Public research institutions and economic catch-up

Public research institutions, often but not always connected with universities, have been in the past important elements of the structures supporting economic catch-up. Recent changes in the international economic environment, and the growing scientific basis for contemporary technologies, will make those institutions even more important in the future. Universities and public labs have contributed to the development of technological capabilities in different forms across countries and economic sectors. In contrast with current emphasis on university-based embryonic inventions and fundamental research, effective research programs have predominantly occurred in the application-oriented sciences and engineering, and have been oriented towards problem-solving, and the advancement of technologies of interest to a well-defined user-community. (C) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.