Cooperation
(MERC) program. These projects are designed to be of direct benefit to agriculture
in Israel and Egypt, but their results are applicable to many semi-arid to arid regions
of the world. Topics under investigation include: use of saline water for arid lands
crops; improved fodder shrubs for sheep and goats; new industrial arid lands
crops; medicinal uses of desert flora; solar heating of soils for pest and weed
control; improved dairy production; neonatal diseases of cattle and water buffalo
calves, diagnosis and control of brucella melitensis; foot and mouth disease
studies; and development of innovative low-cost technologies for the treatment and
reuse of domestic waste water for fish production and irrigation.
MERC has also supported marine and water projects under a Marine Technology
Program. Projects have included primary productivity of the eastern Mediterranean,
aquaculture, seafood toxins, protection of shorelines aganist erosion, climate
prediction, recycling of waste water, and lakes management.
The Forestry Department of the Jewish National Fund (JNF) has, since before the
founding of the State of Israel, been the key agency responsible for Israel's
afforestation and reforestation programs. The U.S. Forest Service (USFS) has
cooperated with the JNF on these types of programs for years. During FY-1991,
several USFS delegations visited Israel to work with JNF in the areas of
afforestation and forest fire prevention and mitigation.
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USAID's Cooperative Research Development program to foster cooperation
between Israeli and developing country scientists utilizes Israeli expertise in solving
problems relevant to LDC's. It has some 60 active projects in agriculture
representing a total commitment of approximately $10-11 million dollars. Areas of
research include: reducing post-harvest losses; developing new varieties of crops
useful to LDC's; aquaculture; insect control; improving irrigation techniques; and
various livestock studies.
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JAPAN
General
The United States and Japan maintain a significant and growing relationship in
science and technology cooperation. Although foreign access to Japanese R&D
continues to be less open than in the United States, this trend has been gradually
changing over time. Over the last few years, the Japanese have continued to open
their domestic governmental research programs to international participation in
scientific research efforts that range from the small to the large and the basic to the
applied. Access to Japanese research on high technologies, applied and industrial
subjects is growing, but is hindered by dissimilarities in language and culture and by
the fact that much of Japan's S&T strength is in the private sector, where the
technology is often of a proprietary nature. This issue was highlighted in the
September 1991 annual GOJ white paper on science and technology. Significantly,
the white paper also noted that Japan's basic research activity did not accord with
that country's station in the world.
The GOJ reached a consensus in the mid-1980s that Japan should pursue a policy
of "globalization" or "internationalization" -- One aspect of this concept is that
Japan should contribute more to world S&T since its prosperity and quality of life
depend on access to global markets, S&T, and culture. One result of these efforts
during the past three years was the tripling, to over 750, of the number of foreign
researchers engaged at GOJ research institutions.
The U.S.-Japan Agreement on Cooperation in Research and Development in
Science and Technology (UJST), signed in 1988, has proven to be an important
mechanism for encouraging greater openness and understanding, in addition to
enhancing and coordinating the vast number of cooperative activities between the
two governments. Under the Agreement, U.S. Presidential Science Advisor D.
Allan Bromley and Minister Santo of the Japanese Science and Technology Agency
(STA) co-chaired the third meeting of the Joint High Level Committee in Tokyo on
October 17-18, 1991. The meeting provided the U.S. side an opportunity to urge the
Japanese to participate in the Superconducting Super Collider (SSC); to announce
that the U.S. would provide funds for the Human Frontier science program; and to
discuss a set of initiatives for cooperation in basic research, ocean exploration,
environmental protection, industrial technology, and aging. Preparatory meetings
had been held during FY-1991 by the UJST's Joint Working Level Committee and
the Joint High Level Advisory Panel, the latter being a distinguished joint panel of
non-governmental experts.
Basic Science
GOJ efforts to increase funding for basic research have increased over the last few
years, but appeared to reach a heightened level of political attention in 1991 due in
part to the United States' request for Japanese participation in the Superconducting
Super Collider (SSC) program. According to Japanese figures, expenditures
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on basic research in JFY 1989 (April 1989-March 1990) reached 1.39 trillion yen
(about $10.7 billion), up almost 8% from the previous year's figure of 1.29 trillion
yen. Approximately half of the basic research funding goes to the Ministry of
Education (Monbusho) to support university research in Japan. (Care should be
taken in comparing these figures to other countries since about 60% of basic
research expenditures are for salaries rather than equipment and supplies.)
In November 1991, the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the Japan Society
for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) celebrated the 30th anniversary of an
agreement which the two administer, which brings together hundreds of scientists
annually from both sides and produces some 300 publications yearly. Additionally,
NSF is very active in helping to place American scientists and engineers in Japanese
academic, government and corporate laboratories for long-term research stays. In
the last three years, over 200 American researchers have been placed in Japan.
Additional support for such exchanges will soon be made available through the
Japan Foundation Center for Global Partnership, established in April 1991.
The GOJ has also been an integral factor in increasing the number of U.S.
researchers in Japan. Specifically, Monbusho, the Science and Technology Agency
(STA), the Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI) and the Ministry of
Foreign Affairs (MOFA) all have programs and/or fellowships that have made
cooperation among scientists grow tenfold over the last few years. In addition, NSF
coordinates with Monbusho, STA, MITI and the MOFA to place American
scientists and engineers in Japanese academic, government, and corporate sector
labs for long-term research stays.
NSF's Summer Institute program brought 49 U.S. science and engineering
graduate students to Japan for two months during the summer of 1991. In addition
to Japanese government labs, the University of Tsukuba and seven private Japanese
companies located in the science city of Tsukuba participated in the program in
1991.
Bilateral cooperation in space is conducted under the Standing Senior Liaison
Group (SSLG). NASA Administrator Richard Truly visited Japan in July 1990 for
the most recent SSLG meeting, demonstrating the importance NASA attaches to its
relationship with Japan. Bilateral cooperative space science and applications
activities are conducted in five areas: astrophysics, solar system science, earth
observation, life science, and microgravity science.
Japan has a relatively small (compared to the U.S.) but active space program that
has scientific research as well as commercial objectives. The National Space
Development Agency of Japan (NASDA) and the Ministry of Education both
maintain launch facilities in southwestern Japan. The Japanese space probe
Sakigake (Pioneer) made a flyby of Halley's comet during its 1986 appearance and
relayed data to Earth that has contributed to our understanding of comets. In 1990,
Japan launched a small research probe into orbit around the moon. In October, 1991
the Japanese satellite Yohkoh, carrying a joint U.S.-Japanese X-ray telescope, began
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its observations of solar flares in a collaborative U.S.-Japanese project aimed at
learning more about this phenomenon that can cause serious disruptions of
communications and power grids on Earth. NASDA is also developing a new
booster rocket, the H-II, to enhance its capability to launch heavy payloads into
Earth orbit.
NASDA is also the organization which is conducting the design and development
activities for Japanese participation in the Intergovernmental Agreement between
the U.S., Japan, the European Community and Canada to build a manned, orbiting
space laboratory - Space Station Freedom. The Japanese are committed to provide
the Japan Experimental Module (JEM), which consists of a Pressurized Module, an
Experiment Logistics Module and an Exposed Facility, for the Space Station.
The government of Japan has been considering the U.S. invitation to join as an
official partner in the Superconducting Super Collider. As noted above, Dr.
Bromley raised the issue during October's Joint High Level Committee meeting in
Tokyo. Whether to participate is a subject of considerable controversy within the
Japanese scientific community, and as of the end of 1991 the GOJ had not yet
reached a decision on the issue. Nevertheless, Japanese and U.S. scientists are
working together to develop some of the SSC's detectors.
Japanese superconductivity research occurs mostly in the private sector, including
the R&D efforts of the International Superconductivity Technology Center (ISTC).
In addition, research on both high and low critical temperature superconducting
materials is underway in both university and government laboratories under the
auspices of STA, MITI, the Ministry of Transportation (MOT) and the Ministry of
Posts and Telecommunication (MOPT). GOJ funding for this research was 14.9
billion yen in JFY 1991.
The Ministry of Education has been an active partner in the International Ocean
Drilling program, coordinated by NSF. STA has announced plans to build an
advanced core-sampling deep-sea research vessel by the end of the decade to study
the geology of the ocean floor. In addition, the "Shinkai 6500" submersible, a
research submarine that can dive to depths of 6,500 meters (21,325) feet, will also
be used to study ocean floor geology in the Pacific.
Health and Life Sciences
DHHS Secretary Dr. Louis Sullivan visited Japan in October 1991 to discuss the
Japanese health care delivery system with senior Japanese officials. The visit
highlighted an extensive life sciences relationship that has seen the United States
and Japan cooperate in medical and health research for several decades. Results of
one of the oldest bilateral projects, the Cooperative Medical Science Program, have
reduced the incidence of a variety of diseases throughout the world.
One of the Cooperative Medical Science Program's panels deals with AIDS. As of
June 1991, AIDS was a relatively minor problem in Japan, with only 1,810
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people infected with the HIV virus, of whom 397 were diagnosed as having AIDS.
Since the first AIDS statistics were recorded in March 1985, 198 people have died
of AIDS in Japan (as compared to over 130,000 AIDS deaths in the U.S.).
The GOJ is spending almost 100 billion yen (over $700 million) on life sciences in
JFY 1991, nearly 45% of which (44.2 billion yen) are for biotechnology research.
Principally involved in biotechnology research are the Ministries of Education,
Agriculture and Health. National biotechnology programs include efforts at cancer
control, mapping of the human and rice genomes, and research on the sugar-chain
mechanism. Ministries are also emphasizing study and understanding of biological
mechanisms useful in developing new medical treatments, generating less harmful
agricultural chemicals and producing higher yielding crop strains. This year, the life
sciences panel of the Prime Minister's Council for Science and Technology revised
its guidelines for the conduct of recombinant DNA experiments by private firms and
national research and experimental institutions. At the same time, the Monbusho
promulgated similar new regulations for universities.
Coordination of GOJ human genome policy is handled by the Prime Minister's
Council for Science and Technology. The ministries most involved in human
genome research are STA (913 million yen - mostly to the Institute of Physical and
Chemical Research (Riken), which has developed a system to analyze DNA bases
automatically); the Ministry of Health and Welfare (400 million yen); and the
Monbusho, for two five-year scientific investigations and a future genome analysis
center at Tokyo University's Medical Science Institute. The Ministry of Health and
Welfare is also providing 2.3 billion yen to the private sector to develop medicines
and medical instruments that utilize the results of biotechnology research.
The Human Frontier Science Program (HFSP), which deals with neurobiology and
molecular biology research and was the first international science project ever
initiated by Japan, continued into its third year in 1991 with GOJ funding at a level
of about $20 million a year. In April 1991, the program announced its second set of
research grants. They included projects involving 139 researchers, of which 46
were Americans.
Under the bilateral Cooperative Cancer Research Program begun in 1974 between
NIH and the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, scientists are investigating
four areas of cancer research; etiology, biology and diagnosis, cancer treatment and
interdisciplinary programs.
In 1975, the U.S. and Japan jointly established the Radiation Effects Research
Foundation (RERF) as an independent, non-profit binational foundation to replace
the U.S. Atomic Bomb Casualty Commission (ABCC) originally established in
1947. The mission of the RERF is "to conduct research and studies, for peaceful
purposes, on the medical effects of radiation on humans with a view to contributing
to the maintenance of the health and welfare of atomic bomb survivors and to the
enhancement of the health of all mankind. Scientific results from RERF activities
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have generated global interest and have contributed significantly to the
understanding of the health effects of ionizing radiation. The U.S. and Japan
provide equal funding for the Foundation.
The U.S. and Japan also cooperate on research on medical issues concerning aging
and the elderly, under an MOU between the U.S. National Institute on Aging and the
Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of Gerontology. The GOJ has been very concerned for
some time about its demographic situation - the population is aging and Japanese
couples are having fewer children. Japanese have the world's longest life
expectancy, at 81.8 years for women and 75.8 years for men. People over age 65
comprise 12.1% of Japan's population, but are projected to comprise 25% by the
year 2025. The current birthrate in Japan is only 9.9 births per 1,000 people, leading
to predictions that Japan's population, presently 125 million, within two decades
will peak at only 130 million, then begin to decline, and dip below 100 million by
the year 2070.
Energy, Environment and Economics
The acquisition and efficient use of energy has always been an area of keen concern
to the GOJ. The GOJ has long been a strong advocate of nuclear power and has
invested heavily in establishing facilities for operation of the complete nuclear fuel
cycle. In July 1991, the Prime Minister's Council on Science and Technology
adopted an energy R&D plan that gives priority to environmental preservation,
including the role that nuclear power can play in environmental preservation. The
plan also called for diversification of energy sources and higher energy efficiency,
and set targets for the year 2010 for solar power utilization and for improved energy
efficiency in transportation systems.
The United States and Japan have a long history of cooperation in energy related
research and development, as well as energy trade. The U.S. is a major source of
enriched uranium and fossil fuels for Japan. The U.S. and Japan began cooperation
in the area of advanced nuclear reactor research in 1969, and signed a broad
Agreement for Cooperation in R&D in Energy and Related Fields in 1979. The U.S.
and Japan also maintain an Agreement for Cooperation on Peaceful Uses of Nuclear
Energy. Under these agreements, joint research is conducted by the Department of
Energy and Japanese Government agencies in a number of fields, including
advanced nuclear technology fusion and fission - high energy physics, synthetic
fuels, clean coal and coal conversion, geothermal and solar energy, nuclear safety
and radioactive waste management.
