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National Resources Planning Board 



fercnces with the industrial sponsor. A number of 

 concerns in addition employ faculty members as 

 consultants. 



Industry also supports research programs in private 

 consulting and industrial research-foundation labora- 

 tories. These projects are generally of a specific, 

 confidential nature with a definite commercial objective 

 requiring energetic attack and early solution of the 

 problem. Such laboratories as the Mellon Institute for 

 Industrial Research, Battelle Memorial Institvitc, 

 Arthur D. Little, Inc., are typical of such agencies. 



There is some small degree of cooperation in research 

 between industrial concerns and govermnental labora- 

 tories. The projects are usually of general scientilic 

 natm"e and of interest to a nmnber of concerns, all of 

 whom contribute to their support. In the field of agri- 

 cidture some national and state experiment stations 

 cooperate dirccth^ with one or more concerns in the 

 development and testing of new raw materials or of 

 industrial products that may have applications in 

 agriculture. 



Some companies spend as much as 10 percent of 

 their research budgets on cooperative research programs 

 with university, private, and government laboratories. 

 The usual figure, however, seems to be nearer 2 to 3 

 percent. There is occasional exchange of personnel on 

 projects and of course considerable exchange of infor- 

 mation in the form of conferences and reports. 



Exchange of Information 



The most general means of exchanging research infor- 

 mation among industrial concerns is tlu-ough participa- 

 tion in the meetings and technical committee work of 

 technical societies, trade associations, and the like. 



Many members of the industrial research staffs 

 belong to technical societies and present their findings 

 of technical value at the meetings of such societies. 



These societies and associations also sponsor a great 

 deal of conmiittee activity which benefits industry as 

 well as the technical professions and the public. This 

 work is directed toward the formulation of industrial 

 standards and specifications, testing procedures, analyt- 

 ical methods, and related subjects. New scientific 

 and engineering data are also obtained through their 

 cooperative research programs. Industrial concerns 

 are well represented in the membership of these com- 

 mittees, contributing the time and expenses of their 

 representatives as well as much of the information 

 needed. 



Policies on Publication 

 of Research Findings 



The general policy of enlightened companies seems 

 to be to encourage their staffs to publish research find- 

 ings when (1) these results are of broad interest and 



represent real contributions to technical knowledge, 

 and when (2) such publication docs not jeopardize the 

 company's patent position or reveal proprietary secrets. 

 Many research results appear first in patents and are 

 later generalized either in articles in the technical press 

 or in papers presented before technical societies. 



Technical items of current interest are also published 

 in some 90 industrial research laboratory house organs 

 as listed in the National Research Council's Bulletin 

 No. 102 entitled "Industrial Research Laboratories of 

 the United States." 



The Industrial Research Institute 



As indicated above the most usual type of information 

 that is exchanged among the research organizations of 

 industry is of a technical nature. Within the past 3 

 years, however, a new activity has appeared for the 

 exchange of information on the organization, manage- 

 ment, and administration of research in industry. 

 This work is being carried on by the Industrial Research 

 Institute, affiliated with the National Research Council. 

 Its purpose is to promote, through the cooperative 

 efforts of its members, constant improvement of 

 methods and more economical and effective manage- 

 ment in industrial research. 



Industry as a whole has been convinced of the need 

 for doing research but still has much to learn about 

 how best to do it. Little information or experience is 

 available on how to organize and manage research so 

 as to obtain results in the most efficient and economical 

 way. A research organization has peculiar charac- 

 teristics of function, operation, and personnel that do 

 not easily lend themselves to customary business man- 

 agement methods. Company heads are nevertheless 

 justified in demanding results with economy from their 

 research organizations since their operations are con- 

 stantly gi-owing in terms of capital investment, annual 

 expenditures, and number of personnel. 



This situation led a group of research directors to 

 seek the aid of the National Research Council about 3 

 years ago in forming an Industrial Research Institute 

 for the cooperative study of common problems of 

 research management. Maurice Holland, director of 

 the Division of Engineering and Induslrial Research 

 of the Council, has been largely responsible for develop- 

 ing the idea and organizing and guiding the Industrial 

 Research Institute that resulted. The institute started 

 with 14 company members and now numbers 33 that 

 are widely representative of types of industry and of the 

 industrial areas of the comitry. The institute is 

 designed primarily to serve the middle-sized research 

 organizations rather than the largest ones, whose prac- 

 tices are fairly well developed. The laboratory staffs 

 of most of the member companies number imder 100 

 persons 



