Engines of Tomorrow by Robert Buderi, Simon & Schuster, $27.50, ISBN 0684839008
XEROX鈥檚 Mark Yim is building modular robots that shape-shift. A curious ambition, you might think. But Yim sees his creations as rescue robots, able to go anywhere. They assemble their modules into a wheel to roll swiftly over flat ground, shape-shift into a spider to pick their way over uneven terrain, then morph again into a snake to slither into narrow spaces. He has already managed the wheel-to-snake transformation and is getting close to the shift to a five-legged spider.
Yim and his robot form one of many delightful vignettes in Robert Buderi鈥檚 Engines of Tomorrow, a three-year trip around nine of the world鈥檚 leading corporate research laboratories in search of the secrets of excellence. Buderi interviews scores of researchers and their managers, dissects company histories, and analyses innovative projects and visionaries鈥� dreams for future technologies.
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If there is an overall conclusion to this magnificent, sprawling book, it is probably the eight-word statement from Tatsuo Ishiguro, NEC鈥檚 chief of research. 鈥淭he how to balance is the tricky thing,鈥� he says. To lead the world and beat the competition, you must balance long-term research against shorter-term development, and the need for personal recognition against corporate goals. Grand thinkers must balance their dreams against the mundane realities of sales teams to create products that will sell. No single solution works, as the marketplace is always changing. The only constant is the endless need to find a working balance.
Corporations are permanently in a state of flux, Buderi discovers. Taking two key variables-the amount of research versus development, and the ability of companies to transfer their R into D-he records stormy nights when huge shifts were made.
Under Arno Penzias, a Nobel prizewinner for his discovery of the cosmic microwave background, Bell Labs was famous for its commitment to scientific excellence and freedom, rather than for any contribution made to the profits of its parent, the telecoms giant AT&T. Then one night in 1989, while Penzias was listening to Beethoven鈥檚 third symphony, he suddenly realised that this university-like approach was all wrong for a corporation facing savage competition.
A radical transformation was needed: no more worrying about scientific papers or building the world鈥檚 smallest laser, Bell Labs had to focus on business. 杏吧原创s were outraged, a feeling soon to be shared by their counterparts at IBM when the revolution arrived there.
Japan escaped these upheavals. NEC had pursued a far more steady course, Buderi shows, allocating its funding for 鈥渢omorrow, the day after tomorrow and the day after the day after tomorrow鈥� in set percentages of 30, 60 and 10 per cent.
Intel backs a different route altogether. It has continued to dominate microprocessor production by staying absolutely focused on engineering. In its 30-year history Intel has spent scarcely a dime on long-range projects, Buderi says.
Corporate blue-sky research might yet make a comeback. Microsoft鈥檚 new labs seem to be embracing the original Bell Labs ethos. Critics claim that researchers at Bill Labs (as the joke has it) 鈥減ursue their whims out of touch with the real world鈥�.
Siemens, General Electric and Hewlett-Packard also feature in Buderi鈥檚 tour, and add to the vast range of ideas, projects and people we meet. With skillful pen portraits, he breathes life into complex research, both practical or whimsical. I think Buderi has invented a colourful new genre linking research and policy, something he can be proud of.
I have one complaint. Buderi tends to place the US at the centre of the world. But didn鈥檛 US corporate research reorganise itself in reaction to the incredible successes of Japan in the 1980s?