Abstract:

During the last 10 years IMR has enjoyed a positive evolution, expressed not only in terms of volume of research, but also of the increasing application of more- sophisticated methods and evaluation techniques. The expected future development of IMR will be essentially determined by the economic evolution and by the resulting specific objectives and requirements. This paper describes the present status of IMR and its expected evolution in the course of the 80's, with the repercussions of this evolution on research methods and techniques. It is limited to the Federal Republic of Germany but takes into account the essential points of the English paper, in order to bring out possible differences in the evolution of both countries.