March 1998
Other Countries' Money
Foreign companies are tapping into the vigorous U.S. system of innovation by sponsoring and increasing amount of research and development at American companies. Is this a boon, or a subtle form of industrial espionage?
By Richard Florida
At a new research complex in Palo Alto, Calif., scientists, engineers, and software developers create technologies for the knowledge-based work environment of the 21st century. At another laboratory in Kendall Square in Cambridge, Mass.-practically across the street from MIT-computer scientists, artificial intelligence experts, and software developers pioneer advanced computing and information systems. Inside a striking new facility in Princeton, N.J., Nobel prize-winning scientists conduct basic research at the frontiers of information technology. We've all heard that U.S. companies and government agencies are slicing their R&D budgets, so what accounts for these investments? The answer: foreign-owned corporations, pouring money into the U.S. R&D enterprise in an effort to develop products for the huge U.S. market, gain access to cutting-edge scientists and engineers, and take advantage of the world's most creative and productive R&D climate.
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