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Science systems in nearly all OECD countries have experienced increasing pressures for change. These pressures reflect new challenges that go beyond the important issue of ensuring sustained funding for the research enterprise as a whole. These challenges must be addressed in the broader perspective of the governance of public research in order to include wider concerns related to: the decision-making processes for priority setting; the allocation of funds to the public research sector; the management of research institutions and the assessment of their performance in terms of contribution to knowledge creation, economic growth and responses to societal needs.

In recent years, a significant number of OECD member countries have introduced initiatives to reduce the environmentally damaging effects of public procurement. Through various policies and programmes, environmental criteria are being applied to purchasing decisions. For example, many countries have introduced "greener public purchasing" (GPP) policies in order to increase the recycled content of products or achieve specified levels of energy efficiency in capital equipment. Such measures can have direct benefits on the environmental characteristics of public procurement itself, as well as indirect benefits through their influence on firms and households.