Bridging the Science-Technology Gap
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Bridging the Science-Technology Gap Kenneth A. Kovaly
Does anyone really doubt that the United States leads the world in the science of advanced materials? We support an unparalleled array of world-class universities, national laboratories, and private research centers. Yet, when I ask' corporate managers about their research programs, they complain they don't see a strong market pull for their hew, innovative products. My company, Technical Insights, provides intelligence services on technologies ranging from advanced materials and manufacturing to biotechnology and sensors. Across the board, we hear executives despair about new product development. Somehow, we fail to consistently translate good science into commercially useful technology. Why? And, specifically, what has limited industrial use of advanced materials? Certainly, new materials are hard to make and use economically. Yet the Japanese have produced ceramic and metalmatrix composite auto engine components for years. They were the first to commercialize diamond coatings (for surgical knives and stereo speakers), and are now prototyping superconducting microelectronics. I think a large part of the problem is that scientists, not just materials scientists, have been content to remain sequestered in their laboratories. There, they "do" science and turn the result over to engineers and marketers. If they want to see their inventions move into the mainstream of economic life, scientists will have to expand their job definition. They are going to have to communicate their discoveries to the people who can use them. Now is the time. Many organizations—from the Congressional Office of Technology Assessment (OTA) and National Research Council (NRC) to technology driven manufacturers—recognize that new materials are an enabling technology. They will help manufacturers make products lighter, hotter, stronger, stiffer, raster, more reliable, and more durable. New materials open the door to better products. 6
What are American Companies Doing? Many American companies have started to listen. They have brought scientists out of the lab and into the corporate mainstream. Marketers and researchers routinely exchange information. They may work in closer proximity. Allied-Signal even has a "science fair" to bring together the diverse research and marketing groups that fall under its corporate aegis. Corporations have also begun to rethink the rules that govern introduction of new technology, especially production and manufacturing technologies. In the past, corporate controllers often rejected new technologies that didn't offer a quick payback. They had no way to measure the cost of quality, the loss of production flexibility, or loss of competitiveness by not keeping up with technology. But when corporations began to lose business to more technologically competent competitors, they began to rethink the accounting rules. Now, for the first time since the 1950s, the top management of many leading companies will more willingly pay for new technology, without knowing the m
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