Silicon and the State
Subtitle: French innovation policy in the Internet age
By: Gunnar Trumbull.
Publisher: Brookings Institution Press
Published: 2003
Place of publication: Washington, DC
Language: eng
Number of pages: 137
Description: "In the early 1990s, French officials viewed with some concern the emerging and innovative high-technology sectors of the U.S. and British marketplace. Fearful of falling too far behind, the French government implemented a vast array of policies - from tax incentives for investing in risky high-tech start-ups to new standards for electronic signatures - designed to promote the commercialization of new economy technologies in France. The efforts have turned French innovation policy on its head. Traditional government and bank-financed research and development were replaced by private venture capital.

Professionals in France's technical elite - long accustomed to secure career tracks in prestigious laboratories and industrial conglomerates - began moving into risky entrepreneurial ventures. New technologies, once developed exclusively by France's national champions of the marketplace, such as Ariane, Airbus, and Renault, began to be commercialized by technology start-ups."

"Efforts to promote the new economy, however, have proved politically and socially contentious. Many French policymakers and public intellectuals fear that regulatory liberalization might threaten or undermine state sovereignty. Gunnar Trumbull investigates France's experience in adapting to the requirements of innovation in the new information and communications technology (ICT) sectors by focusing on events over a six-year period, from 1996 to 2002." "Silicon and the State provides new insight into the way France has worked to reconcile its traditions of state engagement and social solidarity with the challenges the country faces from new economy technologies."--Jacket.