NASA/DoD Aerospace Knowledge Diffusion Research Project, Paper Nine: Information Intermediaries and the Transfer of Aerospace Scientific and Technical Information (STI): A Report from the Field

Abstract

In recent years there has been an increasing degree of attention given to issues of the generation, management, and use of scientific and technical information. In part this attention can be attributed simply to the ever-increasing volume of data emerging from the nation's laboratories, libraries, and field sites, and to the amount of public and private resources going in to these facilities. In part, it results from a simultaneously growing uneasy feeling that we are failing to make the best use of this rapidly developing and changing resource. As we contemplate the increasing disadvantages experienced by American manufacturers in field after field of both low and high technology development, we are forced to ask ourselves why we seem to be unable to leverage our scientific expertise into equally significant economic payoffs. There is no shortage of explanations--or prescriptions--to be offered. Those of an economic bent tend to stress the role of tax incentives, of regulatory influence and uncertainty, and problems associated with capital formation and deployment. Those of a managerial turn of mind criticize the emphasis in American companies on short-term performance and limited financial planning criteria. Some look to political solutions, such as the creation of 'enterprise zones' or subsidies for small high-technology businesses.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Apr 09, 1991
Accession Number
ADA252561

Entities

People

  • J. D. Eveland
  • Thomas E. Pinelli

Organizations

  • Langley Research Center

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Materials and Manufacturing Processes
  • Space

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Boundaries
  • Cognition
  • Commerce
  • Corporations
  • Databases
  • Diffusion
  • Economic Development
  • Engineers
  • Governments
  • Information Exchange
  • Information Systems
  • Information Transfer
  • Personnel Management
  • Psychology
  • Scientists
  • Surveys
  • Technology Transfer

Readers

  • Defense Technology Research and Development.
  • Economics

Technology Areas

  • Space