ABSTRACT
This chapter provides a brief review of three public-policy programmes devised to promote collaboration: European Strategic Programme for Research and Development (R&D) in Information Technology (IT), Eureka and Alvey. Governments have used a variety of methods to encourage collaboration, including the formation of research associations and consortia, the relaxation of legislative restrictions, such as the removal of anti-trust laws for joint R&D in the USA, the creation of a variety of technology transfer organizations, and taxation policies. In the late 1970s it became increasingly clear in Europe that European electronics firms were becoming uncompetitive internationally, and that the basis of this problem was the comparative technological advance of the Japanese. The Alvey Programme in advanced information technology ran in the UK from 1984 to 1990. Initiated as a response to declining performance of the UK IT sector, it was a collaborative programme aimed at improving industrial and academic science and technology, transferring technology from academia into industry, and enhancing competitiveness.
