Industrial innovation

The mechanism of industrial innovation can be described as a chain with feedback loops to bring out the iterative aspect which is essential to it. The level of the research and development effort in different industrial sectors is subject to prospects for further technological development. The low number of new high-technology companies founded in the 1970s in Europe and even in the USA is a matter of concern. The low mobility of qualified people, which is partly a result of national and linguistic fragmentation, impairs the position of European industries compared with companies in the USA. The European communities have not yet been able to formulate an industrial policy from which any industrial innovation policy might be derived. Public opinion is often fairly inconsistent in its attitude towards industrial innovation and this inevitably exposes industry to undue risks. The high level of prosperity attained by the Western nations is due in large measure to the pursuit of industrial innovation. Engineers and scientists, practised as they are in rational thinking, can make an important contribution to the synthesis that seems desirable between the technological culture of our civilisation and its social aspirations.