?url_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Adc&rft.relation=https%3A%2F%2Fpure.iiasa.ac.at%2Fid%2Feprint%2F4552%2F&rft.title=Research+by+Accident&rft.creator=Schelling%2C+T.C.&rft.description=This+paper+deals+with+a+key+aspect+of+(uncertainty+in)+knowledge+generation%3A+unanticipated+discoveries.+The+first+part+of+the+paper+provides+an+illustration+of+what+the+author+terms+%22research+by+accident%22%2C+defined+as+a+central+cognitive+device+to+generate+unanticipated+knowledge%3A+in+R%26D+for+a+new+technological+alternative+as+substitute+to+an+old+technology%2C+scientists+and+engineers+are+inclined+to+narrow+their+vision%2C+being+preoccupied+with+simply+accomplishing%2C+with+the+new+technology%2C+what+the+old+technology+did.+As+very+well+documented+in+the+case+of+nuclear+weapons%2C+such+a+cognitive+bias+leads+to+a+sequence+of+unanticipated+discoveries+--+a+process+of+research+by+accident+which+will+subsequently+reveal+properties+and+characteristics+of+the+technology+which+were+not+expected+initially.+One+lesson+of+this+paper+is+the+importance+of+basic+research+as+a+source+of+information+that+one+did+not+know+was+needed+when+it+was+first+decided+to+deploy+a+new+technology.+The+challenge+is+to+improve+ways+of+accessing+existing+knowledge+at+any+one+time+so+as+to+reduce+the+probability+of+surprise.+%0D%0A%0D%0AThe+second+part+of+the+paper+deals+with+situations+where+the+scarce+resource+is+no+longer+information+but+attention.+As+illustrated+with+the+example+of+energy+studies+of+the+1970s%2C+the+problem+at+hand+deals+with+the+efficiency+of+information+distribution+rather+than+generation.+As+pointed+out+by+the+author%2C+it+is+necessary+to+make+a+difference+between+scientific+information+that+exists+somewhere+and+scientific+information+that+is+known+in+the+right+context+and+to+the+right+people+(the+persons+with+the+capacity+to+take+action+or+to+resist+action)+at+the+right+time.&rft.publisher=WP-95-040&rft.date=1995-05&rft.type=Monograph&rft.type=NonPeerReviewed&rft.format=text&rft.language=en&rft.identifier=https%3A%2F%2Fpure.iiasa.ac.at%2Fid%2Feprint%2F4552%2F1%2FWP-95-040.pdf&rft.identifier=++Schelling%2C+T.C.+%3Chttps%3A%2F%2Fpure.iiasa.ac.at%2Fview%2Fiiasa%2F1555.html%3E++(1995).++Research+by+Accident.+++IIASA+Working+Paper.+IIASA%2C+Laxenburg%2C+Austria%3A+WP-95-040+++++