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In recent years, the co-operation between industrial firms and universities has increased considerably, but the interaction pattern in different technological fields is not uniform. In science-based fields, university departments have a distinct focus on basic research and the major interest of industry is the observation of science. In less science-based fields, the solution of technical problems is a major concern of industry. In all fields, the exchange of knowledge in techno-scientific communities is a crucial element of interaction. In Germany, strong intra-disciplinary ties between universities and industry in mechanical engineering obviously imply an insufficient openness to, and integration of, new technologies. The particular combination of a long-standing culture of co-operation and the economic success in the mechanical industry can be interpreted in terms of a specific path-dependant evolution of a stable sector of the national system of innovation, but with the tendency to lock-in effects.

This paper deals with the effects of German unity on the ST the RD the importance of industrial research and development, and their major adjustment problems; and innovation dynamics and policy solutions. Usually innovation is an evolutionary process, the actual German case is a revolutionary one. Innovation research has shown that crises and external shocks stimulate not only innovation but also structural change. This is the main topic of the paper. Because of lack of an appropriate theory this paper mainly describes this process - against the background of an incomplete and qualitatively unsatisfactory empirical basis as from the end of 1990 - and analyses some of its driving forces and restricting conditions.

The Fraunhofer-Institut fur Systemtechnik und Innovationsforschung (ISI) is at present engaged in evaluating a number of technology policy programs designed to promote research, development and innovation in small and medium-sized firms. These studies try to determine the extent to which these programmes have an impact upon the innovative activities of firms. In this connection, it was also attempted to measure the innovation output. The level of innovation of a firm is innovation ouput. The level of innovation of a firm is procedure involves a number of problems (self-assessment of firms in view of insufficient market transparency, distortion due to self-portraits reflecting the firms' own interests). We tried to mitigate such distortions by two approaches. Firstly, firms were asked for their technologically new products, the term “new” being applied (a) to the firm and (b) to the areas of product application. As a result of this two-tier procedure, firms supplied rather realistic answers. Secondly, supplementary questions were asked about sales figures, the competitive technological situation (nationally and internationally), expenditure on R&D, patents, stages of innovation, aims of innovation, etc. The paper presents the results obtained to date on the innovation output of firms within the framework of an evaluation of the largest programme at present devoted to promoting R&D and innovation in small and medium-sized firms . The results are based on a representative sample of approximately 4,500 small and medium-sized firms (up to 1,00 employees) with R&D activities in the Federal Republic of Germany.

Against a background of deteriorating national and international economic conditions, increasing importance is being attached by political administrations to the innovative capacities of small and medium-sized firms with respect to the employment situation and to international competitiveness. Consequently, government support of research, development and innovation in these companies has taken a marked upward turn since the late seventies, both in the Federal Republic of Germany and in other industrialized Western countries. The actual impacts of some of these programmes are at present under study by the Fraunhofer-Institut fur Systemtechnik und Innovationsforschung (ISI). This paper is an outline of the results of a study of the largest current programme funding R&D and innovation in small and medium-sized firms by offering grants towards the costs of R&D personnel. The impact analysis is being conducted in two rounds: the first round of studies, which is the subject of this report, took place in 1980/1981 and was designed to examine the discernible short-term effects and characteristics of the programme. The second round is planned for 1983/1984 as a summary of the impacts of the programme over the first five years of its term of effect. The subjects of investigation are the quantitative and qualitative changes in R&D activities caused by the programme in the firms under study and the contribution the programme can make to strengthen innovative and competitive capabilities. The conditions underlying the programme are reviewed critically, especially in order to see whether the barriers to innovation and the weak spots assumed did in fact exist in the firms examined. The administrative management, “free rider”-effects, and factors restricting impacts are investigated along with such questions as whether firms located in peripheral regions were reached by the programme to the same extent as firms in conurbation areas. Furthermore, the reasons for non-participation of firms are analyzed. The example of the federal programme funding R&D personnel thus is used in this impact analysis in an attempt to provide empirical data on the significance, the range, and the limits of such a government instrument promoting R&D and innovation in small and medium-sized firms.