The last decade has seen a significant increase in industrial funding of university research and in the number and variety of arrangements that involve collaboration between universities and industry. The Government-University-Industry Research Roundtable is specially interested in this development. Working toward some answers, the Roundtable has initiated an organized inquiry under the auspices of its Working Group on New Alliances and Partnerships. This initial phase involved, first, a review of historical materials as well as more contemporary analyses and commentaries bearing on the subject. This document is a report on the initial phase of the investigation. Part I, "Historical Precedent and the Current Context," is taken from the background paper by Dorothy Nelkin and Richard Nelson. In Part II, "Disucssion of the Issues," the central issues raised during the conference on December 5 are summarized. Additional commentary on some of the issues by members of the Roundtable Working Group is included in Part II. Part III is a brief commentary on the inquiry written by Nelkin and Nelson. The appendices include the Conference Agenda, the descriptions of 21 university-industry programs that formed the basis of the inquiry, and the list of conference participants. (Author/CW)