er ownership of the patents - and the subsequent financial rewards - to the employer. This has always been a contentious issue between scientist and corporation, and it is no coincidence that many of the innovators left their parent companies soon after making their discoveries in an attempt to form their own businesses and thus profit from their work. Commercially successful innovation must be accepted as a long-term process that requires a variety of total commitments from organizations that hope to capitalize from it. Consider the time spent by numerous researchers at Bell Labs in investigating the photovoltaic effect in silicon until the three inventors produced a working transistor, then add the years that passed before others elsewhere began to find important applications for the device. Theodore Maiman took approximately two years to develop the first working laser after Townes and Schawlow had published their breakthrough paper on the subject, but finding commercial uses for that and the many other types of lasers that followed is an ongoing process that seems destined to produce even more important applications in the years ahead.Innovators at 3M labored for eleven full years before they could produce any kind of commercial product out of the mysterious and risky fluorochemistry project the company had started in 1945. As for Sandoz and Merck, the time needed to discover a miracle drug is often measured in decades, and the firm that pays for the research cannot expect to begin recouping its investment until long after the breakthrough is achieved. In every instance, the potential rewards of innovation must be carefully weighed against the time, expense, and possible failure of the entire process. There are many innovative wonders on and beyond the horizon that will make our futures better because of imagination, dedication, and expertise of individuals and organizations all over the glove. A rededication to the can-do spirit...
