Losing our bearings: the science policy crisis in post-Cold War Eastern Europe, former Soviet Union and USA

The Cold War provided a common framework for science policies in the East and West, albeit they were at odds. Post-Cold War there is a move in both the USA and the countries of Eastern Europe away from military spending and towards civilian R&D. In the USA some start-ups were founded by military research agencies while others were sponsored by private investors and a venture capital industry. The demise of a command economy has opened up space in the East for start-ups to emerge from the research institutes and existing firms but intermediary mechanisms and venture capital sources are still weak or non-existent The relationship between science and society has to change in the light of the new relationship between East and West