The two countries have worked together since 1975 under a bilateral
environmental cooperation agreement, co-managed by the U.S. and Japanese
Environmental Agencies. A periodic joint planning and coordination meeting under
this agreement was held in Japan in 1991.
MITI's Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO)
held a tenth anniversary symposium in October 1990 on the subject of "new energy
and the global environment." NEDO was established to develop oil-alternative
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energy sources to the stage where they can be commercially viable, and to support
R&D on industrial technologies. In JFY 1991, NEDO is spending 60.9 billion yen
on R&D for new energy sources, a decrease of 13.2% from the previous year.
Among sources being investigated are coal, solar, geothermal, alcohol, biomass, and
others.
Japan recently initiated a variety of programs involving technology development
related to climate change. In October 1990, the GOJ announced a new "Action
Program to Arrest Global Warming." The program's goals are to: (a) stabilize per
capita and total CO₂ emissions by the year 2000 at the 1990 level; (b) stabilize the
emissions of methane, nitrous oxide and other greenhouse gases at 1990 levels; and
(c) conserve and expand CO₂ sinks. A policies and projects document was
published in June 1991.
Also in autumn 1990, Japan's Environment Agency created a new Center for
Global Environmental research within its National Institute for Environmental
Studies (NIES). MITI also established a MITI Research Institute for Technology
for the Earth (RITE) near Osaka. The Institute will research methane sources and
sinks, carbon dioxide fixation and disposal, and CFC substitutes.
The Science and Technology Agency has established a Green Planet Project, in
which technologies are to be developed to reduce scientific uncertainties involved in
forecasting global climate change phenomena. The Central Research Institute of the
Electric Power Industry (CRIEPI) began last year to research methods for
recovering and liquefying CO₂ released by thermal power plants, liquefying it, and
storing it on the ocean floor at depths of at least 3,000 meters. CRIEPI hopes to
develop this into an international project.
Japanese researchers joined a visiting NASA team of investigators in September
1991 to study acid rain and global warming over the Pacific ocean. NASA's
Pem-West mission to study atmospheric chemistry was a part of the International
Geosphere-Biosphere Program (IGBP).
Emerging Technologies
Japanese industry outspends U.S. industry in R&D on civil technologies, a gap that
is widening. Japan's industrial growth rate, 14% percent in 1990, exceeds that of
the U.S. Since 1986, Japan has been the world's largest exporter of high-technology
goods. Japanese applicants received nearly 25 percent of the patents issued in the
United States and 85 percent of those in Japan. Some recent Japanese studies
predict that Japan will surpass the U.S. in civil technology by the year 2000. One
such study ranks Japan at the top in new materials and devices (semiconductor
lasers and memories, CCDs, LCDs, and solar cells), at a middle level in
biotechnology, and low in software.
Japan offers significant opportunities for technological cooperation. In September
1991, Department of Commerce Undersecretary for Technology
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Dr. Robert M. White led a group of industry leaders on a manufacturing study
mission to Japan in an effort to determine what technologies might be transplanted
to the United States.
The U.S. private sector has been active in opening R&D facilities in Japan, both to
develop products for the Japanese market and to gain access to advanced Japanese
S&T research. The GOJ appears to have been helpful in this process; 80% of
foreign firms reported in a survey that they had no problem with government
regulations in carrying out their R&D activities in Japan.
The GOJ has also sought to promote international cooperation in its industrial
technology R&D projects. Since 1989, MITI has opened up eight of its new
research projects to foreign participation. These include hypersonic engine
development (1989), non-linear photonics materials (1989), software architecture
(1990), advanced chemical processing technology (1990), quantum functional
devices (1991), technology of complex carbohydrates (1991), production of
hydrogen (1992), and micromachines (1992). As of the end of FY-1991, General
Electric and Pratt and Whitney were participating in the hypersonic engine project,
Boeing in an aeronautic component project, and several foreign companies,
including Motorola, were considering joining the micromachines project. During
FY-1991, negotiations were well advanced concerning U.S. participation in two
other MITI research projects, Intelligent Manufacturing Systems (IMS) and New
Information Processing Technologies.
Other initiatives begun by MITI pertained to global environmental technology.
These include NEDO's R&D program begun in 1990 to develop technologies to
protect the global environment, and establishment in July 1990 of a Research
Institute of Innovative Technology for the Earth (RITE). RITE is to develop CO₂
fixation technology using biological and chemical reactions to recover carbon from
carbon dioxide, and systems to reuse the resulting carbon. Another goal is to
develop biodegradable plastics. A third RITE theme under NEDO is to develop
next generation refrigerants to replace ozone destroying freons. An additional plan
is to develop a chemical synthesis bioreactor that uses biofunctions and bioenergy.
MITI's biochemical industries division will begin in JFY 1992 a seven-year, 10
billion yen project to develop technology to use microorganisms to decompose and
process environmental pollutants. The division has already supported projects on
biodegradable plastics, third-generation freons, CO₂ fixation and utilization, and
chemical synthesis bioreactors.
Japanese companies and universities have been leaders in superconductivity
applications. Two examples are the prototype Magnetic Levitation Train developed
by the Railway Technical Research Institute, which uses superconducting magnets
for both propulsion and levitation and has reached speeds of over 500 km/hr (300
mph) in trial runs on a seven kilometer (4.35 mile) long track, and the Kyushu
University TRIAM-1 experimental nuclear fusion reactor, which is the world's only
tokamak device to use superconducting magnets for plasma containment.
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Agriculture and Natural Resources
The U.S.-Japan Cooperative Program in Natural Resources (UJNR), established in
1964, provides a forum to promote the development and conservation of natural
resources through cooperation in applied science and technology. The Science and
Technology Agency exercises overall coordination of the UJNR program in Japan
but other agencies sometimes run specific panels. Nine UJNR panels
(Conservation, Recreation and Parks; Earthquake Prediction Technology; Fire
Research and Safety; Forage and Seeds; Forestry; Mycoplasmosis; Protein
Resources; Toxic Micro-Organisms; and Wind and Seismic Effects) address
non-marine activities and are coordinated in the United States by the Department of
Agriculture (USDA). The seven panels (Aquaculture, Diving Physiology and
Technology, Marine Facilities, Marine Geology, Marine Instrumentation and
Communications, Marine Mining, and Sea Bottom Surveys) concerned with marine
S&T are coordinated in the U.S. under auspices of the National Oceanic &
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The panels typically meet annually.
Following a four-year pilot project, the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, and
Fisheries (MAFF) began a seven year rice genome research project in April 1991.
The GOJ approved funding of 600 million yen annually for the project. The Japan
Horse Race Association plans to contribute 700 million yen annually, which will
support participation of private industry in the project. The Horse Race Association
also plans to contribute two billion yen in 1992 to build a laboratory in Tsukuba to
house what it hopes will be called the "Rice and Horse Genome Research Institute."
Japanese and American scientists, including some from MAFF and USDA,
participated in the August 1991 meeting in Tokyo of the International Rice Genome
Organization. The GOJ also provided some support in August 1991 to the Third
International Workshop on rice molecular biology, in Sapporo, and to an
international forum on current progress in rice genome research, in Tokyo.
On August 9, 1991, the GOJ adopted a 15-year national forest program that shifts
emphasis from large-scale harvesting and reforestation toward treating forests as a
part of the country's natural heritage. The program covers national and
privately-owned forests in 44 areas nationwide.
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KOREA
General
The close science and technology relationship between the United States and the
Republic of Korea was highlighted by a September 1991 visit of Science and
Technology Minister Kim Jin-Hyun to the United States, where he reiterated the
importance of continued close cooperation with the U.S. science and technology
community. In December 1991, the two countries initialled a renewed text of the
U.S.-Korea Science and Technology Agreement, which had been under negotiation
for over three years while issues regarding protection for intellectual property rights
(IPR) were resolved. Once signed, the Agreement will provide an important
framework for yearly consultation and coordination on the overall S&T
relationship. It will also provide protection for IPR discoveries and copyrighted
materials which might be made in the course of intergovernmental cooperation.
For the Koreans, cooperation with the United States is an imperative for realizing
the goals set forth in their seventh five-year plan for the promotion of science and
technology (1992-1996). The plan is primarily designed to enhance the
international competitiveness of the Korean manufacutirng industry, through
efficient utilization of scientific and technological R&D resources. It also calls for
bringing Korea into the ranks of the G-7 countries in a number of selected strategic
industrial technologies by the year 2001. Regarding cooperation with the United
States, the plan specifically calls for Korea to expand joint research activities in
such areas as atomic energy, avionics and space, bio-engineering, and automobile
technology. Korea is also very interested in further cooperative efforts on joint
development and manufacturing of semiconductor production equipment. Given
these ambitious goals, the Koreans will continue to place top priority on the
development of generic technology and scientific research projects which are
applicable to industrial use.
Basic Science
While there is interest in furthering basic research among Korea's scientific
community, the need for advanced technology in the commercial realm as a means
for fueling economic growth continues to be of paramont interest, absorbing the
bulk of both government and industrial resources. The limited basic research
activities which are undertaken continue to be promoted primarily through Science
Research Centers (SRC) and Engineering Research Centers (ERC), which are
patterned after the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF). During FY1991, there
were 30 SRCs and ERCs with a total budget of $45 million, located at key
universities in Korea and managed by the Korea Science and Engineering
Foundation (KOSEF).
NSF and KOSEF maintain there is active and very successful cooperation under a
longstanding agreement between NSF and KOSEF. At the 15th annual meeting
between NSF and KOSEF, held in May 1991, the two sides agreed to establish
visiting research professorships in Korea for American scientists, as well as launch
six joint seminars for the coming year. In addition, the two sides agreed to pursue a
new summer program at
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Korean research institutes, aimed at familiarizing U.S. graduate students with
Korean research activities and modeled on the very successful NSF-coordinated
"Summer Institute" program between the U.S. and Japan. Cooperation in 1991
included 21 joint research projects, two joint seminars, and three scientific exchange
programs.
With respect to Korea's joining international science projects, Korea has
established a Superconducting Super Collider (SSC) promotion committee chaired
by Seoul National University professor Kim Je-Wan, and has agreed to establish a
joint working group with the U.S. Department of Energy to explore ways for Korea
to become involved in the SSC project. Discussions are continuing.
Health and Life Sciences
Under a Memorandum of Understanding between the U.S. National Center for
Toxicological Research and the Korea Research Institute of Chemical Technology, a
successful joint research program continued involving exchanges of scientists to
work on development of a new toxicology methodology.
A Genetic Engineering Research Institute (GERI) was founded in 1985 as an
affiliate of the Korean Institute of Science and Technology to serve as a National
Research Center for Biotechnology. Current research projects being carried out at
GERI focus on solving the problems of human diseases, food, energy and national
resource needs. A joint research project, supported by the Korean government and
the U.S. National Institutes of Health, to develop an expression vector system for
certain yeast genes proceeded between the University of Tennessee at Memphis and
GERI, in Taejon, Korea. The research objective is to isolate and economically
produce large quantities of biomedically active compounds. GERI hopes to develop
an improved yeast artificial chromosome vector (YAC), which will be an essential
element for facilitating the progress of the human genome projects.
Energy, Environment and Economics
Nuclear energy research continued as the leading area of S&T cooperation between
the United States and Korea. A joint standing committee for Nuclear and Other
Energy Technologies (JSCNOET) has been active for over twelve years, promoting
cooperative activities and having annual meetings alternating between Seoul and
Washington. The Korean government recently issued its draft long-term power
development plan, which calls for construction of 75 power plants by the year 2006.
The plan envisages that 40% will be nuclear, 30% coal, 20% LNG or oil-fired, and
10% hydro-electric. Nuclear power generation in 1990 was 5.2 million kwh, or
49.1% of total power generation in Korea. Power consumption increased at an
average annual rate of 13.8% percent per annum over the past four years, far faster
than Korea's economic growth during that period. The U.S. has played a significant
role in providing the technology for this program and a significant portion of the
enriched uranium nuclear fuel.
Sister laboratories agreements between institutions under the Korean Ministry of
Science and Technology and U.S. National Laboratories under the Department of
Energy exist to cooperate in the areas of energy conservation, solar energy and coal
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technology. For example, a U.S.-Korea Joint Workshop on Coal Utilization
Technology has been held annually since 1984 between the Pittsburgh Energy
Technology Center (PETC) and the Korea Institute of Energy and Resources (KIER)
to exchange coal related technical information, as well as on coal energy policies,
marketing, mining and safety, coal conversion and environmental controls. The
ninth workshop is scheduled to be held in October 1992 in the U.S.
During 1991, the environmental movement won increased support from the general
public and local lawmakers, prompted by a number of well publicized
environmental accidents. Korea also became more cognizant of its relationship to
the world environment and appointed an Ambassador-at-large for International
Environmental Affairs.
Emerging Technologies
The Korean government recently identified 14 national projects involving
emerging technologies which it would like to see developed to the level of the G-7
industrialized countries by the year 2001. The Korean government has been
seeking to identify possible areas of cooperation with the United States for joint
development of some technologies.
