Grabbing Lightning: Building a Capability for Breakthrough Innovation

Chapter 3. THE DISCOVERY COMPETENCY

The largest portion of industrial R&D budgets is spent on existing product lines or newly identified platforms; the proportion of expenditures allocated to fundamental research has been low. Only in 2004 did industrial companies shift the focus of their R&D spending from directed research and support of existing businesses to new business creation projects.^[29] Savings in R&D expenditures are reportedly expected to come from reductions in the technical workforce, movement of technical development work to Asian countries, and leveraging resources through alliances and joint ventures with federal and university labs as well as smaller companies.^[30] These trends signal that central research labs in established ...