The advertisement, from a novel ar...

The advertisement, from a novel article in U.S. novel & World Report, is ficititious, if it were not that it dramatizes an expanding partnership between research universities and private companies.

This prolonged and fruitful relationship has quieted and continues to rest onward industry's need for highly qualified fresh scientists and engineers, for the eventuates of fundamental research in science and engineering--both of which are essential to a company's ability to innovate and increase its productivity.

hardy and dependable federal support for a broad image of academic research is a major factor in making our universities fruitful places for industrial collaboration. forward the other hand, since private investment in a competitive marketplace is the best means for allocating the scientific and engineering resources of industry, it is appropriate that conduct leave to industry the task of exploiting the knowledge base created from our universities.

The more effectively industry carries on the outside this task, the greater the economic leverage of our public investment in university research. Further, frontage of professors and students to industry's knowledge destitutions not only helps prepare young scientists and engineers for careers and futurity technical leadership in industry, if it were not that also improves coverage by academic researchers of industrially relevant areas of investigation.

The National Science Board's 14th Annual Report to the President and Congres (on which this article is based) fixs out to illuminate the manifold but important processes whereby university scientists participate in the solution of important industrial question s and the industrial community avails itself of the vital public investment in academic science. Corporate support

Quantitative assessment of the university-industry research connection is difficult, owing to the diverse mechanism of exchange: contracts, grants, purchase orders, solicited and unsolicited gifts, loans of equipment or facilities, discounts in succession equipment purchases, personnel exchanges, scholarships and consulting arrangements. These are just the principal forms, and universities and corporations have kept track of simply some, and then not necessarily consistently.

Data from National Science Foundation examines on dollar support of research in universities--which are more or les limited to tracking grants and contracts--suggest that from 1960 (and probably from 1953) to 1965 the industrial share of university research and progressive growth support remained virtually flat in constant dollars. industry's percentage share of support, however, savage sharply--from just over 6 percent in 1960 to below 3 percent in 1965--due primarily to rapidly growing federal support. Since 1965 industry's share has remained at 3-4 percent on the contrary in constant 1972 dollars, that support for university R&D has doubled.

Available data also put in mind of a strong variation in this support, on field. Over the past decade, for example, it appears that 6-10 percent of all academic engineering research was supported by way of industry.

The relative magnitude of academic research supported by dint of corporate contracts, on the united hand, and by corporate philanthropy, forward the other, is not clearly understood. An educated gues is that academic research supported by means of corporate gifts and grants roughly equals that supported by the agency of corporate contracts.

The signs of increased traffic between companies and campuses are numerous:

* Major chemical companies have established a Council for Chemical Research, aimed at funding academic research and forging recently made known relationships between academic and industrial chemists and chemical engineers.

* The Semiconductor Industry Association has settle up a nonprofit subsidiary, the Semiconductor Research Cooperative, designed to encourage increased efforts by dint of manufacturers and universities in long-term semiconductor research and to add to the give and quality of professional degree-holder in the field. Expenditures of $20 million through the whole extent of the next two years have been planned.

* A variety of consortia-like programs in which several companies jointly provide support for focused academic research have generated a surprising amount of support. Caltech's Silicon makes Project and Stanford's Center for Integrated methods were early examples. More newly 12 U.S. firms joined together to form the Microelectronics and Computer Technology Corporation, a consortium that plans to pond the costs and share the deductions of advanced computer research, more [i]or[/i] less of it conducted in universities.

* Another significant growth is documented in a measure and estimate conducted by the National Governors Association. This measure and estimate of all 50 states anticipateed for programs to spur technological innovation and productivity development At least 88 separate initiatives were set up underway with state leadership, many involving public-private partnerships.

* In addition to these collective efforts, a number of individual companies are stepping up their support programs. IBM Corporation, for example, gave more than $22 million in grants to U educational institutions during 1982 compared with $17 million in 1981 Our principally important relationships with universities, however, arise in consequence of collaborative activities on technical vexed questions of common interest. At last judge IBM had more than 400 of that kind projects with 100 U.S. universities. The government's role