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INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY R&D. CRITICAL TRENDS AND ISSUES

Congress's conern for the health of research and development (R&D) in information technologies prompted this report by the Office of Technology Assessment. Federal R&D policy is motivated by several goals: to support the national defense, to provide for social needs, to promote economic growth, to advance our basic understanding of the world, to enhance national prestige, and to support civilian agency missions. Principally, this study examines whether Federal policies, programs, and agencies are now adequate and appropriate for advancing information technologies in light of society's emerging needs for these technologies, their particular characteristics, and the rapidly escalating world competition in producing and selling products and services based on them. Briefly, the following conclusions were reached: Information technology is historically an area of great U.S. strength--both in basic science and marketed technology-and in this strength has benefited the Nation in several ways. Most areas of information technology examined here, including microelectronics, fiber optics, articicial intelligence, computer design, and software engineering, are in early stages. Although U S. R&D in information technology is strong and viable by most measures, those standards may not be realistic guides to future American needs. Industry support is growing for short-term applied research and are forming new types of relationships with industry and government. The Department of Defense provides nearly 80 percent of the Federal funding for information technology R&D. Substantial concern exists that too much technical and scientific information flows out of the United States while too little enters from other countries. As instruments for scientific research grow more sophisticated, they are becoming obsolete at an increasingly rapid pace. Policies to stimulate information technology R&D must be evaluated for potentially significant tradeoffs and external costs in other areas. The nature of information tehnology R&D is explored, with sections of software as technology, the fields multidicisplinary nature, the short tiome between theory and appplication, and the field's complexity. Case studies are included of advanced computer architecture, softeware engineering, fiber optics, and artificial intelligence. Among the many issues and strategies involved with information technoogy R&D, the study focuses on the impacts of telecommunications deregulation, scientific and technological manpower, universities' changing roles (with discussions of federally funded labs at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the Lawrence Radiation Laboratory at the University of at the California Institute of Technology), foreign programs (including Japan's Fifth Generation Computer Project, France's La Filiere Electronique Program, Europe's ESPRIT, and Great Britain's Alvery program), and science policy, especially the institutional focus, military and domestic R&D, and the influence of international competitiveness.

  • Corporate Authors:

    United States Congress

    Office of Technology Assessment
    Washington, DC  United States  20510
  • Publication Date: 1985-2

Media Info

  • Features: Figures; Photos; References; Tables;
  • Pagination: 342 p.

Subject/Index Terms

Filing Info

  • Accession Number: 00451490
  • Record Type: Publication
  • Report/Paper Numbers: OTA-CIT-268
  • Files: TRIS
  • Created Date: Nov 30 1985 12:00AM