Technology Bureaucracy

AT 8 A.M. Mr. X wakes up to the sound of his high powered Sanyo alarm. By 8:15 a.m. he's taken a shower and is styling his hair with the latest in Panasonic blow dryer technology. By 8:30 he's on his way to work in his Toyota, and by 9 he's seated comfortably behind his Sony computer.

In one hour, Mr. X has demonstrated why the United States government is shaking up the National Science Foundation (NSI)--the nation's top agency for funding basic research. Over whelming foreign technological competition over the past decade, especially from Japan, has produced a growing sense of concern among government officials that we may be losing the battle for good. Moreover, there is increasing, evidence that Japanese corporations are not ready to relent, as they guide further ahead of their American counterparts, particularly in robotics, microelectronics and material science.

To counter commercial decline, government officials have turned to the NSF to push universities, research institutions and businesses to return us to glory days of high tech superiority. In particular, they are goading the NSI to clean up its outmoded methods of management and emphasis on short-term profits, and turn instead to a revitalized long term planning agenda. And to top it off, they are driving the NSF to somehow beef up its engineering research programs.

The most significant recent move has been the appointment of Erich Bloch, a former IBM director who is widely regarded as a pure high tech promoter and a leading engineering manager. He has taken the initial step of fashioning a new policy and managerial strategy to make the NSI both a basic research and a technology foundation.

In particular, Bloch, is instituting a new program labeled Research Applied to Industry Needs (RAIN), which is aimed primarily at supporting biotechnology and engineering research centers. For example, laser technology, robotics, steel making and heat transfer technology are some of the first targeted areas of increased support.

While such moves may not appear particularly earth shattering, they are likely to produce reverberations of unusual proportions. The NSI has traditionally supported basic research period with the argument being that science operates best when it drives itself. In other words, basic science drives technology.

Today, however, the reverse seems to be true. Technology is beginning to drive science. For example, computer technology controls how fast data can be manipulated which in turn controls the pace of science. As a result, government officials are priming the NSI to strengthen its activity in this area.

The new moves, especially RAIN, pose a number of crucial questions about the role of the nation's largest research supporter: should the NSF serve industry by funding applied research? Or would an entirely new government office geared toward technology be more appropriate?

The NSF provides a vital function to the nation's advancement of science, but it may be pushing itself too far if it becomes a foundation supporting industry. This is not to say that industry should be left hanging while basic research scoops up all the support. Instead, a new agency to handle the rapidly expanding technology boom is necessary. Moreover, because of the growing importance of technology research, if the NSI hopes to support both basic research and technology, it appears as though basic research may take a back seat.

The idea of a National Technology Foundation--which would centralize government support for development of new technology--is not a new one. It has been pushed primarily by Representative George Brown (D. Calif.) for more than three years.

Some scientists, however, have opposed the idea, fearing that basic research would face the unhappy prospect of sharing its portion of the budget with another agency. This fear, however, is becoming a moot point as technology research is headed toward siphoning off a good share of the funding through newly evolving programs such as RAIN, it might be more satisfying in the long run for basic research to stake out its territory now and assure itself a solid proportion before it all dwindles away.

Moreover, such an agency could deal specifically with a number of technology related issue confronting society today, such as the effects of automobile gadgetry on cars, drivers and safety.

The government should look to establish a national foundation to focus primarily on revitalizing U.S. technology, but at the same time should leave the NSF to support and manage the broader arena of free inquiry into basic scientific research.