JAMES B. FISK 



immediate and urgent applied research, not seeing either the 

 immediate or longer-term returns from basic research. And 

 some, who have made the attempt, may have failed in provid- 

 ing the necessary conditions. 



Values 



What can industry expect? What are the values of basic 

 research carried out in industrial laboratories? There are many. 

 Some are direct and tangible, others intangible. Taken together, 

 "Basic research is more practical than you think." 



The first and most obvious value is new scientific knowl- 

 edge of direct relevance and importance in the company's field 

 of activity. Dramatic examples lie in important inventions, such 

 as the transistor, which come directly and increasingly from 

 basic research. A different example is furnished in the form of 

 new understanding and innovation; for instance, by the re- 

 search of mathematicians which led to so-called information 

 theory and to basic new ways in which communication signals 

 can be transmitted. 



But breakthroughs and inventions and dramatic innovation 

 are not all. The research which precedes presents the oppor- 

 tunity; the realization of its richness comes largely from the 

 research which continues. The steadv search for new under- 

 standing — illuminated as it will be from time to time bv a 

 brilliant event — is a true source of vigorous and dynamic tech- 

 nology. 



The body of knowledge relevant to almost every field of 

 technology has grown enormously, particularly in the past two 

 decades. The rate of growth is not decreasing. The technical 

 choices before management are correspondingly great, often 

 subtle, and usually important. A basic research organization, 

 competent to appraise technical potentials, can be of great value 

 to management in its look ahead. 



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