Selected Korean national critical technologies and products include:
VLSI semiconductor chips including 256-megabit DRAM
Integrated services digital network (ISDN)
High-definition television
Electric-powered automobiles
Intelligent computers
New medicines for cancer, hepatitis and AIDS
Pollution-free agricultural chemicals
Computer integrated manufacturing systems
Advanced materials for the information, electronics and
energy related industries
Transportation technology
Bioengineering technology
Environmental engineering technology
Advanced energy technology
Advanced nuclear reactor technology
Agriculture and Natural Resources
The Korea Ocean Research and Development Institute (KORDI), in cooperation
with the U.S. Geological Survey, has conducted seven joint scientific research
cruises for exploration of potential resources of manganese, cobalt, copper and
nickel nodules and crusts on the deep seabed. Such exploration has taken place in
the deep seas of the northeast and central Pacific and in territorial waters of western
Pacific island nations over the past three years. KORDI believes this cooperative
research program between USGS and KORDI is an exemplar of mutually beneficial
research cooperation between developed and developing countries.
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MEXICO
General
During FY-1991, broad-based and growing private and government efforts
continued to create a more flexible structure for U.S.-Mexican cooperation in
science and technology. President Salinas' personal commitment to both the
environment and S&T were key. A 20% growth in spending on S&T in 1991 was
expected to continue in 1992, and Mexico is seeking additional funding from
international development banks for research and development and environmental
protection.
Basic Science
U.S.-Mexican environment, science and technology cooperation is covered by
some thirty MOU's (Memoranda of Understanding). While there is a growing level
of U.S.-Mexican cooperation in S&T research activities conducted through
agency-to-agency channels, a large amount of research also proceeds via direct
contacts between researchers and scientists in universities, industry, and private
institutions.
The highest level forum is the U.S.-Mexico Binational Commission, led on the
U.S. side by the Secretary of State, which reviews all aspects of the U.S.-Mexico
relationship, including S&T issues such as environment and health. The
U.S.-Mexico Joint Mixed Commission, with U.S. participation headed by the
Assistant Secretary of the Department of State's Bureau of Oceans and International
Environmental and Scientific Affairs (OES), meets every two years and coordinates
the activities of most U.S. technical agencies. Finally, the U.S.-Mexico Joint Fish
and Wildlife Committee, co-chaired by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS)
and Mexico's SEDUE, is enjoying a considerable increase in cooperative activities,
highlighted by Mexico's accession during FY-1991 to the Convention on
International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES). Three active MOUs cover
fisheries and marine research. The Mex/US Gulf, Mex/US Pacific, and the Mex/US
Information Exchange MOUs provide for research in species migration, turtle
excluder devices (TEDs), marine mammals, remote sensing and other topics in
oceanographic science.
FY-1991 saw the incorporation, with strong Congressional support, of a
U.S.-Mexico Foundation for Science in Washington to support S&T cooperative
activities between the U.S. and Mexico. In September, approximately 60 high level
U.S. and Mexican government officials, as well as scientists and academics from
both countries, attended the inaugural meeting of the Foundation. An interim
steering committee was established to finalize the Foundation's charter and the
structure of the governing board, as well as to raise private matching funds for the
Foundation. The U.S. and Mexican Academies of Science, Medicine and
Engineering, together with other research and educational institutions, are charter
members.
Principal U.S. technical agencies which directly or indirectly fund basic research
activities in Mexico are the National Science Foundation (NSF), the National
Institutes of Health (NIH), the Department of Energy (DOE), EPA, FWS, the
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National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the National Oceanic
and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). NIST has had a long term relationship
with the Mexican National Council of Science and Technology (CONACYT).
Through its guest researcher program, NIST brings Mexican researchers to the U.S.
to conduct studies in a wide variety of fields.
In addition, a NIST official visited Mexico in September to continue negotiations
with Mexican representatives from CONACYT and the Secretariat of Commerce
and Industrial Development (SECOFI) on a proposed MOU between the three
agencies. The MOU would allow for scientific and technical cooperation in the
measurement sciences of chemistry, physics, and engineering. Proposed activities
include assignment of exchange scientists to each party's laboratories, research
programs by CONACYT personnel at NIST under the NIST Guest Researcher
Program, mutual development and exchange of standard reference materials and
intercomparison of national standards. Negotiations are progressing well.
During FY-1991, NOAA and the Mexican Secretariat of Agriculture and Hydraulic
Resources (SARH) worked on a five year extension of the U.S./Mexico
Meteorological Observation Program. Specifically, the agreement will facilitate the
operation and maintenance of the network of Rawinsonde observation stations and
the acquisition of new equipment by Mexico. As a result, Mexico has initiated a
major increase in its meteorological data collection platforms. The agreement will
also provide for the international dissemination of the observation results, as well as
for the exchange of meteorological data between the U.S. and Mexico.
The U.S. Embassy Science Division handles all requests for research permits made
by U.S. scientists, both public and private. Noteworthy advances were made in
simplifying the research permit process in the 1990 meeting of the U.S.-Mexico
Mixed Commission for Cooperation in Science and Technology, in La Jolla,
California. Nonetheless, reducing the time and cost of the application process
remained a high priority for the 1992 meeting. U.S. applicants account for some
80% of the requests for research permits in Mexico.
Health and Life Sciences
The U.S. Public Health Service, working through NIH and the Centers for Disease
Control (CDC), is the leading participant in U.S.-Mexico health research. The U.S.
Agency for International Development (USAID) sponsors numerous programs
geared toward improving health and well-being in Mexico, with special emphasis on
impoverished areas. USAID supports programs to reduce infant mortality, to
educate the public on the prevention of AIDS and to assist ongoing vaccination
programs. A food program provides essential nutritional supplements to more than
one million Mexican families. In addition, working with the Mexican government
and private voluntary organizations, USAID spent some $9 million on population
assistance. Priority is given to the extension of health and family planning services
in rural areas.
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Energy, Environment and Economics
Facing the difficult task of balancing environmental protection with economic
growth, the Mexican government is especially attuned to the interrelationship
among energy, the environment and economics. Environmental planning and
protection has become one of the most extensive and important areas of cooperation
between the U.S. and Mexico.
The interaction of energy and environmental concerns has been especially visible
in negotiations for the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). In his
May, 1991 statement responding to concerns over NAFTA-related environmental
issues, President Bush supported several key environmental initiatives with Mexico,
including an integrated environmental plan for the Mexico-U.S. border area and the
drafting of a comprehensive "Review of U.S.-Mexico Environmental Issues" with
reference also to environmental effects in free trade. It also called for the
development of joint technology transfer and training programs, including the
Energy and Environment Clearinghouse, for database interchanges with Mexico;
and the U.S.-Mexico Environmental Business Committee, to assist small and
medium sized Mexican businesses in meeting environmental regulations.
Under auspices of the 1989 Mexico City technical assistance agreement between
EPA, the Mexican Federal District Department (DDF) and SEDUE, extensive
training and technical assistance has been provided to help in combating pollution in
Mexico City. For example, technical presentations in the U.S. and Mexico have
assisted Mexico in designing vehicle inspection and auto emissions verification
programs. Officials from Mexico have visited U.S. labs to learn about fuels
formulation and automobile engine testing practices. U.S. technical assistance
continues to aid Mexico in calibration of its monitoring equipment and development
of new technical standards for vehicle emissions.
The link between energy, the environment and economics is prominent in the
ongoing, three-year project MARI (Mexico City Air quality Research Initiative)
project to develop a computer model of Mexico City's atmospheric conditions and
pollution sources. This $9 million project, jointly sponsored by the U.S.
Department of Energy's Los Alamos National Laboratory and the Mexican
Petroleum Institute (IMP), will allow the city's planners to evaluate the results of
any mitigation strategy. The complete model will consider not only environmental
impacts, but also be an operational tool to assess the social and economic impact of
various government plan scenarios.
In respect to nuclear energy, at the invitation of the Mexican Committee on
Nuclear Security and Safeguards (CNSNS), in February 1991 U.S. Nuclear
Regulatory Commission (NRC) officials met with senior Mexican counterparts to
discuss procedures for the exchange of technical information and cooperation, to
become more familiar with the overall Mexican nuclear program, and to tour
nuclear facilities at the Instituto Nacional de Investigaciones Nucleares (INIS) and
the Laguna Verde nuclear power station.
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In the area of global environmental initiatives, SEDUE, the Mexican electronics
industry, Northern Telecom, the Industry Cooperative on Ozone Protection and the
U.S. EPA have embarked on a ground-breaking cooperative program to exchange
information, management strategies and technology to help halt the use of
chlorofluorocarbons and solvents used by the Mexican electronics industry that
could contribute to atmospheric ozone depletion. A fund of $85,000, contributed by
EPA, has been set up at the U.S. embassy to support a SEDUE office which will
carry out the program.
Representatives from EPA met in August 1991 with SEDUE to discuss a proposed
U.S./Mexico study on global climate change. Both sides expressed strong interest
and named chief contacts for the project. The study would include work on
inventories and technology assessments in specific sectors of each country's
economy. Mexico also responded positively to President Bush's initiative to design
an Environmental Research Institute to address climate change issues in the context
of economic and scientific knowledge. Presidential Science Advisor Dr. D. Allan
Bromley and Dr. Guillermo Soberon of SEDUE met repeatedly to discuss President
Salinas' support for this institute.
USAID/Mexico continued to fund a variety of training and technical exchange
activities in support of global climate change, energy, NAFTA and environmental
health programs. Recent years have also seen significant growth in USAID's global
climate change activities with Mexico. USAID is making a major contribution to
the development of sound environmental policies and operational programs dealing
with protection of tropical forests and reduction of greenhouse gas emissions via
innovations in energy efficiency and conservation. In FY-1991 USAID provided
approximately $2.4 million for management of seven to ten parks and reserves and
buffer zones surrounding them in southern Mexico. The energy component of
AID's global climate change program focused on Mexico's cooperation on demand
side management, energy training, and technical exchange and renewable energy
technologies.
Mexico and the U.S. continued to search for ways to lessen in a cost-effective and
efficient fashion the negative environmental impact of commercial fishing, and the
concomitant potential of environmental concerns to complicate trade relations. A
group of experts from the U.S. National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), the
Mexican Fisheries Institute, the Fisheries Secretariat (SEPESCA) and the Mexican
shrimp fishing industry jointly conducted turtle excluder device (TED) training and
research trials. Although the Mexican Fisheries Institute contends that the number
of turtles trapped in trawling nets without the use of TED's is low, the trials ran
smoothly and SEPESCA reported that the response of shrimp trawler crews was
satisfactory.
Mexico continued to be considered a model country in the region with respect to
both its initiative and cooperation in on shore sea turtle conservation programs.
SEDUE and SEPESCA continued jointly to conduct turtle protection projects at key
nesting beaches throughout the country. The Mexican government also undertook
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new efforts to reduce incidental dolphin kill. The GOM announced establishment of
a dolphin and marine turtle reserve in Nayarit state, and establishment of a $1
million fund for research on technology to eliminate incidental dolphin mortality.
In June 1991, President Salinas directed Mexico to apply formally to join the
Convention on the International Trade of Threatened and Endangered Species
(CITES) This action has greatly encouraged environmentalists and increased the
charter and funding for SEDUE's wildlife programs.
Agriculture and Natural Resources
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the Mexican Secretariat for
Agriculture and Water Resources (SARH) continued to work together closely on
technology transfer, scientific and technical exchanges, collaborative research
involving universities and research centers, reimbursable technical assistance and
training opportunities. More specifically, USDA, through its Office of
Biotechnology, the Agricultural Research Service, the Animal and Plant Health
Inspection Service, the Forestry Service, and the Soil Conservation Service,
continued cooperative research and development with Mexican counterparts on
animal and plant health issues, biotechnology, library exchanges, cotton genetics,
soil conservation and erosion and forestry preservation.
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) has worked informally for several decades
with Mexican geologists on investigating geologic and mineral resources. USGS
sent an expert to Mexico in March 1991 to assist the Consejo de Recursos Minerales
(CRM) in the design of a national computer system for geologic mineral
prospecting. In September, a USGS representative traveled to Mexico to discuss the
possibility of a formal MOU. The proposed agreement would provide for scientific
and technical cooperation in the geological, hydrological and mapping sciences. A
proposed annex to the MOU would provide for cooperation in developing a
U.S./Mexico digital seismographic network.
The two countries are also contemplating cooperation in natural hazards reduction.
Officials from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) visited
Mexico in October to explore prospects for revitalizing the U.S./Mexico
Consultative Committee on Natural Disasters, possibly through training courses and
joint training exercises. USAID supports several programs oriented towards both
disaster prevention and mitigation.
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NORTH ATLANTIC TREATY ORGANIZATION (NATO)
General
In 1957, NATO undertook a program of scientific and technological cooperation,
under the concept that true security did not rest only on military foundations. A
Science Committee of National Representatives was established along with the
position of Science Adviser (subsequently Assistant Secretary General). In 1969,
NATO expanded this effort by creating the Committee on the Challenges of Modern
Society (CCMS), to deal with environmental and other social concerns. These two
programs constitute NATO's "Third Dimension." Both were created with strong
U.S. backing and the U.S. has continued to play a substantial role and has been
among the most active of the allies in promoting and participating in activities under
the programs.
Although the "Third Dimension" programs sought to support Allied security
through excellence in science and technology and through an improved quality of
life for Allied citizenry, in retrospect, they presaged the post-Cold War era in
reaching beyond NATO nations. Both programs have always been open to
cooperation with citizens of non-NATO countries. Even at the height of the Cold
War, scientists from then Warsaw Pact countries could and did participate in NATO
science activities.
This openness acquired a new dimension at the London NATO summit in 1990.
