The report, entitled European Technological Collaboration, is the latest in a series of studies commissioned by the independent Royal Institute for International Affairs. Its review of competition and collaboration in fields such as telecommunications and information technology strongly supports the need to build a unified high-tech market and establish common standards in Europe. Although financed in part by the Foreign Office, the report challenges the British government's opposition to the European Economic Community's proposed research budget.
Sharp, from the University of Sussex, and Shearman, from Lancaster University, question the case for subsidized research, but conclude that collaboration is essential if Europe is to close the now widening "technology gap" with its competitors in electronics and informatics. The British position is seen as particularly unsatisfactory.
"If the world operated according to benign free-trade rules, it would be a matter of indifference whether partners were European, American or Japanese," they point out. ...
