88-345 Perspectives on Industrial Research and Development
9 units, Carnegie Mellon University
Incandescent and fluorescent electric lights nylon and Kevlar61650, the atomic bomb the transistor and integrated circuits Postit61650 notes Teflon61650 Silly Putty61650 GameBoys61650 and biopharmaceuticals from Viagra61650 and Levitra61650 to Paxil61650 and Enbrel61650, among a panoply of other consumer and industrial goods, are all products that emerged from organized industrial research and development RD programs. The beginnings of this new institution in the late 19th century, its rapid rise in the first third of the 20th century, its flourishing in the middle third of the 20th century, and its decline and reorganization in the last decades of the 20th century and first decade of the 21st century are the principal focus of this advanced reading seminar. What factors led to the establishment of modern RD Why did industrial RD laboratories appear in the US and other industrialized nations How did their creation change the character of science, technology, and business How did the institutionalization of RD affect the work of individual inventors, engineers, and scientists Does big business now dominate RD in the United States, or does the little guy including universitybased start ups still play an important role in technological innovation What about the interaction of universities and industrial RD programs How has industrial RD been managed How has federal science and technology policy affected industrial RD With the globalization of business, is industrial RD also becoming global, and if so, how does industrial RD work on a global scale Why did the last decade of the 20th century see the decline or disappearance of numerous prestigious industrial research organizations What is the future of industrial RD in the 21st century These are some of the questions explored in this course, which is open to serious students from all colleges.
Prerequisites: none listed
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