Skip to main content
U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

The new alliance: America's R and D consortia

Book ·
OSTI ID:5938686

The 1980s may be remembered as America's R and D consortia years. Since the beginning of this decade, industry, universities, and government have been working together as never before, developing new business ideas, researching new technologies, and tapping new markets. These are America's new R and D consortia, say the authors of THE NEW ALLIANCE, and they represent a phenomenon important enough to be termed a ''movement.'' These alliances involve a wide and varied array of industries, educational institutions, political actors, and economic conditions. Founded by industry executives, academics, and government leaders who share a common recognition of the importance of high technology to the economy, as well as education's vital role in maintaining the competitive strength, the R and D consortia may be the newest examples of America's traditional resourcefulness, creativity, and resilience. The authors begin by describing the consortia movement as a phenomenon, illustrating specific cases, placing the movement in a historical context, and revealing the importance of consortia as forerunners of deeper changes in the society. THE NEW ALLIANCE a provides look at this phenomenon, analyzing the successes and failures of R and D consortia in the areas of leadership, research management, and technology transfer. Based on extensive interviews at fourteen consortia nationwide, this book looks into the possible future of the consortia experiment, focusing on electronics, manufacturing, robotics, and new materials consortia.

OSTI ID:
5938686
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English