The Handbook of Technology and Innovation Management

16.5. The Contribution of Government Laboratories

Government laboratories are considered a key component of most national science and innovation systems (see Crow and Bozeman, 1998, for a review). Established with the goal of advancing science and securing economic and national defense interests, government-owned laboratories may be government-operated or contracted to outside operators (Cox, Gummett, and Barker, 2001).

The engagement of government laboratories with industry has a long-standing history. The foundations for national research institutions were laid out in the 19th and early 20th centuries, especially in the pre- and post-World War Two period when European and North American governments increasingly set up government laboratories to promote large scale R&D programs (Heim, 1988). For example, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), the United States federal government's first physical science research laboratory, has been collaborating with industry since 1905. Mission oriented assignments, such as the Manhattan Project in the US, or substantial scientific projects, such as the nuclear energy and space programs, which demanded capital expenditures, facilities, and human resources that exceeded the capabilities or resources of private sector research organizations, led to the establishment of many new government-owned laboratories, as well as the expansion of existing ones (Leslie, 1993). In addition to scale, national security issues, in particular ...