R&D Consortia: A Benchmark Study

by Francis W. Wolek

Overview

This is a book on cooperatively funded R&D by industry in the United States in the 1970s. The book discusses the size of consortia (average = $125 million), their industrial focus (non-technology intensive industries), their mission (improving existing technology), and their value (members believe benefits justify costs). These and other results are discussed for the light they shed on R&D Strategy and government policy.

The study found that American consortia with in-house laboratories are staffed by competent leaders and professionals but these same people underestimate the uniqueness and difficulty of managing cooperative innovation. This weakness leads consortia labs to miss opportunities to discover and support High Risk, Expensive, and Major Advances in their industries. The book presents a set of Non-obvious Principles for managing the Cooperative Innovation ad correcting this weakness.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940151937016
Publisher:	Francis W. Wolek
Publication date:	05/24/2015
Sold by:	Smashwords
Format:	eBook
File size:	5 MB

About the Author

My interests and style were strongly influenced by where I was born, raised, and educated. I was born in 1935 in Brooklyn, New York; educated in Brooklyn Technical High School, the Colorado School of Mines (Geology), and Harvard Business School (Doctorate in the Management of Science and Technology). I’ve spent most of my career as a Professor of Management at several universities; mostly at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and Villanova University (now an Emeritus Professor of Management). My contributions include service as Deputy Assistant Secretary of Science and Technology at the U.S. Department of Commerce and some 75 publications. I am happily married to Gloria Peez Wolek and we are proud of our four children and four grandchildren. I divide my time equally between homes in Florida (Stuart) and Philadelphia (Shannondell at Valley Forge).