APPROVED FOR RELEASE: 2009/06/16: CIA-RDP01-00707R000200090015-0
technical cooperation agreement concluded in April 1970 provided for exchange of information, exchange of personnel, joint projects, and common use of facilities.
Spain participates only moderately in international scientific affairs, and a shortage of funds has limited foreign travel. It is a member of the United Nations and several of its specialized agencies, such as the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization. Spanish activities in international organizations concerned with science or education are coordinated by a Commissariat for International Scientific Cooperation under the Ministry of Education and Science. Spain is a member of the International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics, the World Meteorological Organization, the International Council of Scientific Unions, the International Hydrographic Bureau, the International Oceanographic Commission (IOC) and the European Space Research Organization (ESRO), although its financial support of ESRO is limited. Spain withdrew from the European Nuclear Research Center (CERN), because the Spaniards felt that they did not receive a sufficient return on their expenditures.
Spain has several treaties for scientific and technical cooperation with various countries. Under a 1970 United States-Spanish Agreement of Friendship and Cooperation, which replaced a narrower 1953 agreement, progress is proceeding between the two countries in several areas of scientific cooperation. The United States has provided about US$3 million for this program. The largest single grant (US$800,000) is in support of a new Institute of Molecular Biology. Other areas involved are information sciences, automation, oceanography, urban affairs, plant and animal diseases, and air and water pollution. Spain has cooperated with the United States in the staffing and operation of space-tracking facilities.
Italy, through its National Research Council, has a bilateral agreement with CSIC. Spain signed an agreement with Argentina in 1968 for cooperation in scientific research and provides limited technical assistance to Peru. Close relations in scientific affairs between Spain and France have existed for a number of years. In 1971 the Leonardo Torres Quevedo Physics Research Center and the French National Office of Aerospace Studies and Investigations signed an agreement for scientific collaboration in integrated circuits and microelectronics. Spain has signed agreements for cooperation in the field of nuclear energy with the United States, Canada, Brazil, Peru, the United Arab Republic, and Portugal. The Nuclear Energy Board (JEN) has concluded agreements for cooperation with nuclear organizations in France, India, Belgium, Italy, Argentina, and Pakistan. In early 1973 it was reported that the French Government, as an extension of its continuous efforts to develop close ties with Spain in matters relating to national defense, has agreed to provide technical assistance to the Spanish Navy.
B. Organization, planning, and financing of research (C)
Most scientific research in Spain is conducted in government research centers, especially in seven of the larger centers. Only about 7% of the nation's research in 1970 was done in the universities. Very few private firms conduct research and development on a significant scale. CSIC in Madrid is the most important organization involved in the conduct of scientific research. Established in 1939 to promote, first, and coordinate Spanish scientific research it operates as an autonomous body under the Ministry of Education and Science. The CSIC includes representatives of the universities, the Royal Academies, the technical branches of the armed forces, and private research organizations. The representatives are designated by the Minister of Education and Science.
The CSIC is organized into eight patronatos, or foundations, named after famous Spanish scholars and scientists. Each patronato has a number of institutes or research centers in specific subjects. Four of the patronatos are concerned with scientific and technical research and development. The Patronato Santiago Ramon y Cajal is concerned with research in biological and medical sciences; the Patronato Alonso de Herrera, natural and agricultural sciences; and the Patronato Alfonso el Sabio, mathematics, physics, and chemistry. The chief aim of these three foundations, frequently referred to as the Science Division of the CSIC, is to integrate the foundations concerned with fundamental research in natural sciences into a single unit. This was done to simplify administration and to coordinate research activities to promote efficiency and achieve better use of services, library facilities, and laboratory equipment and instrumentation. The main fields of interest are medicine and animal biology, agricultural sciences and plant biology, mathematics, physics, astronomy, and chemistry. The fourth foundation of interest is the Patronato Juan de la Cierva, which deals with scientific and technical research. These four patronatos supervise about 140
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APPROVED FOR RELEASE: 2009/06/16: CIA-RDP01-00707R000200090015-0
