A Survey of National Policies Toward Non-National Participation in Technology Programs

National governments fund research and development (R&D) in the hope of getting benefits for their countries.  When providing public R&D funds to companies, governments traditionally have given preference to their own national firms.  But as corporations become more global, the question of which firms to support becomes more problematical.  So, what eligibility rules do major industrial democracies use today, and what are the policy ideas and politics behind these rules?

This presentation is based on a 2010 paper prepared by Heaton, Hill, Windham, and Cheney entitled “National Preferences in Publicly-Supported R&D Projects,” written by Technology Policy International for Japan’s New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO).  The presentation focuses on national preference policies in the United States and European Union.

The U.S. Government has a range of policies regarding national preferences and foreign eligibility.  (1) Acquisition agencies such as the Department of Defense tend to want the best technology, regardless of national origin, so long as U.S. national security is protected.  (2) Agencies that fund R&D to help the U.S. economy tend to be more restrictive, sometimes limiting eligibility to U.S. firms and sometimes allowing foreign firms but with conditions.  (3) Finally, U.S. basic research agencies tend to limit eligibility to American citizens and firms.

The European Union’s Framework Programs are increasingly open to countries from outside the EU, although from the U.S. perspective the realities of participating in the programs remain challenging.  Individual EU countries are also increasingly open in their national R&D programs, often as a way to bring world-class technology into their countries.  The United Kingdom and Finland, for example, appear to welcome applications from foreign companies, so long as the companies agree to do the research within the funding country and also commit to make resulting products there.

The challenge today for the United States and other nations is to design eligibility rules that maximize domestic benefit in an increasingly global economy.