SUPPORT BY INDUSTRY 



Under the circumstances, it is quite understandable if the 

 management of such companies feels that it must concentrate 

 for the first ten years or so in catching up with its competitors, 

 becoming thoroughly familiar with the existing literature and 

 technology, and building a capable and well-informed staff to 

 solve the large number of technical problems which any com- 

 pany meets in this fast-moving era. It would find it rather diffi- 

 cult to justify spending any substantial amount of money on 

 basic research during this period. And even if the research 

 director appreciated the desirability of some such program, it 

 takes time to educate a company relatively new to research, and 

 without many technical men in high executive positions. We 

 can hope, however, that such companies would gradually 

 come to recognize both their opportunities and their responsi- 

 bilities in this field. 



Some small laboratories, recognizing both the value of 

 basic research and the difficulty of doing a good job on it in a 

 small laboratory, devote a part of their research budgets to sup- 

 porting basic work in some university or research institute. 

 This fulfills their obligation to basic research, furnishes ideas 

 and stimulation to their own laboratory, and yet permits the re- 

 search to be done in an environment more favorable to good 

 basic work. I believe this plan will be increasingly followed. 

 Also, cooperative basic research, like that of the A.P.I. , is an 

 excellent way for small companies in various industries to do 

 their part and receive substantial benefit. 



Even among the twelve largest laboratories in our industry, 

 I have been surprised to see the great differences in the per- 

 centages of their budgets which they report are devoted to basic 

 research in their own laboratories. The percentages range from 

 about 20 down to 2! Part of this difference may be due to the 

 previously mentioned variations in the definition of basic re- 

 search, and part of it is due to differences in the nature of the 



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