sities to do applied research. The statement 

 from George L. Pake, Vice President of Xerox 

 Corporation and Manager of the Palo Alto 

 Research Center, illustrates this: 



I believe there is no doubt in anyone's mind that 

 the federal agencies, with congressional and 

 possibly even public support, have been pressur- 

 ing the universities in more applied directions. 

 Here I feel my experience in both sectors, i.e., 

 universities and industry, is of some value. Basic 

 science is what universities do best. Applied 

 research and development is what industry does 

 best. It is not easy to justify to stockholders large 

 expenditures on basic research that is just as 

 likely to be applied by a competitor as by my own 

 company. Universities on the other hand cannot 

 solve real-world problems because they have no 

 inherent requirement to solve such problems. As 

 an industrial research manager, I depend on 

 universities to build the fundamental science 

 base from which my research scientists can draw 

 in solving applied problems for Xerox. 



This broader view reinforces what many 

 university respondents themselves said — that 

 the university is the place for basic research, 

 and that the level of such research at univer- 

 sities should not be diminished. 



Independent Research Institutes 



Many respondents from the industry sector 

 were concerned that a decline in basic research 

 can have harmful effects on the competitive 

 position of American industry and even on the 

 leadership role that this country plays in the 

 world. A very similar concern was expressed in 

 the independent research institutes, where 

 over-emphasis on applied research ranked 

 seventh among all issues mentioned. 



Thus, the following opinion was expressed by 

 Martin Goland, President of Southwest 

 Research Institute: 



The second issue I would like to raise is the 

 obvious one of the reduced national recognition 

 of the importance of basic research. The com- 

 bination of changing public attitudes and the 

 reduced resources available to research because 



of the economic recession, has caused a marked 

 reduction in the amount of fundamental research 

 activities being undertaken. It is imperative that 

 the current atmosphere which downgrades 

 fundamental research in favor of directly relevant 

 and applied tasks be counteracted. 



The gradual erosion of our national research 

 capabilities in comparison with the other nations 

 of the world could pose severe problems, in my 

 view, to our future social and economic viability. I 

 shall not bore you with the arguments which I am 

 sure are already familiar to you regarding the 

 reliance we place on our technological strength 

 to insure that American industry remains the 

 most competitive and cost-effective producer of 

 goods and services. The flow of new ideas which 

 come from fundamental research is the obvious 

 catalyst which enables us to maintain our 

 leadership position. 



OVERREGULATION 

 Industry 



Of all the issues mentioned by industry 

 respondents, the one brought up most often was 

 government regulations and controls. This is 

 shown in Table E-2 of the Appendix. A broad 

 statement of this issue came from Frank H. 

 Healey, Research Vice President of Lever 

 Brothers: 



Regulatory actions are compounding at an 

 alarming rate— arising not only from new 

 legislation— but from the creation of federal, state 

 and city agencies with powers to promulgate new 

 and broadened regulations. The Food & Drug 

 Administration (and its O-T-C panels), the 

 Consumer Product Safety Commission, the 

 Occupational Safety and Health Administration, 

 the Environmental Protection Agency and the 

 Federal Trade Commission all are actively 

 proposing or issuing regulations affecting the 

 technology of consumer product companies. 

 New testing methods, new criteria for safety and 

 efficacy, new environmental requirements all add 

 to the time, effort, and cost of developing new or 

 improved products. Often these criteria change 

 or are in conflict. If this trend continues, the risk 

 and capital involved in developing and in- 



FREEDOM IN THE RESEARCH SYSTEM 



63 



