ABSTRACT
At the outset, EU industrial policy had two main prongs: to help older, declining industries such as textiles, shipbuilding and steel restructure themselves in such a way as to minimise the inevitable pain and disruption and to assist in the development and spread of new technologies which provide the foundation for future economic growth. Looking beyond industrial policy, the commission worried about the wasteful duplication of research expenditure, which, collectively in the EU, compared favourably with both the United States and Japan. The commission's objective was to stimulate cooperation between businesses, laboratories and universities from different member states, with support from the EC budget, to develop new technologies and products fulfilling existing or potential market needs. Once a new technology had been developed, it would be up to business to take over at the production and marketing stage, where they would also benefit from the more competitive and dynamic commercial environment created by the future internal market.
