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This paper brings together data from 17 OECD countries on scientific publications, patents and production, to explore the relationship between scientific and economic specialisation for 17 manufacturing industries. Since Marx, there has been a fundamental debate in economics about the link between science and the economic system. Marx argued that the needs of production shape scientific developments and that science has become a factor of production, whereas Polanyi argued that developments in science are largely independent of the economic sphere. Using a panel data model and econometric estimations at the industry level, the paper derives some hypotheses from the two positions and finds that, while the overall evidence on the link between national production and scientific specialisation is mixed, it is important to have high levels of relevant to-the-industry scientific strength per capita in order to be specialised in science-based industries.