200 



National Resources Planning Board 



exception of specialties, almost impossible. To obluin 

 foreign exchange the only recourse was to license 

 processes. A number of German manufacturers main- 

 tained representatives in other countries for negotiating 

 such licenses. Conversely, manufacturers in Germany 

 liavc been granted licenses to use processes develojied 

 in the United Stales and other countries. Usuallj' these 

 licenses include technical assistance in getting processes 

 into commercial production. Recent examples of 

 licensing between Germany and the United States are 

 those involving production of Buna rubber in this 

 country and of nylon in Germany. Exchange of tech- 

 nical information between the United States and 

 Germany in this manner and other waj'S has materially 

 aided technological development in both covmtrios. 



The largest industrial research organization in 

 Germany is that of the Interessen Gemeinschaft 

 Farbenindustrie I. G., commonly known as the 

 German I. G. Originally, this organization was a con- 

 solidation of well integrated competing plants each with 

 well organized and complete research facilities. Cen- 

 tralization of research facilities was extremelj- difficult 

 but has made great progress in recent years. While 

 not entirely limited in scope of research, the large 

 laboratories of the I. G. have been placing thoir nmiii 



emphasis on problems related to plant activities. In 

 cases of conflicting interests, problems have been fre- 

 quently assigned to or divided among the laboratories 

 best suited to handle the work. A definite proportion 

 of fundamental research has been carried out in all the 

 laboratories. It is of interest to note that at the Oppau 

 laboratory 300 chemists were said to be working at one 

 time on development of catalysts for high pressure 

 synthesis. These laboratories may be roughly classified 

 as follows: 



I.«verkusen — vat dyes, rubber chemicals and buna service, 



inorganic chemistry. 

 Ludwigshafen — Azo dyes, plastics and synthetic rubber. 

 Elberfeld and Hoechst — ^pharmaceuticals. 

 Wolfcn — Bitterfeld — cellulose, rayon, synthetic fibers and 



photography, aluminum and metals. 

 Oppau and Merzeberg — nitrogen, carbon monoxide and 



hydrogunation of coal (high pressure). 



The I. G. Farbenindustrie has lost many of its key 

 research men in recent years, partly because of the 

 necessity of transferring technical men to manufac- 

 turing, partlj' because of race purges, and for other 

 reasons. In some instances replacements have been as 

 high as five young graduates for each experienced re- 

 search man. In other instances the post-doctorate 



Figure oS. — Laboratory of the German Interessen Uesellschaft Farbenindustrie 



IncOTpcTiittii 



