analytical chemistry Editor: Herbert A. Laitinen EDiTORiAL HEADQUARTERS 1155 Sixteenth St.. N.W. Washington, D.C. 20036 Phone: 202-872-4570 Teletype: 710-8220151
What Could Be Done to Encourage Innovation in Industry?
Managing Editor: Josephine M. Petruzzi Associate Editors: Andrew A. Husovsky, Barbara Cassatt Associate Editor, Easton: Elizabeth R . Rufe Editorial Assistant: Andre D ’Arcangelo Associate Editor, editing: Nancy J. Oddenino Production Manager: Leroy L. Corcoran Art Director: John V Sinnett Designer: Alan Kahan Advlsory Board: L. S. Birks, Peter Carr, David Firestone, Kurt F. J. Heinrich. Philip F. Kane, Barry L. Karger, J. Jack Kirkland. Marvin Margoshes, Robert S. McDonald, James W. Mitchell, Royce W. Murray, Harry L. Pardue, Garry A . Rechnitz. Walter Slavin. John P. Walters Instrumentation Advisory Panel: Gary D. Christian, Catherine Fenselau. Gary M. Hieftje. Tomas Hirschfeld, Peter T. Kissinger, C. David Miller, Carter L. Olson, Sidney L. Phillips, Thomas H . Ridgway Regulations, Analytical Division Ad Hoc Committee: Robert A. Libby (Chairman). Warren B. Crummett, William T. Donaldson, Donald T. Sawyer Contributing Editor: Ciaude A Lucchesi Department of Chemistry, Northwestern University, Evanston. 111. 60201 Published b y the AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY 1155 16th Street, N W Washington, D C 20036 Books and Journals Division Director: D. ti. Michael Bowen Journals: Charles R . Eertsch
The Committee on Chemistry and Federal Policy of the NAS section on chemistry, chaired by Dr. Kenneth Wiberg of Yale, has issued a statement (C&E,V, Feb. 5 , 1979, p 26) worthy of study by all chemists and science policy makers in government and in the chemical industry. I t is pointed out that, particularly in the 1970’s there has been an erosion of the basic research component of R&D, both in industry and in government-sponsored academic research. I t appears that government funding agencies have responded to a perception that the public is demanding relevance to the problems of society, whereas industry has been cutting back on basic research on the presumption that increased government funding to universities should take care of basic research while industry focuses upon applications. The result has been that a diminishing fraction of R&D expenditures is being devoted to the acquisition of basic knowledge. I t is interesting that the business community is beginning to accept a share of the responsibility for the decline in truly original developments. In a special 1977-78 report entitled “The Breakdown of U S . Innovation”, in the magazine Business Week, the subtitle is “No-risk, super-cautious management is one of the prime villains”. It is pointed out that the companies most successful in international competition in technologically advanced areas are those who have made high-risk, imaginative investments in R&D in the past. Yet even most of those companies are becoming more defensive in their approach to new products. They are finding it increasingly difficult to justify expenditures for pure research when these costs appear on the debit side of the ledger in parallel with outlays for immediately beneficial purposes such as production or advertising. A tax incentive for basic research would be a good investment for the public. Adding to the problem are the increasing costs of responding to government regulations to protect the health and safety of workers and the general population. We seem to be reaching the point of needing to regulate the regulators, Le., to develop a system of checks and balances to arrive at quantitatiue basis for regulations through risk-benefit analysis. Governmental action to increase the incentives for industry to invest in long-range research, to increase its emphasis on the support of basic rather than problem-oriented research, and to create mechanisms for increased interaction between the regulatory agencies and the scientific community would be positive steps toward improving the outlook for future innovations by American industry.
Magazine and Production: Bacil Guiley Research and Development: Seldon W Terrant Circulation Development: Marion Gurfein Manuscript requirements are published in the January 1979 issue, page 171. Manuscripts for publication ( 4 copies) should be submitted to ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY at the ACS Washington address. The American Chemical Society and its editors assume no responsibility for the statements and opinions advanced by contributors. Views expressed in the editorials are those of the editors and do not necessarily represent the official position of the American Chemical Society.
ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY, VOL. 5 1 ,
NO. 6,
M A Y 1979
593
