FUNDING PROSPECTS

Japan

Because most of Japan's HTS conductor development program is a tightly integrated part of its overall national program for superconductivity, these comments apply equally to the whole program and to its parts. Government funding for national projects has been very stable for the period 1986 to 1996 and should continue to be stable in the near future. However, there is some uncertainty as of this writing as to what projects might follow Super-GM and as to the nature of Phase II for ISTEC. Industry funding has been cut back from the initial "superconductivity fever" level, which also occurred during a time of great domestic prosperity, to a more sustainable level as Japan begins to emerge from a long and hard recession. At this time, most of the major wire and electrical equipment companies continue to have strong R&D programs in HTS materials development.

Germany

Funding for HTS materials in Germany is centered around the BMBF program (~$24 million/yr. +$18 million/yr. for national laboratories), which does an excellent job of integrating industry, university, and national laboratory efforts. The funding levels have stabilized after the major national political and economic changes brought on by reunification with the former East Germany. Like Japan, Germany's BMBF program supports both low and high T_c R&D. The presence of very strong large magnet fusion programs also helps to provide a firm technology base. At present, the German government views superconducting power devices as precompetitive, and as such, there are good prospects for a second four-year program starting in 1997.

The United States

In the United States, government (primarily DOE) funding levels for HTS conductor development have been fairly steady in the last few years, but they are subject to change on the annual congressional budget cycle. This of course makes long-range planning very difficult. Most of the private companies working on HTS are funded by venture capital; it is also very difficult to have a long-range outlook when business considerations focus on a quarterly time horizon. On the other hand, as a counterpart to this WTEC survey, a 1995 ISTEC survey panel on HTS progress in the United States concluded that the economically motivated short time focus of U.S. venture capital companies is a great advantage compared to the longer time horizons of the large, well-funded companies in Japan, in that innovation and progress tend to occur at a much faster rate.