Recognition of the importance of science and technology in future prosperity stems from an awareness that countries wishing to maintain and enhance high living standards will increasingly have to produce goods and services which can justify high wage levels, are internationally competitive and have their overall competitiveness enhanced by their quality and performance.

This competitive edge needs to be maintained by continued innovations which enhance the quality and the efficiency of the goods and services compared with those of national and international competitors.

This book is an excellent example of the use to which the data can be put. It contains a detailed survey of the expenditure priorities of six leading scientific nations, disaggregated into some forty subfields. Using this information, the authors then outline trends in patterns of expenditure for each country, highlighting changes underway in the mechanism for funding academic and related research, and the extent to which strategically important areas of research have been given priority.

The book is a significant addition to the literature on science and technology policy and will be of considerable interest to all concerned with this rapidly developing field.

This book contain about : introduction : a framework for international comparison of government support for academic and related research; expenditure in the United Kingdom; expenditure in the Federal Republic of Germany; expenditure in France; expenditure in Netherlands; expenditure in United States; expenditure in Japan; international trends in government support for academic and related research.