The Science and CCMS Committees were among the first of NATO's various
components to put forward initiatives to capitalize on the new relationships with
central and eastern Europe (C&EE) and the Soviet Union. The Science Committee
devoted much of its agenda to this subject in 1991. It approved two new sets of
initiatives to expand the opening in late 1990 of science program activities to fund
fuller participation by scientists from C&EE countries. A third set of initiatives was
agreed by the Committee for consideration by the NATO Council in October 1991.
Participation by C&EE states in CCMS activities also increased in 1991 as directors
of several new NATO pilot studies extended invitations to C&EE entities. The U.S.
continued to take an active role in formulating initiatives for outreach in both the
Science and CCMS committees.
Basic Science
A. NATO Fellowships
The principal focus of the NATO Science Program is support for Basic Science.
During FY-1991, the key mechanism for this continued to be the NATO Science
Fellowships Program, which received about 50% of the core science budget (the
equivalent of about $12.5 million in 1990). NATO fellowships have contributed to
the training of nearly 25,000 scientists from Alliance member countries. The U.S.
has been the host country for half of all these NATO fellows (12,363 of 24,622 from
1963-1990). In 1990 the U.S. awarded 99 fellowships, and received 592 visiting
fellows, out of a total of 1,217.
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The principal fields of study have been life and medical sciences, followed by
physics, applied sciences and engineering, and social sciences. Administration of
fellowships is on a national basis, thereby enabling national priorities to be best
served. The U.S. administering agency is the National Science Foundation (NSF).
B. Advanced Study Institutes, Advanced Research Workshops and Collaborative
Research Grants
Other elements of NATO's science program continued to offer different kinds of
support for basic science. The principal ones are the Advanced Study Institute
(ASI), Advanced Research Workshop (ARW), and Collaborative Research Grant
(CRG), complemented by special programs including science surveys.
Around 35 percent of the core science program budget is spent in support of ASI's
and ARW's. Several thousand scientists are involved each year, including scientists
from non-NATO countries. The initiatives taken by the Science Committee in late
1990 produced a significant increase in C&EE participation, up from 250 persons in
1990 to 400 in 1991. Full implementation of the 1991 initiatives should work to
increase these figures considerably further during 1992.
The Advanced Studies Institute (ASI) mechanism is a teaching activity in which
leading scientists present the latest work in their field. Some ASIs are
multidisciplinary, allowing participants to serve as both teachers and students.
Typical subjects from the 1991 list included: "The Changing Visual System: From
Early to Late Stages of Life"; "Molecular Liquids: New Perspectives in Physics
and Chemistry"; "Parallel Computing on Distributed Memory Multi-processors";
and "The Global Carbon Cycle." Over 1700 ASIs have been held since the program
began in 1959, with 70 (19 U.S. led) sponsored in 1991. Proceedings are published
(over 1000 volumes to date) and thus reach even larger audiences. The program has
also tested the use of televised ASIs, further expanding the audience.
The Advanced Research Workshops (ARWs), in contrast, offer occasions for
groups of 20 to 40 scientists to engage in intensive discussions of a particular area
or problem. The first ARWs were held in 1980 and by the end of 1991 NATO had
sponsored over 400, making 76 (30 U.S. led) grants in 1991. Subjects covered in
1991 included "Coherence Phenomena in Atoms and Molecules in Laser Fields;"
"Frontiers of High Pressure Research;" and "Emerging Technologies for In-Situ
Processing." ARW proceedings are also published.
Finally, the collaborative research grants assist projects based on national funding
to incorporate an international element as well, by funding the travel and living
expenses of members of the research team while on exchange visits. Such
collaboration has synergistic benefits for the scientific work of all participants, and
has helped build strong relationships within the Atlantic community. There were
616 projects funded in FY91, bringing the total since 1960 to well over 7000.
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C. Special Programs
NATO has a longstanding tradition of funding work targeting a particular scientific
concern. In recent years, these programs have been structured to concentrate on
areas that are emerging or are undergoing rapid change. Special programs in 1991
included "Chaos, Order and Patterns: Aspects of Nonlinearity"; "Advanced
Educational Technology;" "Science of Global Environmental Change" (discussed in
more detail below under Energy, Environment and Economics); "Nanoscale
Science" and "Supramolecular Chemistry."
In 1990, the science program began a new series of targeted studies on the frontiers
of science. Scientists in a NATO science survey will identify areas for new NATO
special programs. The first survey forum, which included six Nobel laureates,
recommended the special program on nanoscale science as appropriate for further
work. Two additional survey meetings were held in 1991, one on chemistry and one
on life sciences. The participants in the latter meeting recommended a focus on
fundamental genome research to complement national and other international work.
D. Science for Stability
NATO also supports a special approach to the development of basic scientific
capabilities in the less prosperous members of the Alliance by strengthening the
scientific infrastructure of those states (Greece, Turkey and Portugal). Under this
Science for Stability Program, national authorities develop projects, with
involvement of universities, research institutes, and private industry. NATO
funding supplements national funding with approximately 150 million Belgian
francs allocated each year (about $4.7 million in 1991). Projects supported in 1991
included work on cement (Greece), satellite oceanography (Portugal), and
microelectronics (Turkey).
Health and Life Sciences
Support for the life sciences is intertwined with NATO's support for Basic
Science. The NATO Fellowship program has strongly supported life and health
sciences. This field was also well represented among ASI grants during 1991, with
topics such as "Advanced Models of Cognition for Medical Training and Practice";
"Targeting of Drugs: The Challenge of Peptides and Proteins;" and "Asthma
Treatment: A Multi-disciplinary Approach." Roughly a third of the ARWs dealt
with topics in this field, such as "Biology of Salmonella" and "Strategy for
Biomarker Research and Application in the Assessment of Environmental Health."
Cancer research received attention in an ARW on "Oncogene and Transgenics
Correlates of Cancer Risk Assessments," and cardiovascular disease in an ASI on
"New Frontiers in Cardiovascular Engineering." Two of the pilot studies in the
related CCMS program (described below) dealt with health issues: "Disaster
Preparedness Plans Responding to Chemical Accidents - Health and Medical
Aspects," and "Dose-response Analysis and Biologically-based Risk Assessment
for Initiator and Promoter Carcinogens."
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Energy, Environment and Economics
NATO's principal environmental role lies in the Committee on the Challenges of
Modern Society, the CCMS. Established by an initiative of the Nixon
administration, it has now completed twenty-two years of very successful work in
promoting practical approaches to improvement of the quality of life in NATO
countries. The CCMS program is based on Pilot Studies by member nations on
particular problems. Not all Allies participate in all studies, and each is free to
choose which are most appropriate to its needs and expertise.
The pilot studies are intended to help policymakers and stimulate action. Results
are available to all. CCMS pilot studies are fully reported through the CCMS
publication series. There were 21 pilot studies underway in 1991, with several
others awaiting approval. Pilot studies also make the CCMS program an important
area for cooperation with C&EE states, by sharing expertise in environmental and
other social issues. During 1991, several pilot studies included C&EE participants
and further expansion is anticipated in 1992.
During the 1991 review of its goals and activities, the CCMS underlined
defense-related environmental issues as a key area for future work, including
defense base closure and cleanup. Environmental issues are also included in NATO
science program activities. An example in 1991 was an ASI on "Chemical Reactor
Technology for Environmentally Safe Reactors and Products." Ten ARWs and two
ASIs during 1991 addressed global change topics such as "Prediction of Interannual
Climate Variations" and "Biological Implications of Climate Change."
Emerging Technologies
NATO has supported collaborative work in most of the emerging technology
areas. In 1991, the program addressed materials issues (an ASI on "Physics and
Materials Science of High Temperature Superconductors"); manufacturing
processes and technologies (an ASI on "Concurrent Engineering Tools and
Technologies for Mechanical System Design"); information and communications
technologies (an ARW on "Information Technologies and Mathematical
Problem-solving Research"); and biotechnology (an ASI on - "Recent Advances in
Industrial Applications of Biotechnology").
Agriculture and Natural Resources
Both the NATO Science and CCMS programs sponsored work related to this area
in 1991. The science division supported an ARW on "Biological Control of Plant
Diseases" and an ASI on "Risk and Reliability in Water Resources and
Environmental Engineering." The CCMS program continued its pilot study on
"Desertification in Developed Areas," and launched two new studies titled "Impact
on Man and Environment of the Agricultural Use of Pesticides" and "Integrated
System for Agrometeorological Support" respectively.
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ORGANIZATION FOR ECONOMIC COOPERATION AND DEVELOPMENT
(OECD)
General
The 24 member countries of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and
Development (OECD) participate in policy formulation and evaluation to foster
economic well being through effective government policies, including on science,
technology and the environment. In addition to its regular work, the OECD in
FY-1991 completed a major three-year study on "Technology and the Economy,"
and environment ministers endorsed an environmental strategy for the 1990's.
Authorities in eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union requested policy advice
and technical assistance and sought to participate in some OECD committee work,
as they faced difficult science, technology, and environment policy issues including
conversion of defense industries to civilian uses. The OECD has attempted to
respond within its resource limitations.
Many OECD committees focus on governmental policy evaluation. The U.S. is
deeply involved in the policy work of the OECD Committee On Science and
Technology Policy, the Environment Committee, the Committee on Information,
Computers and Communications policy, which it chairs; the OECD-affiliated
Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA), and the R&D Committee of the semi-autonomous
International Energy Agency (IEA). The work of all these groups is aimed at
stimulating environmentally sound technological change and market-led economic
growth.
Basic Science
In response to a June 1991 ministerial call, the OECD Committee for Scientific
and Technological Policy (CSTP) undertook to examine both whether and how
international, mutually beneficial cooperation in major scientific research projects
could be further improved among member governments and research communities
on the basis of equitably shared responsibilities. Following upon CSTP
recommendations, OECD ministers will also consider how to promote a coherent
approach to "big science" cooperation at their meeting scheduled for March 1992.
The U.S. has been instrumental in promoting this initiative, which is supportive of
U.S. "big science" activities with its major bilateral S&T partners, e.g., Japan,
France, Germany, the U.K., Italy and the former Soviet Union.
Energy, Environment and Economics
Setting the stage for activities in FY-1991 was the OECD Environment Ministerial
Meeting held January 30-31, 1991, which, with U.S. leadership, agreed on a
three-part strategy for the 1990's. The ministers emphasized integrating economic
and environmental policies, focusing on the role of market incentives in fostering
environmental improvement, sectoral policy integration and trade. The main point
to emerge was that full integration of economic and environmental policies is key to
sustainable economic development.
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The OECD does not itself conduct scientific research. The organization does,
however, provide a coordinating mechanism under which energy research and
development is facilitated by implementing agreements in which several countries
cooperate to pursue an agreed program of activities. The U.S. participates or has
participated in 6 Nuclear Energy Agency and 43 International Energy Agency
agreements since the inception of those organizations. Active NEA agreements
have ranged from information exchanges on decommissioning nuclear power plants
to investigation of the Three Mile Island reactor accident in the U.S and to testing
geologic formations in Sweden to determine their suitability for permanent waste
disposal.
Active IEA agreements cover research, development and sometimes demonstration
programs on topics such as alcohol and alcohol blends as motor fuels, high
temperature materials for automotive engines, coal/oil mixtures, energy
conservation through energy storage, enhanced recovery of oil, production of
hydrogen from water, energy technology systems analysis, wind turbine systems,
coal combustion sciences and technologies relating to greenhouse gases derived
from fossil fuel use, and materials and magnet performance in fusion energy
applications. Implementing agreements have also been used to set up the IEA Coal
Services, an ongoing network on coal research; an information Center for the
Analysis and Dissemination of Demonstrated Energy Technologies (CADDET);
and an Energy Technology Data Exchange, a repository, centered at the Oak Ridge
National Laboratory, of bibliographic information for all related nuclear and
non-nuclear technology research conducted by participating countries.
As part of a focus on improving individual domestic environmental performance,
the OECD agreed to begin member country environmental policy performance
reviews. They also committed themselves to reduce significantly the overall
pollution burden in the OECD region in the next decade, focusing on new pollution
control strategies and emerging clean technologies. A new program for reduction of
risks from man-made chemicals, more comprehensive integrated pollution
prevention and control approaches, and reduction of transboundary movements of
wastes were also embodied in decisions at the Ministerial.
Emerging Technologies
OECD's "Technology and Economy Program" presented its main findings, after
three years work, to OECD's June 1991 ministerial meeting. A policy statement
emphasized improving our understanding of the relationship between policy
instruments and the innovation process. The statement spotlighted the role of firms
as central, along with government responsibilities for establishing an appropriate
environment for technological development through market-oriented policies,
provision of an adaquate economic infrastructure and policy coordination over the
whole range of issues affecting technology innovation and diffusion.
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Other than the IEA's work, the OECD's main specific contribution in emerging
technologies has been work on biotechnology. Much progress continued to be made
in advancing a science-based approach to policy development on the many
contentious issues which arise in this area, including biotechnology safety issues. A
comprehensive report on agriculture and food impacts of biotechnology was
completed and new work on "Biotechnology for a Clean Environment" was begun.
This effort will focus on science and technology for prevention, detection, and
remediation of air, soil, and water health threats.
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POLAND
General
As did other parts of the society, Poland's science establishment faced severe
difficulties in 1991 in attempting to cope with the broad changes sweeping the
country. New S&T institutions were created while old and familiar ones, such as
the Academy of Sciences, were eclipsed. Central control over science funding was
broken but resources for basic research grants, the mainstay of most laboratories,
were cut sharply in government austerity moves. Although one of Poland's
traditional strengths, science has yet to find a role for itself in the restructuring of
the country's economy and increasingly looks abroad for confirmation and
assistance. In this context, the support for basic research provided by the Maria
Sklodowska-Curie Fund (MSC II, equally supported by both governments) and
other bilateral arrangements have taken on added importance for Poland's scientific
community.
