Socialist academies of sciences: the enforced orientation of basic research at user needs

In the former socialist societies, science was considered an instrument of socialist development and subjected to central planning procedures similar to those used in economic planning. Basic research, but also problem oriented and even some applied research was concentrated in the National Academy of Sciences. To ensure the orientation of academy research on user needs, and particularly on the needs of the socialist economy, academy institutes were required to earn a certain proportion, often more than half of their funds, by acquiring contracts from industry. The limited absorptive capacity of industry especially in the 1980s impaired the effectiveness of this forced linkage. The article traces the effects this had on academy research as a whole. q 1998 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.