present state of research in industry. Thomas R. 

 Miller, Vice President of Union Carbide Cor- 

 poration, saw a conditioned business response 

 to industrial profit reductions which is a critical 

 problem in that: 



Research and development is a highly visible 

 overhead expenditure and is usually high on the 

 list for reductions when profits are too low, as 

 they are for capital formation purposes. General- 

 ly, basic research is cut back the most. 



A possible remedy might take the form of some 

 kind of preferential tax treatment for R&D. 



In describing how research organization 

 impacts on the conduct of research, I. H. 

 Stockel, Director, Research and Development, 

 St. Regis Paper Company, wrote: 



Beginning in the late 1960's, industrial research in 

 this country began undergoingachangeof major 

 proportions which is virtually complete today. 

 Prior to the change, industrial research 

 laboratories were set apart from the rest of their 

 company's organizations and were less affected 

 by changing economic conditions. Industrial 

 laboratories of today have become fully in- 

 tegrated members of the corporate team which, 

 for the most part, is a very healthy condition 

 which was long overdue. One important disad- 

 vantage is that our budgets and priorities have 

 become more affected by the changing economic 

 conditions of the country. For the most part, this 

 has had a beneficial effect on the careful selection 

 of development and other application projects, 

 and on the profitable utilization of industrial 

 research. However, it has had an adverse effect 

 on longer-range programs and, in turn, on the 

 support and attention given to basic research, 

 whether it is conducted within the industrial 

 research laboratory, on contract to outside 

 laboratories, or in the form of various kinds of 

 support and encouragementtoschoolsand other 

 institutions. 



Frequently among industrial responses, a 

 discussion on patterns for research support 

 raised questions about planning and policy. 

 Concern over policy goals and priorities at the 

 national level is typified in the short comments 

 below: 



One issue certainly is the lack of clearly defined 

 national policies in important areas. 



N. V. HAKALA, President 

 Exxon Research and Engineering Company 



And, more explicitly, Daniel E. Noble, Chair- 

 man, Science Advisory Board, Motorola, Inc., 

 wrote: 



We cannot determine where to place the 

 emphasis on research and development unless 

 we decide where we wish to go and how we 

 expect to get there. The greatest need in our 

 society today is for the establishment of goals and 

 priorities, but the goals and priorities must be 

 determined by a realistic understanding of all of 

 the forces of our environment which will in- 

 fluence the feasibility and practicability of the 

 selection. It all relates to the hard-headed 

 decision: since we can't do everything, we should 

 damn well be sharp about the importance of the 

 projects we select for activation. We cannot 

 possibly be sharp about the selection of the 

 projects unless we have an overview of where we 

 want to go and how we expect to get there. So this 

 all comes back to the basic need for an overall 

 systems dynamics model which can guide us in 

 our selection of the most important areas for 

 research and development emphasis. 



John O. Logan, President and Chairman of the 

 Board, Universal Oil Products Company, Des 

 Plaines, 111., observed: 



The one area which bothers us most relates to the 

 government-industry interface. On the one hand, 

 legislated scientific and technical goalsexecuted 

 under governmental control tend to prescribe 

 results, thereby defeating some of the fundamen- 

 tal objectivity required in basic research. On the 

 other side of the same coin, the lack of action on 

 the part of the government to commit long-range 

 funds, or to avoid any statement of objectives, 

 leaves basic research wallowing in a sea of 

 uncertainty. 



Along these same lines, David H. Bradford, 

 Jr., President, and now member of the Board of 

 Directors of Allied Chemical, noted: 



Hopefully we will suceed in developing a closer 

 integration of the goals of industry and national 

 social and economic goals through a more clearly 



36 



DEPENDABILITY IN FUNDING FOR RESEARCH 