U.S. S&T cooperation with Poland in such areas as agriculture, health and
environmental protection is longstanding and remained strong during FY-1991.
More recent U.S. initiatives in the field of energy and the environment, in particular
President Bush's proposals to help Krakow solve its complex air pollution
problems, continued to offer the potential to improve measurably conditions for
Poles while also contributing to economic development.
Basic Science
Science reorganization
The framework within which basic research in Poland is managed and funded was
radically altered in 1991 with the establishment of the State Committee for
Scientific Research (KBN) which reports directly to the Council of Ministers. The
Committee will direct a uniform, nation-wide process supporting research, in which
merit rather than institutional or personal influence is to be the most important
criterion for obtaining government support. The change removed funding control
for research from the functional ministries and the Polish Academy of Sciences,
thus fundamentally shifting the power relationships within the country's scientific
establishment. Under the new procedures, university laboratories, Polish Academy
of Sciences laboratories and government research institutes will have to pass
through the same merit-based review process. The U.S. National Science
Foundation (NSF) has played an important advisory role in this changeover by
sharing with Polish authorities its experience in operating a peer review grant
system.
The new committee is composed of sixty members elected by all Ph.D.- level
researchers in Poland, as well as professional staff of scientific and research
institutions. A 19-member executive body is to direct the applied research
program. The chairman of the Committee, nominated by Parliament, is Witold
Karczewski, a medical doctor and former head of the Neurophysiology Center of the
Polish Academy of Sciences Medical Research Center. Professor Cezary
Ambroziak, former science counselor at the Polish Embassy in Washington,
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and now director of the Institute of Electron Technology, Warsaw, was elected
deputy chairman. The committee will direct all state S&T policy, recommend
funding levels for all state R&D and scientific activity, and coordinate and
cofinance joint activities under bilateral and multilateral agreements.
Full implementation of the new grant review approach is expected to be a slow
process as resistance remains strong among many of those, both within and outside
the new Committee, who were successful under the old system. The changeover has
been complicated by a 30% cut in research funding imposed by the government in
1991 as a budget austerity measure.
Cooperative research
Close cooperation between the United States and Poland in the promotion of basic
scientific research continued in 1991 under the umbrella of the MSC II. The Fund,
established as a result of an agreement signed by then Vice President Bush in
September 1987, provides joint research opportunities for Polish scientists in a
broad range of disciplines. In 1991, the U.S. contributed $1.7 million to the fund,
bringing to $3.575 million the total U.S. Government (USG) funding support for
MSC II since its establishment. The Polish government matches all U.S.
contributions in Polish currency, zlotys.
In its April 1991 meeting, the U.S.-Polish Joint Commission for Science and
Technology Cooperation, which oversees MSC II Fund operations, approved
continuation of a three-tiered approach to research priorities and funding allocations
for the fund's cooperative activities, as follows:
First priority - agriculture, environmental protection, medical science and health
protection, basic research and engineering research (70% of the fund total);
Second priority - geoscience research and exploitation of mineral resources, and
energy research (20%);
Third priority - transportation, construction research, oceans, atmospheric
sciences and limnological (lakes, ponds, streams) research, parks management and
historical preservation, and fish and wildlife conservation (10%).
Among some of the projects approved for MSC II funding in 1991 were:
Agriculture: differential serological diagnosis of BVD and HC infections in
swine.
Science: new electrophoretic detection and capillary modification techniques
(with the U.S. National Science Foundation).
Energy: repowering of coal fired plants with Integrated Gasefication Combined
Cycle (IGCC); flue gas electron beam treatment process upscaling.
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Basic research: analysis of global thermodynamics of solar flares (with
NOAA).
Health: tumor diagnosis - molecular genetics; effect of nickel compounds on
the immune system; monocytes and immunoregulation; environmental factors in
low birth weight.
Polish scientists have fared successfully within USAID's Program on Science and
Technology Cooperation (PSTC). In 1991, one Polish project qualified for a grant
of $150,000 and two were listed among the top 25% qualitatively of project
applications received and to be reviewed further for possible grants. Under
auspices of the U.S.-Israeli Cooperative Development Research Program (CDR --
a program entailing U.S. support for bilateral projects between Israel and
developing countries), eight groups of Polish and Israeli scientists were requested
to provide full project documentation for grant awards made in October 1991.
Health and Life Sciences
During FY1991, health care improvement continued to be a primary objective of
the government of Poland. A serious shortage of up to date equipment exists in
Polish hospitals and the health care system in general lacks trained professional
administrators. Polish health care authorities are concerned over the country's
incidence, the highest in Europe, of male mid-life sudden death. Widespread
smoking, increased animal fats consumption, stress and environmental degradation
are thought to be factors contributing to this disturbing phenomenon. Infant
mortality (on average 18 per 1000 births) also continues to be a major problem in
Poland.
U.S. cooperation with Poland in the area of health care has continued for many
years and includes MSC II fund research projects, NIH (Fogarty International
Center) scientist exchange programs and institute-to-institute agreements on
cooperation in such fields as cancer research and cardiovascular diseases.
Cooperation between the Polish Oncology Center and the National Cancer
Institute (NCI) was initiated 15 years ago and continued to be active. There is
current focus on epidemiology research, radiotherapy and basic research. In 1991,
NCI donated a cancer publications database and a register of cancer clinical
experiments (PDQ) to the Oncology Center. With financial support from the MSC
II fund, Polish and U.S. scientists are trying to determine the causes of low birth
weight in Poland at Krakow, Zakopane and Limanowa, where low birth weight
incidence is significantly above the national average. As a part of this effort, the
new air monitoring system recently installed by the U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA) in Krakow will be used to help develop relevant environmental
indicators.
In late 1991, USAID entered into preliminary design discussions with Poland on a
health care financing project aimed at bringing health care to the market place,
within a framework of public policy which encourages privatization and ensures
quality and cost containment.
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In November, 1991 AID/DOC sponsored a health services mission to Poland to
assess investment opportunities for U.S. firms in the medical equipment,
pharmaceutical, health services and health insurance industries.
The drug abuse situation in Poland, while still not as alarming as in many western
countries, is a growing problem. Polish medical authorities are especially
concerned over the direct relationship between drug addiction and AIDS cases in
Poland, since approximately 80% of HIV positive cases have been drug addicts.
According to the Health Ministry, 1900 people have been found to be HIV positive
and 70 AIDS cases confirmed, of which 37 have so far proven fatal.
Energy, Environment and Economics
The nexus between energy, environment and economics is readily apparent in
Poland, one of the world's least energy efficient and most seriously polluted
countries. Wastes and emissions from the power industry have had a devastating
impact in many areas of the country. SO₂ and particulate emissions due to poor
combustion techniques, and the absence of desulfurization equipment have
damaged human health, buildings, and agriculture. Energy inefficiency also
directly constrains the country's economic growth. The government is striving to
lighten this economic and environmental burden by promoting energy
conservation, ongoing conversion to more environmentally safe firing systems in
coal-fueled power plants and improvements in coal quality.
The major U.S. initiative to retrofit the Skawina power plant outside Krakow,
announced by President Bush during his visit to eastern Europe in July 1989, is
directly supportive of the Polish government's effort to manage energy production
in an environmentally sound manner. In September 1991, the U.S. Department of
Energy (DOE) awarded a $7.7 million contract to the U.S. firm Airpol, Inc. to
apply state of the art desulfurization equipment to a 50-megawatt boiler at the
Skawina plant. The system is expected to capture up to 98% of the sulfur
pollutants currently spewing from the plant. The Polish government has since
contracted with Airpol to install similar equipment at a second, adjacent boiler at a
cost of $3.4 million. The combined $11 million investment will fully refurbish two
of the boilers serving one of the plant's eight turbines. The installation, expected
to be completed in 20 months, will serve as a demonstration of U.S. clean coal
technology and could pave the way for joint ventures between Polish and U.S.
companies in the energy field. When operational in May 1993, the advanced
equipment is expected to enable the entire Skawina power plant to meet current air
quality requirements as well as improve its operating efficiency.
In tandem with the Skawina project, the United States continued to assist Krakow
with its serious air pollution problem caused by the large number of low level
sources of emissions, i.e. 1,000 boilers and up to 200,000 small coal-burning
furnaces in the city. The basic goal of the project, which is being implemented by
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the Department of Energy, is visible improvement in air quality in Krakow by the
end of 1993. The $20 million (over 3 years) program is financing pilot projects for
alternative technological solutions, including an expanded district heating system,
more efficient small furnaces, greater use of gas and electricity and the
development of regulatory and market mechanisms that will promote end-user
selection of the most cost-effective technologies. Creation of an hospitable climate
for private investment, especially joint ventures, is a central element of the
strategy.
Two other environmental projects proposed by President Bush during his 1989
visit came to fruition in 1991. EPA completed installation of an advanced $1
million air quality monitoring system in Krakow, composed of seven fixed stations
and one mobile unit. A $5 million project aimed at helping the city improve its
water quality also reached completion and was officially inaugurated in August
1991. This project, which involved upgrading two drinking water treatment
facilities, two waste water treatment facilities and a water quality laboratory, was
implemented by EPA in collaboration with the Army Corps of Engineers.
Conservation and management of Poland's natural beauty figures importantly in
U.S.-Polish cooperation. In 1991, eight U.S. Peace Corps environmental
volunteers arrived in Poland to work as nature park advisors. Also, during the
year, AID agreed to provide technical assistance to review and strengthen the
management plan for Bieszczady Transboundary park. It was hoped that this
assistance will lead to cooperative efforts with Czechoslovakia and the Soviet
Union on enlarging the park. EPA was also active in developing an international
program to protect Poland's Mazurian lakes region, often called the country's
green lungs."
Debt for Environment
In a major environmental initiative with implications beyond Poland, Prime
Minister Jan Bielecki announced in June 1991 the establishment of an environment
fund, to be supported innovatively. Financing would come from swap
arrangements on the part of Paris Club countries which elect to make an additional
10% voluntary reduction in official Polish debt owed them, as provided for under
the Paris Club agreement of April 2, 1991 which reduced Polish official debt by
50%. The U.S. took the lead in promoting this debt for environment swap, which
was publicly proposed during President Walesa's March visit to the United States.
The U.S. agreed to cancellation of 10% of its outstanding official debt principal for
this purpose, effective with the signing of the U.S. -Poland Bilateral Debt
Reduction and Rescheduling Agreement of July 1991. Poland will use the local
currency equivalent of the cancelled debt to fund projects targeted on nature
conservation, and on international environmental objectives such as transboundary
air pollution, Baltic Sea cleanup and reduction of greenhouse gas emissions.
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Emerging Technologies
An important element for the transformation of Poland's economy is access to
advanced technologies and materials. In support of this goal, in May 1991 the
United States and its COCOM partners announced implementation of a new
system of export controls which greatly increases Poland's access to previously
restricted technologies.
Agriculture and Natural Resources
The United States and Poland have a long history of scientific and technical
cooperation in agriculture. Most activity in this area occurs under a Foreign
Currency Research Program, using local currency from the past sale of U.S. Public
Law 480 commodities with matching grants from participating Polish institutions.
Joint research continued in 1991 under sixteen active projects with a total grant
value of $1.8 million. The Maria Sklodowska-Curie fund also supports
agricultural research cooperation. Three new grants were approved in 1991,
bringing the total of active projects to eleven with an overall grant value of $1
million. Funds provided under the Foreign Currency Research Program and MSC
II can be used for laboratory equipment as well as exchanges of scientists.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the Polish Ministry of
Agriculture initiated in 1991 a three-year project designed to restructure and
refocus the Polish agricultural research system. A strategic planning committee,
working with a U.S. advisor, recently identified the following priorities for
agricultural research in Poland: improving the quality and safety of food products,
reducing costs, minimizing post-harvest losses, improving marketing capability
and safeguarding the environment. The project is funded by local currency from
the sale of Section 416 (b) corn donated to Poland and by dollars provided under
Support for Eastern European Democracy (SEED-II) legislation.
As part of the USDA/Agriculture Ministry project, Polish and U.S. officials will
also work with Poland's agricultural chemical laboratories to provide analysis and
training required to respond better to Polish farm needs. USDA Extension Service
advisors assigned to Polish extension centers will also assist in facilitating linkages
between scientists and farmers.
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SOVIET UNION
Note: the terms "USSR," "Soviet Union" and "Soviet" as used below and
throughout this report refer to the former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics as it
existed in FY-1991. Portions of this narrative have been modified to reflect the
momentous changes which took place in the last quarter of calendar 1991 and to
address S&T relations with successor states to the USSR.
General
As the Soviet Union disintegrated during 1991, its science sector endured
wrenching changes. The likelihood emerged of eventually having to deal with
twelve successor state S&T establishments. Some degree of cooperation will
continue among the scientific institutions of the former Soviet Union, but the shape
and extent of this cooperation is far from clear.
FY-1991 saw an unprecedented new commitment to openness and a desire on the
part of scientific institutes to show to Western audiences the results of their work --
often previously classified as military secrets. Visits to formerly restricted sites
and institutes became commonplace; access to facilities previously closed became
possible and even welcome; closely held technology suddenly was offered
commercially to Western partners and potential partners.
