High Technology Programmes: For the Military or for the Economy?

Publisher Summary This chapter focuses on high technology, which is an increasingly important part of the economy in advanced countries and has become the object of a new type of policy designed to speed up technical change and the diffusion of innovation. In the new international context of technological competition, high technology programs have combined the resources and strategies of governments with the research efforts of national laboratories and the production capacity of national firms. In many Defense Department programs, a key role is played by Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), an agency specialized in directing technological change toward military applications. While the role of the US Defense Department in funding and directing technological change in areas such as aerospace, materials, and manufacturing automation is very extensive, it has usually been performed through its generous research and procurement contracts, rather than through a unifying program with a well-defined technological strategy.