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| No Limits: Basic Research and Applied Research
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Two Sides of the same Coin
„What I do, when I don’t know what I’m doing.“ That’s basic research, according to the German physicist Wernher von Braun. And applied research? Is that what one does, when one knows who one’s doing it for? Many people think Germans love to organize more than anything - to put everything into tiny little boxes, figuratively of course. It’s a cliché, certainly, but if this tendency to pigeonhole really did apply to one area, it would be around the question of “basic” versus “applied” research. The borders between the two are really more fluid than ever, if there ever were firm borders at all. And many Anglo-Saxon researchers just shrug their shoulders when asked if it makes sense to even make such a differentiation.
Atomic Clocks for Taxi Drivers
It’s basically like this: The German government, and most of the federal states, fund research that doesn't necessarily have a particular purpose. On the other hand industry, which provides most of the money going toward research and development, is oriented towards concrete, practical research goals. However, many discoveries made in basic research end up having very concrete uses. Atomic clocks, for example, were at one time used in reviewing the theory of relativity. Today they help taxi drivers and open-sea yachtsman reach their destinations with the aid of global positioning satellites. Even quantum mechanics, which was originally the purest form of basic research, has recently been used in nothing less than laser technology.
The Campus as Meeting Place - Basic and Applied Research
That’s also how most officials of the German research community see things nowadays. They no longer strictly separate research into two camps: basic research, which takes no consideration of the practical possibilities, and applied research, which has its eye on ways in which results can be useful in everyday life. Reinhard Grunwald, General Secretary of the German Research Council (DFG), emphasizes the necessity of basic research, since it leads to „the expansion of knowledge“ and enables people to tackle “the complicated questions and arrive at solutions.” Arend Oetker, member of the executive committee of the German Research Foundation (DFG) and president of the Donors' Association for the Promotion of Sciences and Humanities in Germany, is in favour of mutual inspiration. Scientists involved in basic research ought to be encouraged to continuously think about the possibilities for application of their research, he said, stressing that only if the creative ideas of researchers meet the necessities of the market there will be true innovation. North American elite universities exemplify ways to effectively organise the coming together of science and industry: the campus becomes meeting place.
Worldwide Cooperation
The magic word these days is „internationalization,” and it’s how German scientists plan on staying on top of developments in other countries. Basic research has always been internationally oriented. In fact, the construction and running of the giant particle accelerators like the one in Hamburg, are only financially and economically possible through international, even global efforts. In February 2007 the European Research Council (ERC) began its work. Its purpose is to financially support frontier research of competing research teams in all scientific and technological fields throughout Europe, including the Humanities and Social Sciences. An autonomous scientific Council supervises the quality and independent procedure of the decisions taken. At the same time, it’s necessary to put an end to the reluctance of industry to fund basic research, and thereby free up additional financial resources. The General Secretary of the German Research Council, Reinhard Grunwald, has said he wishes Germany could emulate countries like the U.S., Great Britain and Japan and develop closer cooperation between research projects funded by industry, universities and the government. “We really need to catch up,” Grunwald said. Such cooperative efforts would continue to break down the rigid separation between basic and applied research.
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| Further Information
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