Forces of decentralization and disintegration directly both affected science policy
and the day-to-day life of Soviet scientists. The upheaval threatened to disrupt the
future development of science as funding for scientific research became less
certain. However, the changes could also afford opportunities for new fruitful
interactions between successor states' scientific communities and the U.S. and
others.
Basic Science
As the Soviet Union's principal successor, the Russian Republic inherited an
impressive science sector, including:
a space program which has launched more satellites than
any other and is the leader in studying human adaptations
to habitation in space;
low, medium and high-energy physics institutes conducting
world-class theoretical and experimental research; and
an extensive nuclear power industry that supports advanced
experimental facilities in almost all areas of
contemporary fission and fusion energy fields. Particular
strengths include fuel cycle and advanced technology for
fast-breeder and space-based reactors.
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There were indications that the Russian Republic would seek to continue the
former USSR's S&T relationships with the U.S., including aspects which were
negotiated during FY-1991. The potential for basic science cooperation was
broadened as a result of an amendment to the 1989 U.S.-Soviet agreement for
cooperation in the field of basic scientific research. At a meeting of the U.S./Soviet
Joint Commission on Basic Sciences held in Moscow in May 1991, the two sides
agreed to add social sciences to the list of areas for cooperation and to include
experimental as well as theoretical physics on the list. The Joint Commission also
heard positive reports on the continued growth of cooperation under the agreement,
took note of activity under the memorandum of understanding in geosciences, and
considered planned new cooperative activities.
The National Science Foundation organized a workshop for Soviet government and
science officials on how NSF operates. The program included detailed discussion of
NSF's peer review system, grants management, industry-government linkages and
international cooperation. NSF undertook to stay in contact in conjunction with
development of new competitive grant making institutions.
U.S.-Soviet joint space cooperation reached new levels in 1991. Under the Total
Ozone Mapping Spectrometer (TOMS)/Meteor-3 program, U.S. equipment was
installed in a Soviet satellite and launched on a Soviet rocket from Plesetsk
Cosmodrome. This was the first time U.S. scientists had ever been granted access
to this sensitive facility. In another case, U.S. heavy nuclei collectors were
launched on two Soviet rockets under the "Trek" project. An exchange of high-level
visits by space officials further explored the new openness and opportunities for
expanded cooperation. Threatened by rapidly shrinking state financing, but also
encouraged by the new openness of society, Soviet space scientists enthusiastically
sought enhanced cooperation not only with NASA but also with leading U.S.
laboratories and universities. The U.S.-Soviet Joint Working Groups on solar
system exploration, space biology and medicine, and solar-terrestrial physics all met
and initiated new projects in 1991.
Other successor states acquired rich scientific inheritances. Ukraine and Byelarus
are strong in selected high technology areas such as cybernetics and new materials;
Armenia has a world-class astrophysics institute; Georgia is renowned for
theoretical mathematics; Kazakhstan is strong in geology and has a key element of
the space program; and Tadzhikistan has a good seismology institute.
Health and Life Sciences
A delegation from the Academy of Sciences of the USSR visited the National
Institutes of Health (NIH) early in 1991 to explore basic biomedical science
cooperation. Areas of possible cooperation addressed included cancer, immunology
and AIDS, molecular biology and genetics, neurobiology, clinical research and
scientific information exchange. Scientific projects in these areas were
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discussed and by year's end, a significant number of exchanges had taken place,
particularly including activity in the areas of cancer and immunology.
A new area of focus that developed during the year was health care management.
As facilities and schools that were formerly funded by the central Soviet
government move toward privatization, priority is being given to medical insurance,
hospital management, organization and content of medical training, and
administrative training.
Energy, Environment and Economics
The interactions of energy production and use, economics and environmental
quality are perhaps more graphic in the former Soviet Union than in any other
country. During FY-1991, the USSR's new openness brought to light vividly the
degree to which the distorted domestic price structure had resulted in misallocation
of resources and squandering of energy on a massive scale for decades. On average,
the Soviet Union used 50-100% more energy per GNP unit than the U.S. Shielded
from competition and lacking an economically efficient means of allocating energy
costs, Soviet enterprises were saddled with outdated, inefficient technology. To
give but one example, the use of (obsolete) open-hearth steel manufacturing remains
commonplace.
Republic governments, though worried about safety, continued to be reluctant to
close older nuclear power plants because of fear of power shortages, and lack the
means to finance needed safety improvements.
The absence of effective administrative or economic instruments to control
pollution continued to aggravate these structural problems, causing severe, and in
some cases catastrophic, environmental damage.
In 1991, the U.S. initiated several programs intended to improve Soviet
understanding of the energy-environment-economics relationship:
At the tenth meeting of the U.S.-Soviet Joint Committee on Cooperation in
the Peaceful Uses of Atomic Energy (PUAE), in July 1991, the U.S.
advocated more emphasis and activity under the U.S.-Soviet Memorandum of
Cooperation on Environmental Restoration and Waste Management.
At the same meeting, work under the PUAE Memorandum of Cooperation in
Civilian Nuclear Reactor Safety, covering eleven working groups, was also
highlighted. Ten of the working groups met and actively pursued projects
during 1991.
At U.S. initiative, in April the Joint Commission of the U.S.-Soviet
Agreement in the Field of Environmental Protection added cooperation in
environmental economics to its ongoing activities. Both sides planned to
share information and experiences in using market mechanisms to limit
damage to the environment.
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American natural gas pipeline experts made two visits to the USSR to
examine ways to reduce leakages of methane, a greenhouse gas, from Soviet
pipelines. (Methane emissions from the Soviet natural gas distribution
network, the world's largest, amounts to between 6% and 10% of the total
transported, and thus are a significant fraction of the world's industrial source
methane emissions.)
U.S. private sector representatives, with valuable support from DOE and EPA,
held a series of workshops with Soviet policy officials on creating effective
procedures and legislation regulating ownership and development of energy
resources.
Emerging Technologies
Also at the July 1991 meeting on PUAE, the two sides began a new phase in
long-standing cooperation in the areas of magnetic confinement fusion and
fundamental properties of matter by signing two new memoranda of cooperation
into force. The U.S. side also proposed Soviet participation in the construction and
operation of the Superconducting Super Collider (SSC) and cooperation on the
planned Burning Plasma Experimental Reactor. Both countries reaffirmed their
commitment to work together with Japan and the EC on the International
Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) project.
Agriculture and Natural Resources
U.S.-Soviet activities in 1991 were hampered by Soviet financial difficulties,
which prevented USSR organizations from implementing most of their planned
programs. In December 1989, a two-year program of nearly 60 exchanges was
adopted for work in the areas of agricultural research, forestry, and economic
research and fact-finding. Most activities in 1990 were carried out as scheduled, but
in 1991, the level of activities decreased substantially, most notably on the Soviet
side. The United States continued in 1991 to send teams to the USSR in each of the
agreed areas, although a few of planned activities were not implemented. Because
of lack of funds only a few of the Soviet proposals were carried out. In the absence
of a new agreement, no initiatives were in prospect for a program of activities in
1992.
Outlook
Over a long history of cooperation that came to transcend Cold War politics and
the arms race, the United States' two main Soviet science interlocutors were the
USSR Academy of Sciences and the State Committee on Science and Technology
(GKNT). In the wake of the failed August 1991 coup, these organizations were
taken over and restructured by the Russian government by the end of 1991. GKNT
was absorbed by the new Russian Ministry of Science and Technology Policy
(MINSCI), and the USSR Academy reacquired its pre-Stalinist name as the Russian
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Academy of Sciences. Other successor states began to take stock of their S&T
resources and management organs. There were signs that the newly independent
republics were disposed to forge inter-state cooperative links and mechanisms in
areas such as space and the environment.
The future of science in all these countries, however, was threatened by a
potentially serious brain drain, uncertainty over funding (the Soviet military
lavishly supported fundamental research and provided secure employment to more
than 70% of the former Soviet Union's scientists), and the challenges of conversion
to a market economy. Science policy makers in the new republics are seeking a
middle passage between the Soviet model of science-by-command and more
laissez-faire, self-supporting scientific enterprises. The end result will likely be
leaner, more applications- and commercially-oriented science sectors, with
continuing research and cooperation opportunities for the U.S.
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SPAIN
General
With one of the fastest growing economies in Europe, Spain has accelerated the
pace of and raised the level of its performance in science and technology. Spain is a
significant participant in EC S&T programs, joint European S&T labs such as
CERN, the European Space Agency (including Space Station Freedom), Antarctic
research, international astronomy and AIDS research.
1991 saw renewal of a U.S.-Spanish agreement on space cooperation. Besides
providing for joint R&D activities, the agreement makes available Spanish airports
available to NASA as emergency landing sites for the space shuttle. Such
availability is essential to the space shuttle program.
In 1991, Spain also forswore construction of new nuclear power plants until the
year 2000. Though not closing the door forever on new plants, the government
expressed confidence that safer and more efficient reactors could be built in ten
years' time. Spain currently has nine operating nuclear plants.
Despite its recent significant investment in R&D, Spain remains a large net
importer of the technology it needs to build its economy. As Spain strives to
modernize its industrial base in an effort to raise its economy to the EC average, it
often neglected its environment. Spain must cooperate with fellow EC members
and others and make large investments in environmental technology -- much of
which is necessarily imported -- in order to meet community standards and
international expectations. Spain's need for technology to underpin its booming
economy and protect its environment makes it a good prospect for U.S. exporters.
Basic Science
Spaniards consider that Spain's achievements in science, especially in areas such
as biology where Spain is particularly strong, make it a worthy partner for
international cooperation with the United States.
Spain doubled its R&D outlays as a percentage of GDP between 1984 and 1988,
while GDP itself was doubling. By 1991 R&D support was about 0.9 percent of
GDP. The number of scientists and engineers per thousand in the work force rose to
2.0 in 1991 from 1.1 in 1982. Spain's percentage of published research papers
doubled to 1.6 percent of the world total between 1982 and 1990.
These brief statistics indicate Spain's commitment and development as a scientific
country. Still not broadly present in the front ranks, Spain is significantly better
suited for S&T cooperation than in 1976 and 1982, when supplementary accords to
U.S.-Spain defense cooperation agreements last provided significant U.S. funding
for joint research.
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Formal U.S.-Spanish joint research cooperation ceased at the end of 1989 with the
expiration of our bilateral S&T agreement, and has not been resumed due to
unresolved differences over the protection and allocation of rights to intellectual
property that might be developed during joint research. Informal work continued
during FY-1991, along with some formal exchanges. Activity with the U.S. is seen
by Spanish scientists as in their professional interest and by the government as a
means of cooperating outside the EC framework. The Spanish government pays for
a large number of advanced degree candidates to study and do research work in the
U.S. and also brings over a hundred Americans yearly to Spain. Although there are
more Spanish scholars in the U.S. than U.S. scholars in Spain, exchanges are limited
only by funds (more on the U.S. side than the Spanish). Access is not a problem in
Spain.
Health and Life Sciences
Cooperative work by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and the Spanish
Ministry of Health has continued since 1981, when adulterated rapeseed (cooking)
oil left 650 Spaniards dead and 25,000 affected in lasting ways. The ongoing
follow-up investigation has implications for identifying toxic agents and their
effects in the U.S.
As of late FY-1991 Spain had recorded 8,200 AIDS cases, 3,185 of them fatal,
since Spain began keeping such figures around 1982. The Health Ministry has made
AIDS a priority, and 75 Spanish R&D groups, many supported by the EC, were
engaged on AIDS. Spain claimed this to be the largest effort of any EC country.
Spain is also strong in biotechnology (see below under Critical Technologies).
Energy, Environment and Economics
Spain's national energy plan for 1991-2000 stipulates specific environmental
objectives for the first time. One goal is to reduce sulfur dioxide emissions from
large facilities by the year 2000 to 42% of their 1980 level. Oxides of nitrogen are
to be reduced to 263 kilotons per year.
Much of Spain's industry does not meet EC environmental norms. Massive
infusions of capital (tens of billions of dollars) from the government, the EC and
industry will eventually be necessary to clean up Spain's power and industrial
sectors and to meet community waste water treatment requirements.
Spain is generally supportive of U.S. positions in international global change fora,
in which Spain participates actively. Its situation with respect to control of carbon
dioxide emissions is less critical than that of other EC countries. The Community
seeks to limit its total emissions by the year 2000 to their 1990 level. A relatively
low producer now, Spain could increase its current emissions and still be under that
ceiling, while more industrialized members will have to reduce theirs.
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In 1991 Spain reaffirmed its nuclear moratorium of 1984, definitively postponing
any new nuclear power plants until the year 2000 and deciding to dismantle five
plants on which work stopped in 1984. The national energy plan for the period
1991-2000 has an R&D component calling for initiatives for new technological
developments in advanced nuclear fission reactors, passive safety reactors,
intrinsically safe fission reactors and nuclear fusion reactors, so that such reactors
may be incorporated into the electrical system after the year 2000. Spanish utilities
are interested in affiliating with U.S. firms working on the reactors of the future, and
Spanish firms have been planning an advanced reactor in collaboration with
Westinghouse. Eight of Spain's nine currently operating reactors are
American-built.
Emerging Technologies
When the U.S.-Spanish S&T agreement is renewed, anticipated resumption of
S&T cooperation under it will offer attractive possibilities for joint work in the
technology areas of advanced materials (including high-temperature
superconductors), microelectronics and biotechnology. Only information and
communications technologies received a higher priority than materials and
biotechnology in Spain's 1988-1991 R&D plan.
