An Exercise in Foresight: The Research System in Transition--To What?

Abstract

As this set of papers shows abundantly, the R&D system is changing, and “steady state” is only one possible label to characterize what is happening. The “steady state” is a system-level description; but at a lower levels, specific trends appear, such as internationalization and shared facilities, the emerging linkages between university and industry, and the interest in strategic science. As with the label steady state, new terminology is being offered to capture aspects of these lower-level trends. In response to the perception of pervasive change, issues are raised: a reduction of autonomy for researchers; shifts in the role of universities; the need to revise earlier implicit social contracts between science and society.

The last section of this chapter is co-authored with Susan Cozzens.