INDUSTRIAL secrecy is bad for business, stifling the free flow of information so essential for stimulating innovation, says Stuart Macdonald of the Warwick Business School. 鈥淭here is surely no great gulf between industrial espionage and technology transfer,鈥� he told the BA this week. 鈥淏oth move technological information to where it is required to contribute to innovation.
Innovation depends on a continuous supply of fresh information, says Macdonald, and most of that is found outside the company 鈥� from suppliers, customers and competitors. The problem is that there is no clear distinction between technology theft and technology transfer.
Companies often limit informal exchanges between researchers by prohibiting certain topics and even certain means of discussion. Governments are as secretive as companies, he points out. 鈥淭he best example is American export controls,鈥� he says. They limit a range of advanced technologies with dual civil and military use.
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The free exchange of information drives innovation, says Macdonald. It was behind both the agricultural and industrial revolutions in Britain. 鈥淢easures to stop the transfer of information will kill off your own innovation,鈥� says Macdonald.