Science Policy Research Unit

The factors that favour successful industrial innovation have been memorably analysed by a team at the Science Policy Research Unit at Sussex University, in England (Rothwell et al. 1974). In this project (named SAPPHO) 43 pairs of attempted similar innovations one successful in each pair, one a commercial failure - were critically compared, in order to derive valid generalisations. One conclusion was The responsible individuals (i.e., technical innovator, business innovator, chief executive, and - especially - product champion) in the successful attempts are usually more senior and have greater authority than their counterparts who fail . 

University of Sussex (Science Policy Research Unit)... 

James Wilsdon (social science of the nexus joined-up approaches to food, energy, water and environment politics of scientific advice interdisciplinarity, particularly between natural and social sciences governance of new and emerging technologies science and innovation policy public engagement in science, technology and research). Science Policy Research Unit, University of Sussex, Brighton... 

MacLeod and Andrews, 1967. R. M. MacLeod and E. K. Andrews. Selected Science Statistics Relating to Research Endowment and Higher Education, 1850-1914. Science Policy Research Unit, University of Sussex. 

Albu, A. (1979), British attitudes to engineering education in a historical perspective , in K. Pavitt (ed.). Technical Innovation and British Economic Performance (London Science Policy Research Unit, University of Sussex/ Macmillan). 

The goals of pollution prevention complement many of the strategic goals of the United States. It is obvious that the national goals of environmental protection as reiterated in the Pollution Prevention Act are served by this relatively new focus of the environmental movement. However, it is also true that interests of the country s economic competitiveness, health and well-being of the nation s populace as well as its basic science and research capabilities are also beneficiaries of this new pollution prevention policy. It is for these reasons that there is such a widespread support for more environmentally benign processes to be developed throughout all sectors of the economy and the scientific community. 

The modern natural sciences are among the most distinctive institutions of industrial society. Indeed, they may be used as definers of that society. The countries that constitute the core group of advanced industrial nations are set off from the rest of the world as much by their contributions to the specialized literature of scientific research as by their gross national products. At present, the United States dominates. According to one estimate, it is responsible for 33% of world GNP and 41% of all publishing scientists. The fate of the natural sciences in the United States has therefore, and properly, been the subject of increasing attention in recent years. The main thrust of inquiry has been toward questions of policy. By comparison, less attention has been directed toward understanding the historical forces at work in the development of the American scientific estate . Little is known of the dynamics by which the sciences have evolved in America over the past one hundred years, or of the cultural constellations in which those sciences are embedded. ... 

The topic of acid rain during the 1980s and early 1990s was one of controversy and of incomplete answers in terms of official policy and science—after an expenditure of many millions of dollars. In 1980. the National Acid Precipitation Assessment Program (NAPAP) was established and subsequently consumed thousands of scientific research hours and costly field investigations, including the use of numerous helicopter expeditions to northwestern mountain and lake areas of the United States and Canada. Thousands of hours of computer power were consumed. 

---