In 1990, the prevailing sense among technology watchers was that U.S. industrial research was in trouble, and that somebody had better do something about it quick. Nervous about Japanese competition in critical areas, democrats led a move to allocate $100 million for the Advanced Technology Program, 10 times more than President Bush had requested for the next fiscal year. Rejecting the administration's largely hands-off industrial policy, the House passed the measure by more than 3 to 1.

How things change. In computers, communications, biotech and other key technology areas, America has surged to the front of the pack while Japanese industrial growth has stagnated. The real credit for the turnaround goes to the big companies such as General Electric, AT&T and Hewlett-Packard that downsized and restructured their research labs in the early 1990s, shifting resources formerly squandered on basic research toward meeting the technology needs of real-world customers. That's according to Robert Buderi, a former editor at Business Week and a TR contributing writer, in his new book Engines of Tomorrow.