Publisher's Synopsis
The critical technological issues facing Europe in the 1990s are addressed by the contributors. They assess the strengths and weaknesses of European technology and industry in comparison with Japan and the USA and considers the regulatory problems related to market structures and environmental protection. "De-regulation" has in fact often led to greater emphasis on agreed rules of the game in such areas as telecommunications and standards. The book embodies the results of much recent research at the Science Policy Research Unit.;This comparative assessment of technological strength in key sectors of the economy argues that there is little justification for complacency about 1992. Europe lags behind in several key technologies. Moreover, whilst technological rivalry between European, Japanese, American and other firms is indeed a powerful stimulus to technological advance, it cannot in itself resolve many of the complex problems confronting the European Community and the entire World economy, such as environmental degradation, industrial and nuclear wastes, new energy sources and infra-structural development.;The final part of the book deals with the main regulatory and policy issues in which it is vital for the EC to give a lead towards a sustainable path of global economic development in the 1990s.
