ABSTRACT
In the US, the need for working relationships between science and the state was famously articulated not by a social theorist or sociologist of knowledge, but by a quintessential technical expert: Vannevar Bush, the distinguished MIT engineer and presidential adviser. The Bush report said little about how basic research would lead to advances in applied science or technology. The physical system that gripped the policy-maker's imagination was the pipeline. With technological innovation commanding huge rewards in the marketplace, market considerations were deemed sufficient to drive science through the pipeline of research and development into commercialization. Changing modes of scientific research and development provide at least a partial explanation for the current interest in improving public access to expert decision-making. Participatory traditions are less thoroughly institutionalized in European policy-making, but recent changes in the rules governing expert advice display a growing commitment to involving the public in technically-grounded decisions.