During FY-1991, four new Spanish institutes were engaged in study of physical
properties of a wide range of materials, including metal-organic conductors, hard
materials and magnetic films. The four centers coordinate their work on
high-temperature superconductivity. They characterize known high-temperature
superconductors as well as fabricate new ones. The total effort on these
superconductors involves several hundred workers. A similar new initiative in
microelectronics involved laboratories in three cities working on processing, chip
design and new device fabrication using silicon and compound semiconductors.
Spain's foremost scientific field, biology (two biology-related Nobel prizes), has
provided the basis for strong efforts in biotechnology. While biotechnology R&D is
common in the widespread biological institutes, a new center at the Autonomous
University of Madrid is entirely devoted to the discipline.
Agriculture and Natural Resources
Spain claims to have 40% of the EC's still-pristine territory but believes it cannot
afford to maintain these areas by itself. This belief, together with Spain's
inadequate sewage treatment infrastructure, are a source of friction between the
government and the EC commission. Desertification and coastal degradation are
other mounting problems of considerable economic importance in parts of Spain.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), a major participant under the former
S&T agreement, still operates a program for training Spanish doctoral and
postdoctoral students at U.S. universities. The Spanish government pays all fees
and USDA administrative expenses.
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Spain has had a research base in Antarctica since 1988 and, in 1991, launched a
new polar research ship. Madrid was also the site of three meetings in 1991 to draw
up an Environmental Protection Protocol to the Antarctic Treaty. The negotiations
were at times very difficult over the question of future Antarctic minerals resources
development. Spain was a most helpful U.S. ally, devoted as it was to having a
successful conference, and the Spanish chairman's compromise proposal ultimately
prevailed. The protocol was signed in Madrid October 4, 1992.
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UNITED KINGDOM
General
Science and technology relations between the U.S. and the United Kingdom (UK)
remain extensive and close at all levels -- governmental, institutional and
individual. Interactions between scientific societies of both countries, frequent
exchanges between governmental institutions and fruitful industrial relationships go
on continually. While a number of topical or project related memoranda of
understanding have been concluded over the years between counterpart U.S. and UK
government agencies, there has been no perceived need for an umbrella science and
technology agreement.
During the past year the Science Adviser to the Cabinet, Sir John Fairclough,
resigned and was replaced by Professor William Stewart, a person oriented toward
increased basic and more market-oriented programs, large multi-disciplinary team
research and increased international cooperation. Prof. Stewart favors
government-industry cooperation, including the encouragement of industrial
contracts, in support of research to generate marketable products. The imprint of
this approach on government research policy was expected to become apparent over
time.
The UK is deeply involved in international collaborations in almost every field and
aspect of science. This is especially true within the EC and with the United States.
However, most collaborations occur at the individual scientist level or involve the
competitive search for research grants and contracts. These processes occur so
effectively that there is slight need or occasion for official assistance or
intervention. As a consequence, most such collaborations are recorded only in the
author lists and credits in the technical literature and not in official governmental
publications.
Basic Science
Her Majesty's Government (HMG) is increasingly involving the state in the
support and direction of basic and applied science, on the perception that economic
progress and sustained national security can depend significantly on the health of a
national science program. A high level committee formally chaired by the Prime
Minister continued to coordinate research during FY-1991, although much research,
both basic and applied, is supported through individual departments. HMG believes
that the government's responsibilities extend to basic and strategic research and do
not include development of specific products or processes. That is held to be the
responsibility of the industrial sector.
Government support is divided into broad-based funding given directly to the
universities, and support administered through the Department of Education and
Science's five Research Councils. HMG has taken steps to award organizations the
intellectual property rights to their creative accomplishments, as means to motivate
further the transfer of ideas. It has also formalized a linking mechanism to provide a
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framework for collaboration between the various levels of basic through commercial
science. To emphasize its commitment to promoting science within the UK, HMG
has instituted a compulsory school course program in science and technology for
students up to age 16.
While HMG remains firmly committed to scientific excellence, the individual
researcher has to struggle to find funds for support. The UK has been investing a
nearly constant fraction of the nation's Gross National Product (GNP) in science for
the last 15 years. While the UK has enjoyed an increase in scientific personnel
during this period, research costs have risen more rapidly than inflation. There is a
very competitive atmosphere among scientists and attendant pressures to "publish or
perish", to show short term results and to produce quantity rather than quality.
HMG is participating in large projects in molecular biology and environmental
assessment. The Medical Research Council (MRC) is contributing 3.2 million
pounds (BPS; 1 BPS equals $1.80) to the European Molecular Biology Laboratory.
The Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) is putting BPS 1.9 million
pounds into the Ocean Drilling Program and the Department of Trade and Industry
(DTI) is investing a total of BPS 13.7 million pounds in the earth resources satellite,
earth observation polar platform and polar orbiting environmental missions.
Health and Life Sciences
The bulk of UK medical research is conducted by either the research facilities of
the Medical Research Council (MRC) or university medical schools using grants
from the MRC. Of special importance are MRC's three largest institutions: the
National Institute for Medical Research, the Laboratory of Molecular Biology and
the Clinical Research Center. Medical research is overseen by four research boards,
which assess progress and appraise proposals on the basis of regular reports from
research teams and visiting expert subcommittees.
The MRC budget consists of four areas: biomedical, AIDS, health services and
training grants. Beginning in 1989, the MRC earmarked funds for Human Genome
mapping. This program is now the UK's contribution to the EC's Human Genome
Analysis Program. The UK's AIDS research program, directed primarily at vaccine
and drug development, consists of some 150 individual projects.
The MRC has become adept at transferring its technological developments from
laboratory to marketplace. To accomplish this, the MRC set up a laboratory
dedicated to industry funded research, located adjacent to the MRC basic research
laboratory, so that inventors of new technology could be simultaneously involved
both in basic exploration and the development of marketable products. The
pharmaceutical industry is one of the most progressive within the UK, investing
large fractions of its income in research and development, and it has taken full
advantage of MRC's initiatives.
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Energy, Environment and Economics
HMG has set out its position and expressed its heightened concern about
environmental issues in an extensive report entitled "This Common Inheritance."
UK policy is based on the principle of stewardship, and need for actions to be
coherent, scientifically well founded, and with both national and international
dimensions. HMG has pledged to keep the public informed and has promised
improvements in the environment, while warning of impending costs. The 300-page
document covers the environmental policy area comprehensively, including chapters
on the greenhouse effect, energy, transport, forests and carbon dioxide, methane,
land use, wildlife, pollution control, hazardous substances (including genetically
modified organisms), noise, waste and recycling, and nuclear power and radioactive
waste. Other UK environmental priorities include tightening controls over vehicle
emissions. Because of the international consequences of environmental effects and
the importance that the EC places on this issue, international collaboration in
environmental research has taken on growing importance for HMG. The UK is
playing a notable role in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).
In the energy sector, a principal UK focus has been on increasing the efficiency
with which energy is generated and used. Past efforts have paid off, e.g., in 1989
the UK produced 25% more gross domestic product (GDP) than in 1979 while using
no more energy. Among energy efficiency measures announced in the recent
environment white paper are tougher building regulations, an emphasis on gas in
combined cycle gas turbines (CCGTs) as the first choice of fuel for power
generation, greater use of combined heat and power (CHP) technology, energy
labeling, and speeding up development of renewable sources of energy including
wind, hydropower, tidal, burning of dry wastes and use of biofuels.
During FY-1991, privatization of the gas and electricity industries continues to be
one of HMG's success stories. Both industries are flourishing, even under current
environmental restraints, although there is concern about future environmental
regulations. The gas industry believes it would benefit from tighter rules since gas
is "greener and cleaner" than other fossil fuels.
The UK's developing energy policy has a very strong EC component to it.
Environmental issues were not recognized in the original 1957 Treaty of Rome, but
the Stockholm Conference of 1972 acknowledged that economic growth needed to
be "linked to improvements in living standards and quality of life and to protection
of the environment and natural resources." As a result, the EC Commission set
forth principles including a directive mandating "best available technology not
entailing excessive costs" for new large combustion plants, and requiring large
emissions reductions by the year 2003.
The UK has vocal and articulate anti-nuclear activists who ensure that licensing
hearings and nuclear policy reviews are drawn out, controversial and costly. This is
one reason that the UK nuclear power stations (which generate approximately 20%
of the UK's electricity) remain in the public sector. The current UK government
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has been a consistent proponent of nuclear power, for its obvious benefits of
increased energy supply diversity and not contributing to acid precipitation or
possible global warming, and nuclear energy's long-range potential in terms of
availability of uranium and prospects for advanced reactors in the future. HMG
wishes to maintain the nuclear option, but only if nuclear power becomes more
economic and the industry demonstrates it can maintain high safety and
environmental standards.
Emerging Technologies
HMG continues to focus on competitiveness as a national objective and encourages
cooperation among government institutions, universities and industry to develop
technologies that are commercially promising. The financial sponsorship of
non-defense research is the responsibility of individual ministries and departments,
with much of the more basic and exploratory research being funded through the
Universities Funding Council (UFC) and the five Research Councils within the
Department of Education and Science. Much of this research is accomplished
within interdisciplinary Research Centers for specific technologies, of which there
are twenty or more at present, most of which are housed at various universities.
The UK's Link programs made their first award almost four years ago. The Link
initiative provides a mechanism by which the public sector, in the form of
universities, research councils and government departments, joins with private
sector companies to pursue agreed research programs. The goal of the programs is
to provide a link between inventor and manufacturer in order to promote the transfer
of technology from laboratory to marketplace. While the majority of fields are
likely to be in engineering, any exploitable technology is eligible for consideration.
HMG is contributing BPS 10.5 million to Eureka, the pan-European program to
promote industry-led projects in all sectors of advanced technology products.
Agriculture and Natural Resources
Again, the UK is heavily involved in international collaboration, most of which is
carried out on an informal basis. The Agricultural and Food Research Council
(AFRC) is actively engaged in cooperation with other EC members and is seeking to
promote strategic links with the rest of the world's scientific community. While the
AFRC has no major formal agreements with foreign countries, it is involved in
consortia doing between BPS 1.6-1.7 million of EC research. It is also involved in
some BPS 4 million of research in developing countries.
The Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (MAFF) has lead responsibility
for four programs conducted under the EC's R&D program called Framework. The
EC supplies approximately 50% of the funding for these programs. In practice, the
greater part of MAFF's international collaboration is in the form of information
exchange. Additional European collaborations, which include non-EC countries, are
conducted through a Committee of Senior Officials on Science and Technology
(COST).
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YUGOSLAVIA
General
During FY-1991, ethnic internal conflict drove Yugoslavia closer to
dismemberment and at times to civil war. Meanwhile, external interests -- in
particular the European Community (EC) as well as the U.S. -- worked to try to
check the violence and bloodshed. The impact on everything in Yugoslavia,
including the conduct of cooperative science and technology programs in all parts of
the country, was profound. Budgets were uncertain or non-existent, travel of foreign
scientists to Yugoslavia was impeded, science conferences were postponed or
cancelled, and working relations among specific parts of the Yugoslav scientific
community were strained. These conditions continued past the end of FY-1991.
Despite the turbulence, productive research under the U.S.-Yugoslav Joint Fund
for scientific and technological cooperation continued to take place notably well. In
FY-1991 the Joint Board approved 47 new research projects valued at $897,550, and
endorsed another 83 ongoing grants totalling $884,855.
Basic Science
Yugoslavia is strong in basic science, with about 40% of its research projects under
the Joint Fund in this category. The three most developed republics (Croatia, Serbia
and Slovenia) have numerous prominent scientists with international standing in
physics, chemistry, biotechnology, genetic engineering and electrical engineering,
inter alia. Even as Yugoslavia looks increasingly to the European Community for
its future orientation, ties with American science endure. A recent survey of
Yugoslav graduate students in the sciences studying abroad showed that more than
80% were in the United States. They and many other Yugoslav science personnel
connected with the U.S. S&T community through U.S.-Yugoslav joint research
projects over the last three decades.
Such projects are carried out at relatively low cost to the U.S. government
(significantly less than if the research were performed in the U.S.). An American
physicist with long experience in joint research in Yugoslavia noted recently that
'the scientific return per taxpayer dollar is probably higher for Eastern European
programs than for any other programs in the world."
Science officials from even the most separatist republics have confirmed privately
their interest in continuing participation in the Joint Research Program, lauding the
practical benefits of their long association with U.S. technical agencies, American
scientific institutions and cooperating American scientists. Despite this shared good
will to "keep science above politics," during FY-1991 there were operational
obstacles associated with the operation of the Joint Board, and with the relationship
between the republics and the federal S&T coordinating body. The annual
U.S.-Yugoslav Joint Board meeting scheduled for October 1991 was canceled due to
the ongoing crisis. In the short term, these problems were addressed by handling
much of the business of the Joint Board through correspondence rather than in
formal meetings, thereby avoiding unnecessary confrontations as Yugoslav
government institutions awaited their future shape and content.
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Administrators and scientists from all republics and provinces met in June
1991 to consider the implications of the OECD Technology/Economy
Program (TEP) for Science, Technology and Development in Yugoslavia.
These science leaders concluded that the government: (a) should preserve the
research system in all its component parts; (b) channel and support innovative
efforts and improve the infrastructure for technological development,
particularly in telecommunications; and (c) halt the brain drain. They called
on the international community to find ways and means to increase
significantly their support for Yugoslavia in view of the economic and
political reforms it was undertaking.
