The Political and Economic Context of European defence R&D

Along with all other defence-related issues, defence research is a controversial area for EU action. Until recently, defence issues have not figured prominently among EU policy discussions and defence research has played little, if any, role in European technology policy. Although the Framework Programme is funding research projects that could have potential military applications in addition to their explicit civilian goals, there is no strategy on how to address such "dual-use" research activities. Yet, this paper argues that the interaction between technologies developed for civilian and for military use has led to a situation in which it is increasingly difficult to refer to distinct military and civilian technology bases. From the point of view of policy formulation a strict separation between defence and civilian technologies is increasingly appearing as anachronistic. The extent to which "dual-use" research will be explicitly considered in the development of the 6th Framework Programme will again emerge as a matter of debate. The paper presents and discusses different avenues through which dual-use and defence-related research could be given formal consideration in the development and implementation of the 6th Framework Programme.EU research policy, defence, "dual-use" research

Producción militar en España. ¿Un incentivo a la innovación tecnológica?

Spanish Military Production. An Incentive to Technological Innovation? As a direct result of Govemrnent policies Spanish military R&D has grown dramatically during the second half of the eighties. It is usually argued that military industry and research can become an "engine" of technological development for the rest of the Spanish economy. The present article advances new elements to assess the effect of military R&D and production on overall technological development. A new concept and classification of "military-related firms" is presented to include in the analysis the producers of military components and sub-systems. This new military related production within the rest of Spanish economy. The study reveals symptoms of geographical concentration and lack of domestic suppliers in those high technology sectors in which the research effort of the Spanish Ministry of Defence is centring. Both elements may hamper the diffusion of new technologies and incentives to technological innovation from military production to the rest of the economy.Como resultado directo de la política gubemamental la I+D militar española ha sufrido un espectacular incremento durante la segunda mítad de los ochenta. Se argumenta a menudo que la industria y la investigación militar pueden convertirse en un "motor" que impulse el desarrollo tecnológico del resto de la economía española. El presente trabajo intenta aportar nuevos elementos para la evaluación del efecto de la producción e I+D militar sobre el desarrollo tecnológico del país a través del estudio de indicadores que reflejen la inserción de la producción militar en el sí de la economía española. Se presenta un nuevo concepto y clasificación de "industrias relacionadas con la producción militar" que incluye a los productores de componentes y subsistemas. El análisis resultante revela indicios de concentración geográfica y de falta de proveedores domésticos en aquellos sectores de alta tecnología donde se concentra el esfuerzo investigador del Ministerio de Defensa. Ambos aspectos pueden incidir negativamente sobre la difusión de nuevas tecnologías y de incentivos a la innovación tecnológica desde el ámbito de la producción militar al resto de la economía

El nuevo contrato social de la ciencia

Dossier Científico.Los criterios para estimar el valor que las actividades científicas generan y cómo lo logran han cambiado en las últimas décadas y auguran un nuevo contrato social de la ciencia. El nuevo contrato implica una visión más escéptica de la posible contribución social de la actividad científica.Peer Reviewe

Science, technology and innovation policy evaluation: An isolated academic and practice field

Trabajo presentado a la EU-SPRI Conference: "Science and Innovation Policy: Dynamics, Challenges, Responsibility and Practice", celebrada en Manchester (UK) del 18 al 20 de junio de 2014.Peer Reviewe

A call for inclusive indicators that explore research activities in “peripheral” topics and developing countries

Science and Technology (S&T) systems all over the world are routinely monitored and assessed with indicators that were created to measure the natural sciences in developed countries. Ismael Ràfols and Jordi Molas-Gallart argue these indicators are often inappropriate in other contexts. They urge S&T analysts to create data and indicators that better reflect research activities and contributions in these “peripheral” spaces

El nuevo contrato social de la ciencia

[ES] Los criterios para estimar el valor que las actividades científicas generan y cómo lo logran han cambiado en las últimas décadas y auguran un nuevo contrato social de la ciencia. El nuevo contrato implica una visión más escéptica de la posible contribución social de la actividad científica.Molas-Gallart, J. (2014). El nuevo contrato social de la ciencia. SEBBM. Revista de la Sociedad Española de Bioquímica y Biología Molecular. (180):7-9. http://hdl.handle.net/10251/102093S7918

How and when social scientists in Government contribute to policy

Does a PhD allow social scientists in Government to climb the career ladder and make a difference to government policy? Mariell Juhlin, Puay Tang and Jordi Molas Gallart find that social scientists working within government benefit from an ‘expert’ effect as having an academic background enhances credibility when dealing with policy colleagues

Resources exchange patterns with diverse institutional partners within R&D collaborative relationships: access to reputation and funding

This study addresses the nature of the networks which researchers use to access resources focusing on the nature of network‐mediated resource exchanges and the relationship to those network connection strengths. Innovation literature tends to assume that for research collaboration weak ties – allowing loose coupling – are optimal, and it is precisely that notion that we seek to test here. This paper addresses the manner in which relational and institutional traits interact in R&D relationships, and specifically the institutional context and functional characteristics of a tie between two researchers. We use Granovetter’s network theory to conceptualise scientific network functioning in R&D collaborative relationships, classifying ties into strong and weak ties. We then analyse how actors’ institutional contexts (and their similarity or difference) affect how researchers conduct resources exchanges. We argue ‘ tie characteristics’ can predict different patterns of exchange behaviours depending on partners’ institutional affiliations. Our findings stress that institutional affiliation determines which tie characteristics are in the best interest for the access to resources to take place

Informal collaborations between social sciences and humanities researchers and non-academic partners

The analysis of how research contributes to society typically focuses on the study of those transactions that are mediated through formal legal instruments (research contracts, patent licensing and the creation of companies). Research has shown, however, that informal means of technology transfer are also important. This paper explores the importance of informal collaborations and provides evidence of the extent to which informal collaborations between researchers and nonacademic partners take place informally in the social sciences and humanities (SSH). Data is obtained from two studies on knowledge exchange involving researchers working in the SSH area of the Spanish Council for Scientific Research. We show that informal collaborations not officially recorded by the organisation are much more common than formal agreements and that many collaborations remain informal over time. We explore the causes of such prevalence of informality and discuss its policy implications.Olmos-Peñuela, J.; Molas-Gallart, J.; Castro-Martínez, E. (2014). Informal collaborations between social sciences and humanities researchers and non-academic partners. Science and Public Policy. 41(4):493-506. doi:10.1093/scipol/sct075S49350641