science-policy
Science policy is an area of public policy usually concerned with the funding of science and with the regulation of technology produced by scientific research. Science policy is the intersection between scientific research and public policy.
The funding of science has three major venues: educational institutions, governments, and philanthropic organizations.
Most of the leading political issues in the United States have a scientific component. For example, renewable energy, Stem Cell Research etc. Businesses have a comparable function, but since they usually do it for profit, the goals, methods and justifications are very different. Science policy for business is usually called research and development.
Most developed countries usually have a specific national body overseeing national science (including technology and innovation) policy. In the case developing countries many follow the same fashion.
Examples of national science, technology and innovation policy bodies in developing countries:
Thailand: National Science and Technology Policy Committee
Almost all people agree that “science should be supported”. Beyond that, consensus quickly breaks down. There are several common positions
Utilitarian science policy
Utilitarian policies prioritize scientific projects more highly if they reduce large amounts of suffering for many people. The pursuit of pleasure or luxury is far less supported, but nearly everyone supports the reduction of painful and debilitating diseases. The perfect example is arthritis research, which is well-supported.
Utilitarian policymakers characteristically advertise the numbers or people that can be helped by some research stratagem. In democracies, utilitarian science is an easy sell to the elected officials and foundation boards that control distribution of funds.
Research is more likely to be supported when it costs less and has greater benefits. Utilitarian research is characteristically rather unexciting for scientists because it often pursues incremental improvements rather than dramatic advancements in knowledge, or break-through solutions, which are more commercially viable. This influences the failure of some projects.
[edit] Basic science policy
Basic science attempts to stimulate breakthroughs. Breakthroughs often lead to an explosion of new technologies and approaches. Characteristically, basic science is cheap. One selects bright, energetic (usually young) theoreticians, and teams them with clever, practical people to test their theories. Once the basic result is developed, it is widely published; however conversion into a practical product is left for the free market.
This model does not automatically bring improvements. For instance, in a command economy the results of basic research are often not fully utilized. The most famous example is the Soviet Union. It supported huge numbers of scientists but their achievements were utilized mainly for military and space programs.
A particular problem is that the military research of even the freest of free market countries is structured similarly to a command economy. Many governments have developed risk-taking research and development organizations to take basic theoretical research over the edge into practical engineering. In the U.S., this function is performed by DARPA.
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