The Political Promotion of "Future Industries" and Innovation in the Federal Republic of Germany and Great Britain, ca. 1965-1990

20世纪后三分之一时期，对经济结构变迁政治的历史研究主要集中在“老”产业(煤炭、钢铁、造船、纺织)的危机上。相比之下，提出的项目将分析对应该特别创新的“未来产业”的促进，以及对总体研究和开发的促进。比较联邦共和国和大不列颠从1960年代中期到1980年代末各自的政策，它将特别集中于航空航天工业以及信息和通信技术。为了追问各自的政策在多大程度上遵循特定的国家传统和概念，或者在几十年的过程中是否可以观察到任何趋同，将对两个在政治体制和经济结构方面存在很大差异的高度工业化国家进行调查。此外，还将考虑相互观察、跨国合作和欧洲产业政策。研究的第一步将是汇编关于两国各自支出的全面数据。这些数字尤其必须揭示资助机构和受益者以及补贴的形式和目标，但也必须揭示其在总体国家支出和产业补贴中的数量重要性。其次，必须阐述当代对创新和“未来产业”、经济概念的看法，以及它们在有关产业政策的一般性辩论中的意义。特别是，这适用于关于援助“老”产业的辩论，这些产业实际上是与高科技产业争夺政府资金的。同时，该项目还必须分析“未来产业”的推广在多大程度上反映了对经济和社会未来的普遍想象。第三，将详细重建重要的政治决策，以分析单个行为者的相关性及其行动的决定因素。两国各自政策的比较和一段时间后的政策最终必须依靠汇编的数据，将当代评估与长期量化发展进行对比。该项目将侧重于通过政府支付和税收减免来促进行业和单一企业的发展，但也将考虑各自的基础设施或外贸政策措施。出于务实的原因，科学和大学政策、企业和大学之间的合作以及深入的商业历史将被忽略。

Historical research on politics confronting economic structural change during the last third of the 20th century has mainly focused on the crises of "old" industries (coal, steel, shipbuilding, textiles). In contrast, the project proposed will analyze the promotion of "future industries" supposed to be especially innovative, and of research and development in general. Comparing the respective policies in the Federal Republic and Great Britain from the mid-1960s to the end of the 1980s, it will concentrate especially on the aerospace industry as well as on the information and communication technologies. Pursuing the general question to what extent the respective policies were following specific national traditions and concepts or if any convergences can be observed over the course of the decades, two highly industrialized countries with considerable differences regarding political institutions and economic structures will be investigated. Mutual observations, transnational cooperation and European industrial policy will be considered as well. The first step of research will be the compilation of comprehensive data about the respective expenditure in both countries. The figures will especially have to reveal the financing institutions and beneficiaries as well as forms and objectives of subsidies, but also their quantitative importance in regard to overall state expenses and industrial subsidies. Second, contemporary perceptions of innovation and "future industries", economic concepts and their significance in general debates about industrial policies will have to be elaborated. In particular, this applies to the debates about aid to "old" industries that in effect competed with high-tech industries for government funding. At the same time, the project will have to analyze to what degree the promotion of "future industries" reflected general imaginations of economic and social future. Third, important political decisions will be reconstructed in detail to analyze the relevance of single actors and the determinants of their actions. The comparison of respective policies in both countries and in the course of time finally has to rely on the data compiled, contrasting contemporary assessments with long-term quantitative developments. The project will focus on the promotion of industries and single enterprises through government payments and tax deductions but will also consider respective measures of infrastructure or foreign trade policy. Science and university policies, cooperations between enterprises and universities, and in-depth business histories will be disregarded for pragmatic reasons.