Managing Electrotechnology Innovation in the USA

Lee, T.H. & Loftness, R.L. (1987). Managing Electrotechnology Innovation in the USA. IIASA Working Paper. IIASA, Laxenburg, Austria: WP-87-054

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Abstract

In 1982, IIASA initiated an Innovation Management Task that brought together many leading managers from the electrotechnology industry as well as researchers and policy makers. This endeavor resulted in several meetings with the active participation and support of representatives from industry from both East and West. The first of these meetings, of which Electrosila was one of the supporting organizations, took place in Leningrad in May 1982. This meeting also identified the focus of those future activities that were esteemed to be of predominant importance for managers in the electrotechnology industry. These included the strategic development of a company, and the human and organizational factors in managing innovation.

In this paper, the author presents an overview of innovation management in the United States electrotechnology industry from an historical perspective. He touches on all three factors that were recommended at the Leningrad meeting and describes them from the point of view of his many years of first-hand experience and direct involvement. Further, he describes the role of the user in as much as it significantly affects the technical development of the industry.

The paper describes in clear, concise scientific terms the interaction of new technologies and the economy of industrial performance as well as national policy and its impact on the overall development.

This paper will be of interest not only to policy researchers, but also to managers from industry and decision makers in government. It is also a welcome sign to all former participants in the innovation management meetings that IIASA strongly supports this activity.

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