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The Earl of Shannon. Fundamental research for industry. In The Fundamental Properties of Paper Related to its Uses, Trans. of the Vth Fund. Res. Symp. Cambridge, 1973, (F. Bolam, ed.), pp 3–6, FRC, Manchester, 2018.

Abstract

How honoured I am to be asked to address this symposium.

Most administrators are agreed that the decision on the ‘right’ amount of  money to spend on research and development is an art rather than a science. Here, I am quoting from the recent report by Lord Rothschild. Whether or not one agrees with his conclusions-and, from the fur and feathers that flew at the time of the publication of his report, it was obvious that some did not this statement is hardly likely to be challenged, as many of us have found to our cost when faced with making or advising on such decisions. In desperation, one can search for the magic formula, but all too often (when found) it turns out to be a paragram compounded in equivocation.

Not only is one faced with the question of how much to spend, but also the interrelated question of what to spend it on and where.


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