DUBLIN—The European Commission is expected to agree later this fall to divert at least $462 million over the next five years from the EEC’s Regional Fund into helping the science infrastructure of its less favored regions.
The proposal is based on work done for the EEC by Ireland’s science agency, the National Board for Science and Technology. The NBST was hired in 1985 to determine how Regional Fund monies— traditionally used for road, sewer and drainage projects—could instead be used to boost the technological base of such countries as Ireland, Spain, Portugal, Greece and parts of Italy.
The EEC received the NBST’s final submission only last month, but its findings have already been built into a new program called STRIDE (Science and Technology for Research, Innovation and Development in Europe). Although details have yet to be released, STRIDE is expected to hew more closely than have past Regional Fund programs ...
