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One might say that is due, in par, to this varety and diversity that the collaborative programs
generally appe to be working so well. Parcipating institutions indicate that they have not
found. it necssa to compromise significatly the cultures and values they deem essential to
their missions. They sem to have managed matters by selecting parers and aranging
programs best suite to their parcular goals and responsibilties. The key to achieving these
matches is to "tak ealy and tak often."
Beneficial experiments. The positive attitude that currently prevails in both industr and
academia, to parcipate in coperative programs without distortng the institutions' cultures and
values, is a change from the pessimism expresse ten yeas ago when the number of these
arangements was beginning to escate. At the present time, the dominant view concerning
these alliances appes to reflect the fact that the nation is currently engaged in a broad-base and
diverse series of experiments that should be continued. They have potential to be goo for
business, helpful and appropriate to universities, and in the public interest. However, there are
two major concerns with these alliances: a that the experiments wil be judged too quickly; and
2) that there may be unreaistic and inappropriate expetations regarding the impact of these new
arangements.
Selected Charcteristics of University-Industr Allances
Financial support. Overa, corprate support for university resech, currently about 5 percent
of tota support for academic resech, wil perhaps never exce 7 to 8 percent. Industr
funding for university resech comes largely from corprate resech budgets, which are nealy
always quite small relative to development budgets and are likely to remain so. Stil, corprate
funding is significat at some schools, reaching levels of over 20 percent, and is more prominent
in some fields than in others, notably semiconductors and biotechnology. For example, the
Semiconductor Resech Corpration estimate that the consortum is funding nealy 50 percent
of U.S. academic resech on silcon-base integrate circuits. A survey by the Council for
Chemica Resech showed that industr accounte for 11 percent of the tota extramural funding
of basic academic resech in chemistr in 1985 and that industr accounted for 44 percent of
the tota extrmura funding for chemica engineering. A survey by David Blumenthal (then of
Harard University's Kennedy School of Government) of over 100 companies involved in
biotehnology reveaed that these companies provided about $120 milion annually to support
academic resech in that field. That amount is about 30 percent of aggregate industral funding
of academic resech and about 20 percent of all extrmura funding of biotechnology resech
in academe during 1984.
There is concern about the sustanabilty and the breadth of this industrial funding. The new
alliances are concentrate in a few industres -- for example, biotechnology, microelectronics,
and speial materials. Wil sufficient short-term results materialize to maintan industr's
involvement with universities over the long-term, even as the fields of interest may change? We
currently se signs of changes in industral support for Resech and Development (R&D), both
in-house and externally; Industral support for academic R&D must be considered as a
complement to, not a substitute for, federa support. The genera view is that federal funding
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