SUMMARY OF FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 



Findings 



1. Continuous and increasing application of science 

 by industry is contributing most significantly to the 

 high standard of American Hving. Viewed in this Hght 

 industrial research is a major national resom-ce. 



2. The United States has become the acknowledged 

 leader in industrial research. 



3. American industry employs over 70,000 research 

 workers in over 2,200 laboratories at an estimated 

 annual cost, based on an average of figures reported, 

 of the order of $300,000,000. 



4. Industrial research is generally accepted both by 

 informed labor and by informed management as a desir- 

 able and constructive force. Organized labor is offi- 

 cially on record in favor of research, and the annual 

 reports of many of the most successful corporations 

 have stressed the relation of research to earning 

 power. 



5. Small and moderate-sized companies were found 

 whose principal means of competitive defense against 

 larger companies is industrial research. One company 

 mentioned specifically that, as a defense against compe- 

 tition from a merger of other companies in the indus- 

 try, a policy of research was adopted and special prod- 

 ucts were developed, and in consequence there has been 

 continuing heavy demand. 



6. One-hundred eighty-one manufacturers report ex- 

 penditures for industrial research of 2 percent of gross 

 income as a median, the percent varying with company 

 size and from one industry to another. 



7. Industrial research is possible for all industrial 

 units, small and large. The distribution of research in 

 industry seems to foUow no definite rule but to depend 

 rather upon management policy. It is apparent that 

 research is most active in companies utilizing techni- 

 cally trained men in design, production, or sales activity. 



8. Industrial research acts as a protection against 

 unfavorable changes taking place both within and with- 

 out an industry. 



9. A great difference exists in the direct utilization of 

 research by different industries — a few industries still 

 depend almost altogether upon sources of supply for 

 their technical advance while others have themselves 

 made great strides in the application of science. 



10. Industry looks to the universities for trained tech- 

 nical men, and for principal advances on the frontiers 

 of science. However, it is of interest that advances 

 are not infrequently made on these frontiers in the 

 course of research projects originally designed to 

 achieve immediate commercial objectives. 



11. The United States is now virtually independent 

 of foreign sources for adequate apparatus and facilities 

 for laboratory research. 



12. Cooperation and coordination in industrial re- 

 search take various forms. Some industries cooperate 

 through associations, especially in studying problems 

 common to an industry. Frequent instances of coop- 

 eration between noncompeting companies are noted. 

 It is the belief of those responsible for this report that 

 the danger of uimecessary duplication of research by 

 competitive industry will remain slight. No special 

 steps are recommended at this time to improve coordi- 

 nation and to prevent duplication. 



12. Relations between research men in Government 

 and in industry are, in general, close and cordial. In- 

 dustry generally is continuously cooperating recipro- 

 cally with the Army and Navy and with the technical 

 branches of other departments and bureaus in the Gov- 

 ernment. A factor reported as interfering to some 

 degree with even more effective use of industrial coop- 

 eration by War and Navy Departments is the extension 

 of secrecy to the point of not informing industry freely 

 of troublesome problems. It is possible that less re- 

 striction might be placed on information about existence 

 and nature of problems, while at the same time taking 

 care that the solutions, when found, are treated with 

 discretion. 



13. Some branches of applied science are more highly 

 developed in industry than others. Notably chemistry 

 has been widely accepted and applied, and well over a 

 quarter of the members of industrial research staffs are 

 chemists or chemical engineers. Biology, however, 

 has not obtained the same general acceptance even in 

 the food industries where there is great opportunity 

 for wider utilization of applied biology. It is believed 

 that the biologists themselves could take steps toward 

 correcting this situation, as did the physicists in the 

 formation and operation of the American Institute of 

 Physics. 



14. There is opportunity for some American imiver- 

 sity to establish a comprehensive curriculum in applied 

 mathematics. The number of men engaged in applied 

 mathematics is comparatively small but their work is 

 extremely significant. It could be made even more 

 significant through special educational facihties. 



15. Industrial research men are members of a pro- 

 fession with liigh ethical standards. Compensation for 

 industrial scientists is in general comparable with that 

 for men with equivalent responsibihty elsewhere in 

 industry. 



