the New England Industrial Re- 

 search Foundation. These clinics 

 make their services a\'ailablc to the 

 small business concerns of the region 

 in which they ser\'e. It is difficult to 

 place this type of enterprise entirely 

 on a self-supporting basis especially 

 where its important promotional ac- 

 tivities are concerned. The Com- 

 mittee believes that this moxement 

 should be encouraged. It therefore 

 recommends that the National Re- 

 search Foundation be empowered to 

 make sustaining grants to cover part 

 of the administrative costs involved 

 in such organizations, provided they 

 are run on a nonprofit basis. 



The acti\'ities of such ser\ices 

 should include stimulation of busi- 

 ness interest in research and technical 

 developments, aid to small businesses 

 in interpreting the trends in technical 

 de\'eIopments, consultation with in- 

 dividual concerns to aid them in a 

 diagnosis of their technical problems, 

 and maintenance of a directory serv- 

 ice to put small businessmen in touch 

 with competent individuals and 

 proper sources of information neces- 

 sary for further work. 



Unix'crsities, engineering schools 

 and nonprofit industrial research in- 

 stitutes should be eligible to receive 

 grants from the National Research 

 Foundation to perform such services. 

 Insofar as possible, organizations with 

 grass-roots foundations standing high 

 in communit\' prestige and offering 

 a substantial background in actixe 

 research work, should be selected. 

 The staff of such a clinic might in- 

 clude a limited number of full- or 

 part-time indixiduals for general pro- 

 motional and ach'isory work; but there 

 should also be available a panel of 

 experts in as many fields as possible 

 for counsel on specific problems. 



War experience has demonstrated 



that such organizations must be able 

 to bring their information directly to 

 the plant. It is believed that in the 

 proper hands such services will prove 

 very helpful and can be of significant 

 value in the long run in developing 

 \'igorous new research organizations 

 and reducing the existing concentra- 

 tion of research in a relatively small 

 number of companies. 



B. Grants to Nonprofit Industrial In- 

 stitutes for Fundamental Research 



In recent years an increasing num- 

 ber of industries in which research 

 has lagged in the past have attempted 

 to meet the problem by establishing 

 special research institutes to serve the 

 industry. Such institutes are usually 

 supported by annual grants from in- 

 di\'idual business concerns. One of 

 the difficulties that these institutes 

 have faced is the pressure for short- 

 range accomplishments. In conse- 

 quence, research undertaken has not 

 been sufficiently basic to achieve the 

 most significant results. It is sug- 

 gested, therefore, that where non- 

 profit industrial institutes are deemed 

 capable of undertaking important 

 long-range research they should be 

 eligible for grants for fundamental 

 research from the National Research 

 Foundation. 



C. Encouragement for New 

 Scientific Enterprises 



In addition to these recommenda- 

 tions, some members of the Com- 

 mittee feel that special steps should 

 be taken to encourage the launching 

 of small scientific enterprises. Other 

 members, while sympathetic to these 

 objectives, do not believe that any 

 practical method could be devised for 

 handling such problems through a 

 Government agency. 



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