Paths of Innovation

"The authors focus on three areas of innovation that have dominated American technology in this century: the internal combustion engine, electricity/electronics, and chemistry. These three clusters of innovation are also highly research-intensive, allowing Mowery and Rosenberg to explore the importance of both "science" and technological innovation and improvement in realizing the economic consequences of technological advances. The cases of chemicals and the internal combustion engine also offer a lesson in the influence of geography and available resources on technological development." "Throughout their book, Mowery and Rosenberg demonstrate that the simultaneous emergence of new engineering and applied science disciplines in the universities in tandem with growth in the R & D industry and scientific research has been a primary factor in the rapid rate of technological change."--Jacket.