"This is an original and important study that will have a significant impact on the way the scholarly community and the informed reading public view the reality of science and technology policy in this country."-Alex Roland, professor of history, Duke University

During the latter half of the twentieth century, federal funding in the United States for scientific research and development increased dramatically. Yet despite the infusion of public funds into research centers, the relationship between public policy and research and development remains poorly understood.

How does the federal government attempt to harness scientific knowledge and resources for the nation's economic welfare and competitiveness in the global marketplace? Who makes decisions about controversial scientific experiments, such as genetic engineering and space exploration? Who is held accountable when things go wrong?

In this lucidly-written introduction to the topic, Sylvia Kraemer draws upon her extensive experience in government to develop a useful and powerful framework for thinking about the American approach to shaping and managing scientific innovation. Kraemer suggests that the history of science, technology, and politics is best understood as a negotiation of ongoing tensions between open and closed systems. Open systems depend on universal access to information that is complete, verifiable, and appropriately used. Closed systems, in contrast, are composed of unique and often proprietary features, which are designed to control usage.

From the Constitution's patent clause to current debates over intellectual property, stem cells, and internet regulation, Kraemer shows the promise-as well as the limits-of open systems in advancing scientific progress as well as the nation's economic vitality.

External Links:

Sylvia Kraemer's website

Sylvia Kraemer earned her Ph.D. in history from Johns Hopkins University and later served in various policy capacities for NASA, including chief historian and represented the agency during the Clinton Administration's development of national space policy. She has also taught science and technology policy at George Mason University and Colby College. She lives in Charlottesville, Virginia.

Contents
Preface
Chapter 1. Introduction: Open Systems
Chapter 2. Technology and the Ideology of Free Markets
An Open System for the New Republic
A National and Open Commercial System.
Technological Innovation in "One Great American System"
Technology: A Critical Role in Economic Productivity
Chapter 3. The Ideologies of Science
The Bush Report
The Ideology of Science
Creating the National Science Foundation: A Closed System at Bay
A Partial Victory for The Bush Paradigm: The National Academy of Sciences
Chapter 4. The Science and Technology Policy Toolkit
General Observations
The Toolkit
Mission Agencies
Intra-mural Laboratories
Federally Funded Research and Development Centers
National Infrastructure and Regulatory Agencies
Targeted Programs.
Federal Procurement Policy
Priority and Profits: U.S. Patent Policy
The Broadened Scope of Patentability
Federally Funded Inventions
International Harmonization of Patent Laws
Chapter 5. Science, Technology and Political Authority
Science and Engineering in Federal Courts
The Government Performance and Results Act (GPRA): Governing by Numbers
Scientific and Technical Data under the Freedom of Information Act
Reliable Information, Peer Review, and Federal Regulatory Policy
Federal Advisory Committees: An Alternate Route to Power
Chapter 6. Open Systems in a Digital World
Cyberspace As An Open System
The First and Fourth Amendments in Cyberspace
Freedom of Speech
The Fourth Amendment.
Federal Regulation of Internet Highways
Monopoly Power in the Software Industry
Chapter 7. Open Systems in Outer Space
Creatures of the Cold War: NASA and U.S. Space Policy
A Costly Aberration: Man on the Moon
Commercialization: Demobilization by Other Means
U.S. Space Policy in the Dawn of the 21st Century
Chapter 8. The Crisis in American Health Care
Expert Authority
Feeding the Leviathan
Health Care Reform
The Promise and Perils of Biomedicine
A $100 Billion Pharmacopoeia and Too Little Flu Vaccine
Commercializing Biomedical Research: Open Systems in Conflict
Chapter 9. Fossil Fuels and Clean Air
Nature as an Open System and the Foundations of U.S. Energy Policy
Energy Supply and Demand: Policy and Paradoxes
Environmental Policy and the True Costs of Fossil Fuels
Chapter 10: Epilogue
Appendix: Essay on Sources
Notes
Index