During the early part of the 20th century a number of well-known industry stalwarts had huge investments in “basic” research within their corporate research portfolio. Examples are Xerox, AT&T, DuPont, Eastman Kodak etc. This led to handsome rewards towards their “applied” research as well, and many Nobel laureates and novel ideas originated there. However, the current trend is a total disinvestment in “basic” research at the expense of “applied” research within the industry. Not only has this made the United Staes less competitive, but also during these lean economic times the reliance on the Universities to carry out this burden has provided unique challenges to the academic community. Short-sighted, bottom-line mentality will make the US industries less innovative and increasingly cede their advantages to foreign competitors. I would like to make the point that this is a disturbing trend and more reflective conversations among the industry, government and academic communities are necessary to reverse this trend.

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