192 



National Resources Planning Board 



Introduction 



This paper describes briolly llie urf^uniziiLioii and 

 extent of industrial research, and of government and 

 university activity in this field, in the principal indus- 

 trial nations abroad. Because of the many changes 

 in the nature and extent of industrial research which 

 have occurred in most of these countries since the out- 

 break of the present war, treatment is confined for the 

 most part to the period preceding September 1, 1939. 



Portions of the statements on several countries have 

 been drawn from unpublished reports in the files of the 

 National Research Council. Valuable assistance both 

 in supplying information on significant aspects of re- 

 search abroad and in reviewing this paper was rendered 

 by Dr. William A. Hamor, Assistant Director, Mellon 

 Institute of Industrial Research, by Dr. William F. 

 Zimmerli, of the R. and II. Chemicals Department, 

 E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company, Dr. Ernest W. 

 Reid, Carbide and Carbon Chemicals Corporation, and 

 Dr. M. J. Kell}', Director of Research, Bell Telephone 

 Laboratories. Doctor J. W. Peter Debye, Director, 

 Max Planck Institute, Berlin, Germany, and Visiting 

 Professor of Chemistrj^, Cornell University, was ex- 

 ceedingly helpful in contributing first-hand information 

 on observations of industrial research in certain Euro- 

 pean countries. 



The nations whose industrial research is discussed 

 are Belgium, France, German}', Great Britain, Italy, 

 Netherlands, the Scandinavian countries, Switzerland, 

 the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, China, 

 Japan, and Canada. It is recognized that important 

 industrial research is being carried on elsewhere but 

 limitations especially of time and space have precluded 

 inclusion of such countries. Particular mention should 

 be made of the recent considerable expansion of indus- 

 trial research in Latin-American countries, notably 

 Brazil. Australia, New Zealand, India, and South 

 Africa are also reported active in industrial research. 



Outside of the United States research has been con- 

 ducted most actively in Great Britain, Germany, the 

 Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, and Japan. Opin- 

 ions differ as to how these nations should be ranked 

 in industrial research. No attempt has been made to 

 give such a rating nor to compare the research stand- 

 ings of these countries with that of the United States. 



It is indeed significant that three of the four foreign 

 nations most active in research are totalitarian states. 

 It is even more significant that the research policy of 

 each has been concentrated on self-sufficiency and pre- 

 paredness. Under conditions existing in the world 

 today the influence of such policies on future research 

 may well be profound. 



Industrial research in the principal foreign countries 

 differs in other respects from that in the United States. 



In contrast to the virtual absence of coonlinulion and 

 complete freedojn from governmental control of re- 

 search in this country, coordination and government 

 control has been carried to the liighest degree in Ger- 

 many, Italy, the U. S. S. R., and Jai)an. Such a policy 

 has been the natural development of totalitarian 

 philosophy. Although it may eliminate duplication 

 and assist in concentration of efforts on matters of 

 national import, it can scarcely be said to encourage 

 freedom of activity on the part of the individual 

 research worker, or to promote the best interests of 

 pure science. 



In all countries industrial research has been done 

 confidentially, but in var>-ing degrees. The principal 

 difference has lain in whether research results which 

 were not patentable or wliich must be maintained 

 confidential because of their nature were not pulilished 

 at all or were published after adequate patent protec- 

 tion had been secured. Residts of industrial research 

 have been published more openly and freely in the 

 United States than elsewhere. Other differences in 

 degree of privacy of industrial research have existed 

 in restraints ijnposed on attendance of research work- 

 ers at scientific and technical meetings, and in general 

 in the willingness and freedom of researchers to discuss 

 their problems. 



The cartel system, as practiced internationally, has 

 been cited as a restraining influence on industrial re- 

 search by reason of its tendency to produce more or less 

 static conditions in an industry. Markets and prices 

 are usually fixed; hence profits are less dependent on 

 advances made through research. 



Exchange among nations of scientific and technical 

 information in applied fields has been fostered in indirect 

 ways, principal among which have been meetings of in- 

 ternational societies and congresses such as the Inter- 

 national Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry and the 

 World Power Conference; wide circulation of scientific 

 and technical publications in countries other than those 

 of publication; services of government and industrial 

 agents in foreign countries; issuance of patents; and 

 more recently through licensing abroad of processes and 

 manufacture of new products. The International 

 Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry, an outgrowth of 

 the International Congress of Applied Chemistry, 

 has for its purpose the encouragement of international 

 chemical science and the fostering of knowledge in 

 industrial chemistry. Many notable papers have been 

 presented at its sessions. 



Research in Belgium 



Science in Belgium has traditions dating back to the 

 great period of the seventeenth century. The course 

 of science in Belgium, unlike that of many of her con- 



