Tag Archives: R&D

The “R” in R&D is falling short

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I’ll bet there isn’t one of you who doesn’t know that I’m a techie. I’ve been devoted to science and technology- and FACTS- since I was a tyke. I knew I’d be a ChemE by the time I was 8 and was just as certain I’d effect major changes to the field of dialysis. I’ve been lucky enough to dabble in water treatment, water reuse, air treatment, microbial conversion of hazardous materials, pharmaceutical development, medical instrumentation, genetic manipulation, food production…. OK. You get the idea.

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The gift that keeps on giving

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You know I write often about the fact that our government has been attriting its support for R&D. Maybe if we could demonstrate to the politicians in terms they could understand (ok, in complete sentences- we can only hope some understand that) we could reverse this terrible trend. After all, without R&D, a nation’s economic prowess simply withers. As they say around MIT, the biggest day for technology transfer is graduation day.

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R&D funding is getting kickstarted

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I’ve written about crowdfunding before.  And, most of you know it for its use in consumer products and creating parks.  But, there’s a great interest in having the public help scientists and engineers bring technical products to market.   Especially since our government has been cutting back on the funding of R&D over the years.

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Innovation Practicalities

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One of the things I learned at MIT was how universities can increase their ability to provide scholarships and maintain their educational excellence.  It wasn’t from the conventional academic process.  No, these funds didn’t come from government grants for research.  Because even back then, there wasn’t much (or any) excess in the funding that was provided by NIH, DOD, NSF, and the variety of alphabet agencies that support our educational research programs.

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Our Ostrich Behavior

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I really hate sounding like Chicken Little.  But, given the intellectual and economic prowess of our Congress (that’s both the House and the Senate), I really have no choice.  (Anyone else recognize the stupidity of bringing snowballs onto the floor to lambaste those who understand the import of global climate change?)

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R&D cuts mean fewer Start-ups

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I am not trying to sound the Doomsday Machine.  Our economy is picking up.  Corporations are raising their low-end employee’s wages.  (Don’t get too excited.  They are not doing this for benevolent reasons.  They are having a tough time keeping their low-end employees, because jobs are now more available.)  But, we still are not coming out with a plethora of new products.

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Whither R&D

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OK.  This is rant time.  Corporate profits are doing fine- even if we (the consumer, the population) are not.  A lot of this profit is due to the fact that workers are not being paid well, or that there are not enough workers (i.e., corporations are “running lean”, often meaning there are too few workers for the tasks at hand).

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