Health and Life Sciences
Cooperative research between the U.S. and Yugoslavia in life sciences has
been one of the strongest aspects of the Joint Program for more than two
decades. Current research covers such high priority fields as drug addiction,
tumor growth factors, prostate cancer and cystic fibrosis, and involves the
major medical centers in Belgrade, Zagreb, Sarajevo, and Ljubljana.
International interest in biomechanics research in Slovenia was reflected in
the 7th International Conference on Mechanics and Medicine, which was held
despite the conflict in Yugoslavia, albeit across the border in a neighboring
country. While showcasing achievements in synthesis of walking with the
help of functional electrical stimulation, the organizers also brought in experts
to promote development in other fields, e.g., tissue and fluid mechanics,
ergonomics, prosthetics and orthotics.
Energy, Environment and Economics
The mix of energy sources in Yugoslavia places a heavy reliance on
domestic coal (36%), with consequent adverse impact on air quality in both
industrial and population centers. Imported crude oil is the second largest
energy source (31%), with natural gas (13%), hydropower (12%), and nuclear
power (2%) making up most of the rest of the energy picture. Fiscal necessity
may force heavier reliance on coal in the short term, with environmental
concerns being postponed until the various parts of Yugoslavia sort out their
political and economic futures.
The Slovenian legislature has mandated closing Yugoslavia's only nuclear
power plant (KRSKO, which uses U.S. technology) by 1995, at an estimated
cost of about $2 billion. Importing power from elsewhere will add further to
the cost, since Slovenia gets 20% and Croatia 17% of their energy from
KRSKO.
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During FY-1991 concerns about the environment maintained a toehold in
Yugoslavia, with considerable legislation on the books, especially at the
federal level. Enforcement, however, was virtually nonexistent. Yugoslavia
has sought international support to address its environmental concerns and
hosted a fact-finding mission from the G-24 countries in early 1991. The
mission was exposed to a wide variety of proposals, and suggested which
ones might qualify for feasibility studies by member nations.
Emerging Technologies
Materials
A joint project involving the National Institute of Standards and Technology
(NIST) and the Jozef Stefan Institute in Ljubljana is aimed at deepening
understanding of rare earth doped titanate ceramics, and is expected to result
in development of the appropriate ceramic fabrication technology for
controlled densification and optimal microstructure.
Molecular biology
In 1991, after three years of joint research, the U.S. Department of Energy
(DOE) arranged for an entire team from the Belgrade Center for Genetic
Engineering to move to and continue their work at DOE's Argonne National
Laboratory. The work involves application of a new method of DNA
sequencing at a pilot plant stage, and could develop into an important advance
in this critical technology.
Energy technology
Building on previous joint research, the Department of Energy is working
with a major Yugoslav commercial firm and Ljubljana University to study
combining underground coal gasification with in-situ oil shale retorting. Such
secondary recovery of coal reserves remaining after conventional mining is no
longer economical also has environmental benefit -- removal of sulfur dioxide
as the gas contacts the oil shale.
Agriculture
Agricultural research has been the largest program under the Joint Fund in
recent years. This has been most evident in Serbia and the Vojvodina, where
agriculture is the backbone of the economies of both the republic and its
constituent province. Investigations by U.S. and Yugoslav scientists during
FY-1991 included:
a hypothesis that embryos can be collected for safe export from donor
cows vaccinated against brucellosis in the U.S.;
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the development and use of natural enemies of common ragweed to
control this harmful weed;
promotion of food production by developing new varieties of durum
(hard) wheat that would produce higher yields;
enhancement of maize breeding programs in both countries by
interchange of scientific information and elite maize germplasm.
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CHAPTER 4
CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
As "classic" political and security issues abate relatively in the post-Cold War era,
the U.S. is at the beginning of a new phase in which the bipolar world is being
replaced by a new and quickly evolving multipolar one. The contents of this Title V
report strongly suggest that, in this new world, international environmental, science
and technology issues are increasingly important.
The rationale for U.S. international S&T cooperation is stronger than ever before
for three reasons. First, more research subjects, such as possible global
environmental change, are inherently international. Second, increasing proportions
of S&T talent, facilities and sites are outside the U.S. Third, fruitful S&T
cooperative activities can benefit participants significantly in terms of contributing
both to their economic performance, and to their and others' health and societal
well-being. The details narrated in Chapters 2 and 3 of this report present a current
picture of the degree to which our interests entail continued need to reach out and
gain benefit from international S&T cooperation.
The following remarks are keyed to the text of the Title V legislation (quoted in
Chapter 1).
1. Personnel Requirements, Standards and Training
Many Executive departments and technical agencies are extensively involved in
U.S. international S&T cooperation, because such cooperation enhances the
performance of their statutory responsibilities and their ability to benefit the
nation's well being and the U.S. public. The genesis of the narrative portions of this
Title V report illustrates the nature of Government-wide agency involvement in
international S&T. The National Science Foundation was lead drafter for the
discussion in Chapter Two on Basic Science. The Department of Health and Human
Services took the lead on the discussion of Health and Life Sciences; the State
Department on Energy, Environment and Economics; the Department of Commerce
on Emerging Technologies; and the Agriculture, Interior and Commerce
Departments on Agriculture and Natural Resources. Numerous other offices and
agencies contributed comments and suggestions. The database at the end of this
report illustrates even more graphically the number and extent of USG departments
and agencies involved in international environment, science and technology (EST)
activities.
In the White House, the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP)
addresses S&T policy issues across the Executive Branch as a whole. The principal
forum for coordination of federal government S&T activities is the OSTP-chaired
Federal Coordinating Committee for Science, Engineering and Technology
(FCCSET) and, as to international aspects, its (sub) Committee on International
Science, Engineering, and Technology (CISET), chaired by the Under Secretary
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of State for International Security Affairs. Specific U.S. Government international
S&T cooperative activities principally originate in and are implemented by the
Executive departments and technical agencies, subject to State Department
coordination and oversight.
The Department of State plays a key role in assuring that international science and
technology agreements and activities are consonant with overall U.S. foreign
policies. The Department coordinates the interagency process of authorization to
negotiate and conclude agreements (Circular 175). In addition to its CISET role, the
Department also coordinates U.S. Government international S&T activities by
chairing the Policy Coordinating Committee for International Oceans, Environment
and Scientific Affairs (PCC/OES), under auspices of the National Security Council.
The State Department coordinates the drafting of this annual Presidential report,
which is an important tool for the international S&T oversight and coordination role
which Title V assigns to State.
It is necessary to blend many individual human resource capabilities -- S&T
knowledge, economic, political and foreign policy skills, foreign language and
cultural expertise -- to achieve success in reaping maximum U.S. benefit from
international EST interactions. These skills are in varying degrees necessary among
people in all U.S. Government agencies involved. Departments and agencies have
large numbers of technical and managerial personnel with very extensive experience
in, and personal commitment to, international cooperation. These personnel,
together with the even larger number of members of the participating
non-govemmental U.S. science and engineering communities, are the implementors
of U.S. Government international S&T cooperation.
Many scientific disciplines are represented in the current cadre of EST officers. It
should be noted that for U.S. embassy officers abroad covering EST matters, a
central requirement is experience in, or at least an aptitude quickly to grasp, broad
foreign policy considerations and their relationship to S&T. U.S. EST officers
abroad must field a variety of tasks: conduct traditional diplomacy through
demarches, representations and reporting of host government positions and
attitudes; report on the state of EST in the host country and on the host
government's organization and policy approach to EST matters; develop and
cultivate local governmental and non-governmental S&T contacts; and manage
U.S. Government science and technology programs. Therefore, managerial
experience/aptitude and communications skills are also essential.
The Department of State provides a course which is available to its own personnel
who occupy or may be assigned to EST positions, and for personnel from other
agencies and outside the government detailed to EST-related assignments in the
OES Bureau and U.S. embassies. This training provides structured guidance to
embassy EST officers on how to perform their jobs, how and on what to report, and
how to craft their reporting to make it most useful to a wide end-user audience.
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Recommendations
Departments and agencies significantly involved in international S&T
cooperation and S&T policy should continue to calibrate their approaches and
activities to serve U.S. interests in a changing era; for example, by
encouraging and increasing the capabilities of their personnel dealing with
international EST matters. They should encourage their employees to attend
courses given by the Department of State on international EST issues and U.S.
foreign policy .
The Department of State should continue its efforts to attract well-qualified
Foreign Service, Civil Service and outside scientific and technical
professionals for science and technology-related careers in the Department and
Foreign Service and for temporary assignments in Washington headquarters
and U.S. embassies. Arranging details between Executive
departments/agencies and the State Department offers one way to provide
broadening experience to personnel.
The Department of State should review and evaluate the operation of the
present EST Counselor/Attache system, along the lines of the study described
in Chapter 1.
The Department of State (OES) should continue to work closely with the
Foreign Service Institute (FSI) to insure that the syllabus of FSI's course on
International Environment, Science and Technology Issues and American
Foreign Policy is as germane to U.S. interests and as practically helpful to the
students as possible. The course should be given more often than the present
once a year.
Orientation for EST officers should include more extensive presentations by
the principal U.S. departments and agencies of their international programs and
interests.
As an integral part of EST training, the State Department (OES) should make
every effort to continue the practice of an annual conference in Washington for
Embassy EST officers, including enlisting support from and active
participation by other interested U.S. Government departments, technical
agencies and Congressional members and staff.
2. Continuation and Broadening of Present Science and Technology Agreements
and Activities
The U.S. has been the source of much technical progress in other countries through
generous sharing of scientific and engineering discoveries. The U.S. still leads in
many respects, but is now also increasingly on the receiving end. The preceding
chapters have detailed international scientific and technological interactions and
benefits deriving from a significant range of U.S. international S&T agreements and
activities.
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Recommendations
U.S. Government agencies should continue to maintain and broaden U.S. EST
interactions and cooperation with the rest of the world.
The USG should continue to work to insure that countries where new
discoveries are being made continue to operate their laboratories and distribute
their scientific literature in an open manner. Protection of intellectual property
rights (IPR) arising from S&T cooperative activities should be pursued with all
partners.
Executive agencies should continue to negotiate science and technology
agreements with due consideration for factors such as effective provisions on
equitable access and intellectual property rights.
Executive agencies should be attentive to the possibilities for negotiating
appropriate new science and technology agreements with counterparts
emerging in the newly independent states in the territory of the former Soviet
Union.
3. Funding
The President's budget sets forth funding proposals, by Department, for support of
S&T programs of the U.S. Government. This report discusses selected program
funding, for example in Poland, Hungary, Yugoslavia, Israel and India.
Recommendations
The Committee on International Science, Engineering and Technology
(CISET) should continue to encourage transparency and consistency by
technical agencies in providing funding data on cooperative S&T activities for
inclusion in this report (particularly for the database).
Technical agencies and the Executive departments should continue to
participate in identified and specific joint efforts to prioritize and coordinate
S&T activities, for example, through the FCCSET/CISET mechanism.
4. Plans for Future Routine Evaluation of Science and Technology Agreements and
Activities
The intent of this and future Title V reports is to be the central annual U.S.
Government reference on USG international activities and agreements on science
and technology. With that in mind, the overall approach of this year's Title V report
has been to:
Review a number of currently important international science and technology
subjects and themes;
Illustrate where and how U.S. Government international S&T activities and
agreements were involved with these subjects and themes; and
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Provide an extensive database of U.S. Government international S&T
agreements by country and by agency.
Recommendations
Future Title V reports should continue to improve the quality and usability of the
data provided, in order to constitute the principal annual body of information for
understanding the interaction with U.S. interests of international environment,
science and technology matters, and for reviewing the scientific and
technological benefits deriving from U.S. Government international science and
technology activities and agreements.
The Congress and other users are requested to provide information on the
usefulness of this report.
5. Equity of Access
Consistent with recommendations in last year's report, technical agencies have
continued to help assure equitable access to facilities and resources of overseas
partners. While not explicit in most framework agreements for cooperation, access
provisions are a major feature of implementing arrangements in which specific
provisions between collaborators are spelled out in greater detail.
During FY-1991, U.S. cooperative activities were monitored closely and no
significant problems of access were identified for either U.S. public or private entities
working with their foreign counterparts. In fact, the year was characterized by
reported improvements in opportunities to work in Japan, always an important
collaborative partner, and an unprecedented level of access to former Communist
research facilities, particularly and including institutions of the former Soviet Union
which performed, in part or in toto, defense-related research and development in the
past. This unusual development could increase rapidly over the next few years as
former Communist states evolve politically and economically.
Equity of access has special aspects in respect to emerging technologies. The
challenge for U.S. policy makers is threefold: first, to encourage collaboration in
advanced R&D in technologies where there is mutual interest; second, to continue to
support a market-based policy framework in this country that is conducive not only to
the development but also to the commercialization of new technologies; and, lastly,
to cooperate with our partners to ensure greater transparency and improved
understanding of the international effects of their R&D support policies. Progress on
all will be important if we are to capture the full benefit of these technologies which
hold such promise for improving the standard of living of future generations.
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Recommendations
Continue to assure equitable access to foreign research facilities and programs
through negotiated provisions in U.S. agreements and implementing
arrangements.
Continue to monitor closely agreements and activities with respect to access
opportunities, through more systematic reporting from EST officers overseas,
focused surveys by technical agencies, and selected briefings before such
interagency fora as the CISET and FCCSET.
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