ABSTRACT
The principal axis of international rivalry in microelectronics has been the competition between the United States and Japan. A large number of newly industrializing countries (NICs) have aggressively entered traditional manufacturing sectors like steel and textiles using a combination of protection, restrictions on investment, acquisition of foreign technology and massive government subsidies to build a modern industry. The NICs must acquire the technology necessary to launch indigenous information industries from the advanced nations. The European information sector has trailed the US and Japan technologically in computers and semiconductors. The initial European response to the international competitive challenge in the information sector occurred at the national level, with several countries undertaking government-backed promotional programs between the late 1960s and the early 1980s. The Commission of the European Economic Community has pursued a number of ambitious programs in the information sector in the 1980s.
