Government rapped for stifling business R&D

Abstract

The man who brought you frozen orange juice, and a great admirer of what technology can do, lately has brought some unpleasant news, too: The state of U.S. technological innovation is not very healthy. And unhealthy indeed for the small (generally fewer than 1000 employees) high-technology firms that are widely conceded to produce a disproportionately large number of innovative products and services. What is to be done, then, to reverse this undesirable and near universally agreed upon trend? Federal officials in Washington, D.C., say what's needed is a new government study. But individuals like frozen orange juice entrepreneur Richard S. Morse insist that the problem already has been studied to death and the U.S. certainly does not need another blue-ribbon federal study. Morse, formerly a Massachusetts Institute of Technology management lecturer, and founder of National Research Corp., believes that what's needed now is direct and swift action from Congress and from the executive agencies. But ...