About this issue

RECENTLY a number of meetings have been held in the area of management of Research, Development and Engineering (RD&E) during which a persistent question has been raised: “Has the art of managing RD&E improved much in the past 10 to 15 years?” This is a complex question and deserves careful consideration. Certainly the size and scope of R&D programs have increased greatly in certain segments of the RD&E “business.” Projects have become larger and more complex, more diverse specialties have been integrated into deliberate attacks on complex problems, and the ability to respond quickly to the challenge of exploiting new fields and technologies seems to have increased.