This book is a collection of works regarding the interactions of science, technology, and society.

The interrelations of science and technology as an object of study seem to have drawn the attention of a number of disciplines: the history of both science and technology, sociology, economics and economic history, and even the philosophy of science. The question that comes to mind is whether the phenomenon itself is new or if advances in the disciplines involved account for this novel interest, or, in fact, if both are intercon nected. When the editors set out to plan this volume, their more or less explicit conviction was that the relationship of science and technology did reveal a new configuration and that the disciplines concerned with 1tS analysis failed at least in part to deal with the change because of conceptual and methodological preconceptions. To say this does not imply a verdict on the insufficiency of one and the superiority of any other one disciplinary approach. Rather, the situation is much more complex. In economics, for example, the interest in the relationship between science and technology is deeply influenced by the theoretical problem of accounting for the factors of economic growth. The primary concern is with technology and the problem is whether the market induces technological advances or whether they induce new demands that explain the subsequent diffusion of new technologies. Science is generally considered to be an exogenous factor not directly subject to market forces and, therefore, appears to be of no interest.

In this provocative and broad-ranging work, the authors argue that the ways in which knowledge - scientific, social and cultural - is produced are undergoing fundamental changes at the end of the twentieth century. They claim that these changes mark a distinct shift into a new mode of knowledge production which is replacing or reforming established institutions, disciplines, practices and policies. Identifying features of the new mode of knowledge production - reflexivity, transdisciplinarity, heterogeneity - the authors show how these features connect with the changing role of knowledge in social relations. While the knowledge produced by research and development in science and technology is accorded central concern, the authors also outline the changing dimensions of social scientific and humanities knowledge and the relations between the production of knowledge and its dissemination through education.

This volume intends to give an insight into progress in the field of studies on modern science and technology. Researchers from Sweden, Japan and Germany began a "three country comparative study" in 1984. One of the primary aims of this study group was to better take account of the increasing importance of Japan in both analytical work and technology policy. To this end, researchers from the Research Policy Institute (RPI) at the University of Lund, the Graduate School of Policy Science at Saitama University in Urawa, and the Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation Research in Karlsruhe met almost every year with policy makers from the three countries, in order to see how well the scientific debate is reflected in the interests of practitioneers in the related policies. The cooperation with the Swedish Board for Technical Development (STU)!, the Japanese Ministry of Education, Science and Culture (Monbusho), and the German Federal Ministry for Research and Technology (BMFT) brought about numerous "grey" papers, publications and two volumes of seminar proceedings. The first book2 deals with the problems of measuring technological change and summarizes tentative research plans from our first meetings. I concluded then, in November 1986, that "quantitative results are to be checked in a qualitative discursive process with the involved people. ( . . . ) The interaction of various indicators raises the pressure of argument and credibility. Case studies in dynamic fields of technology ideally supplement quantitative approaches.

The Asia Pacific has emerged as one of the most dynamic regions in the world, presenting a variety of social and economic experiences and responses to global pressures. In this book twelve country case studies explore the ways in which national science, technology and innovation policies are evolving in response to globalization. The editors argue that the national innovation system (NIS) perspective is driving policy regimes toward new approaches in policy intervention. Underlying the new policy agenda is a concern with reframing the role for science, technology and innovation institutions including higher education and integrating local community, national and global technology objectives.Presenting a broad analysis, the book will be of great interest to policy analysts and practitioners concerned with science, technology and innovation policy. It will also appeal to academic and postgraduate students concerned with innovation and industrial development, as well as scholars and practitioners engaged in regional development and international business in the Asia pacific region.

`This is a good book for a general reader to understand the inter-relationship between science, technology and society and particularly the contribution made by engineers towards technology development' - Technovation This volume, a collection of 10 essays by leading practitioners from both east and west, shows how technology, which has become a major force in our lives today, is itself like a powerful engine. The creation and maintenance of this engine depends on engineers, on ideas from science, research and development, on the pressures and constraints of the market place and national security, on the skills and knowledge of manpower and on the financial resources that banks, governments and other institutions can command and provide. This book does not expound any one point of view. Rather, it tries to understand how the engine of technology works, how it is a complex system whose working is shaped by political, economic, social and cultural forces and in turn shapes them.