SECTION I 

 A REPORT ON INDUSTRIAL RESEARCH AS A NATIONAL 



RESOURCE— INTRODUCTION 



By Raymond Stevens 

 Vice President, Arthur D. Little, Inc., Cambridge, Mass., Director, Survey of Research in Industry 



Purpose 



This report on industrial research in the United 

 States is presented by the National Research Council, 

 at the request of the National Resources Planning 

 Board, as one of a series on research as a national re- 

 source. In accordance with the general specifications 

 suggested for it, the report discusses the nature, extent 

 and welfare of industrial research but does not attempt 

 a catalog of new wealth coming from the laboratories. 



Even a cursory review of the work in the various 

 applied sciences will show the wealth-producing nature 

 of industrial research. It is a resource with promising 

 new areas under development and with no sign of deple- 

 tion. The first of the applied sciences to be exploited 

 in the industrial laboratories still produces in amounts 

 apparently inexhaustible. 



Considered as an industry by itself, industrial research 

 is not small, as it employs over 70,000 people, but it 

 is based on the work of a comparatively small group of 

 specially qualified men. The activities, objectives and 

 policies of research men are described in this report in 

 studies in which they themselves discuss the state of 

 their several applied sciences. In some instances means 

 are suggested by which their branches of research may 

 be fostered. 



Scope 



An endeavor has been made to canvass the known 

 industrial laboratories in the country, bringing up to 

 date previous statistical information and supplementing 

 it with new data. This material is summarized in the 

 section on Location and Extent of Research Activity 

 in the United States. A directory of all laboratories 

 thus canvassed will be published separately by the 

 Council. In most of the remainder of the report, 

 however, emphasis has been placed on less tangible 

 aspects. 



The brief review of research policies abroad has been 

 considered desirable for comparative purposes, while 

 the review of the origin and growth of industrial re- 

 search in the United States is intended as an aid in the 

 proper comprehension of the research structure as it 

 now exists. The present status of industrial research 

 in three different industries is described to illustrate 



the work of physicists, chemists, and aeronautical 

 engineers in aeronautics; chemists and chemical en- 

 gineers in the petroleum industry; and metallurgists 

 with iron and steel. 



A few special aspects of research are discussed in 

 some detail, but notable omissions are due to the belief 

 that the matter is covered in publications readily avail- 

 able and listed m the bibliography. 



In particular, organizational relationship of research, 

 the subject of several surveys and reports, is not covered 

 by a separate study, although it is touched upon briefly 

 in this introduction. One obvious oniission, any dis- 

 cussion of patent policy, is significant, as patent policy 

 has important bearing on the health and growth of 

 industrial research. \Vliat that bearing is, and what, 

 if anything, should be done about the present patent 

 system, is the subject of other current investigations, 

 more detailed and extensive than could be included 

 here.' It is generally recognized, however, that patents 

 play an important part in the motivation of research, 

 and no changes in the patent system should be made 

 without most careful consideration of possible efi'ects 

 on the welfare of industrial research. 



Another omission will bear comment: The tie between 

 industrial research organization and the university is 

 close and friendly, with recognition of mutual depend- 

 ence. Work on the frontiers of science is carried on 

 principally in the university, from which the stream of 

 youth carries its results continuously uito industry. 

 No study of industrial research can be complete without 

 consideration of research work and policies in the 

 imiversities. Some aspects of university research were 

 covered in the preceding report (that on Government 

 research) but a more extensive review is desirable. 



The authors of the various studies have been the 

 final authority on content and wording of their sections 

 and to them must go both credit and responsibility for 

 the facts, conclusions, and recommendations they 

 present. 



The Nature of Industrial Research 



The Century Dictionary defines research as "A 

 continued careful inquiry or investigation into a subject 



■ The Confeience Board and American Engineering Council. Joint patent inquiry 

 for the National Association of Manufacturers, 1940. 



