THere is a great deal of discussion these days about outsourcing. People point out that we have to keep our edge by remaining creative, innovative, original, all the things that have been our strength in the past. However it seems the support that would enable this is failing.
nj.com
Some excerpts:
The fate of AT&T Labs mirrors changing fortunes at AT&T, an American icon squeezed by bad investments and bad timing. More importantly, some scientists say, it raises tough questions about the direction of industrial research and America's future as an innovator.
While turmoil at AT&T Labs is a bonanza for places like Columbia University and the federal Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, scientists say it underscores the decline of "blue-sky" research -- science for science's sake -- at Bell Labs in Murray Hill, IBM, General Electric and the Xerox Palo Alto Research Center.
Gone from AT&T Labs, or nearly so, are groups highly regarded for their long-term studies in artificial intelligence and machine learning, network security and cryptography, algorithms and theoretical computer science, and statistics. AT&T research operations in Cambridge, England, and at the University of California, Berkeley are gone, too.
The National Science Foundation says federal support for basic science has waned, as well, since 1980.
"It's an open question where the next big ideas and discoveries will come from," said Paul Saffo of the Institute for the Future. A former adviser to AT&T Labs, Saffo warned that corporate America's "relentless race for short-term value is killing our future ... AT&T Labs was a national crown jewel -- and it's been terribly devalued." |
