Scientific information as an aid to innovation*

Article type: Research Article

Authors: Wilde, Daniel U.

Affiliations: NERAC, Storrs, CT 06268, USA

Note: [*] A very slightly modified version of a paper presented at the International Council of Scientific Unions Abstracting Board Seminar on the Role of Information in the Innovative Process, Amsterdam, 24–25 May 1982. The paper appears also in the Proceedings of that seminar, Information and Innovation, ed. B.T. Stern, Amsterdam: North-Holland Publ. Co., 1982 (Contemporary Topics in Information Transfer, vol. 1). The discussion here appended took place directly following the presentation.

Abstract: Innovation is extremely chancy. Innovative ideas are like frog eggs: of a thousand hatched, only one or two survive to maturity. Because early researchers into the nature of technology transfer did not appreciate the uncertain nature of the innovative process, they were too quick to label embryonic transfer centers a failure. Today, innovation is better understood, and more mature centers such as NERAC with its unique multiple data base approach are routinely documenting that scientific information does aid innovation.

DOI: 10.3233/ISU-1982-2203

Journal: Information Services & Use, vol. 2, no. 2, pp. 81-91, 1982