(b) Predictive methods for performance in fires-analytical and computer methods are being developed for predicting the structural performance of buildings when exposed to fire. Mathematical models are based on application of fundamental laws of heat and mass transfer. Scaled relationships will be developed to correlate fire-endurance time and the variables of fire exposure, composition (combustibles and moisture), dimensions, and physical arrangement.

5. CONSULTATIVE AND ADVISORY SERVICES

(16% of FY 1967 Division Budget)

The services of the Division staff are available to Federal agencies, the technical community, and the building industry through consultation and conference. To maintain competence of the staff in the development of test methods, and to make this competence available to agencies of the Federal government, a program of testing building products is conducted on a reimbursable basis.

In-house research and contact with outside experts contribute to the formulation of appropriate long-range technical programs for the Division. Consultation with individuals engaged in similar research activities in other Federal agencies, or engaged in the application of technical knowledge to building design and construction, keeps Division personnel informed on current problems in the building industry and on related research being conducted elsewhere. Such consultation also provides a prompt and effective means for disseminating technical information developed at NBS and for introducing new test procedures into standards and codes.

6. OPERATION OF REFERENCE LABORATORIES

(11% of FY 1967 Division Budget)

Since 1929, the Building Research Division, in cooperation with ASTM, has been providing a service for inspection of laboratories which test cement and concrete. Operation of the National Cement and Concrete Reference Laboratory comprises one major element of the Reference Laboratory Program. A team of trained personnel from the Building Research Division visits, at regular intervals, the laboratories which test cement and concrete to check test equipment and calibrations. Also, the NBS visiting teams observe the techniques followed by the staff of the testing laboratories in carrying out the ASTM test procedures Although neither ASTM or NBS "certifies" a testing laboratory, a letter report is furnished to the laboratory stating the observations of the review team, setting forth any deficiencies noted, and providing recommendations and suggestions for their elimination. A similar laboratory inspection program on aggregates, bituminous materials, and soils was established during 1965 in cooperation with the American Association of State Highway Officials.

These two programs exemplify a method whereby nationally recognized standards organizations in cooperation with NBS and a willing industry can join forces to provide test results of nationwide value and accelerate the introduction of new and advanced tests and testing procedures.

7. RETRIEVAL AND DISSEMINATION OF TECHNICAL INFORMATION

(10% of FY 1967 Division Budget)

The flow of NBS-generated building research information to industry, and to the Federal building community, is maintained through several channels:

(a) Publication of information developed at NBS in (1) the NBS Building Science Series (initiated in 1965), (2) regular NBS periodicals, such as its Journal of Research, Technical Notes, and miscellaneous publications. (3) trade and professional society journals and (4) handbooks

(b) Extensive participation in professional society committees, standards committees, seminars, and conferences related to the building sciences

(c) Investigation and analysis of foreign building technology, and support of information classification and retrieval activities of organizations such as the Building Research Advisory Board and the Building Research Institute.

8. BUILDING CODES AND STANDARDS

(5% of FY 1967 Division Budget)

Nearly all of the research conducted by the Building Research Division results in technical information suitable for use by public and private organizations that draft and promulgate standards, codes, and specifications in the field of building construction. Many of the Division staff members hold assignments on committees of national technical and scientific societies, USASI, manufacturers associations, and code groups. In these capacities, the staff members present and interpret available information, recommend test procedures, and remain alert to the needs for new information and methods. At present, 40 members of the Building Research Division staff hold some 235 posts of this nature.

The Building Research Division is increasing its activities in relation to organizations responsible for standards and codes. This increase takes the form of greater participation in committees, direction of a larger share of its technical output to the needs of standards and codes, and the provision of greater staff assistance to the committees in the mechanics of preparation, reproduction and circulation of draft documents. Similar augmentation of effort is planned for the assistance rendered international standards bodies with emphasis on those engaged in activities bearing on international trade.

Research Associate Programs

The Research Associate Program is a means for scientists and engineers in industry to work at the laboratories of the National Bureau of Standards, temporarily, but on a full-time basis. The work is aimed at non-proprietary objectives. The results are published, as is other NBS research. Research Associate programs are planned so that their output will be worthy of professional publication.

Currently, the Building Research Division has eight Research Associate Programs underway. The organizations which sponsor these programs, the principal purpose of their research, and other pertinent information are listed in Table 1. While it will be evident that most of the Division's current Research Associate Programs are sponsored by trade associations, emphasis is now increasing on direct participation of the industrial corporations. Many opportunities now exist within the technical programs of the Division for such company-sponsored Research Associateships.

TABLE 1.-RESEARCH-ASSOCIATE PROGRAMS IN THE BUILDING RESEARCH DIVISION

Program

Development of laboratory exposure and test
methods to measure, and predict, the long-term
durability of asphalt roofing assemblies and the
materials from which they are made.
Measurement of the properties of concrete as
affected by the presence of calcium chloride.
Obtain exposure-test data on new enamel types
and develop reliable laboratory tests that will
predict the weathering behavior of new enamels.
Elucidate those environmental factors which deter-
mine the weatherability of plastics used in build-
ing, reduce the time scale required for evaluation,
and develop improved methods of evaluating and
predicting weatherability of plastics.
Investigate how the geometry of an enclosure
influences and sets the gas flow pattern generated
by a fire.

To develop test methods that will measure the
performances of conventional masonry wall
structures (model and full-scale) under normal
use conditions and when subjected to either
symmetrical or unsymmetrical fire exposure.
To study the mechanism of adhesion of porcelain
enamel to aluminum and, ultimately, to develop
serviceability tests for this architectural com-
posite.

To develop test methods that will measure the
performance of masonry wall systems made with
organic-inorganic mortars.

BUILDING RESEARCH DIVISION ADMINISTRATIVE STAFF

EXHIBIT 241

PATTERNS AND PROBLEMS OF TECHNICAL INNOVATION IN AMERICAN INDUSTRY Report to National Science Foundation, September, 1963 (C-65344)

INTRODUCTION

The following report is submitted to the National Science Foundation in accordance with the Arthur D. Little, Inc. proposal of December 10, 1962 later embodied in contract number 65344. This proposal outlined a pilot study of problems of technical innovation which would draw on the experience of Arthur D. Little, Inc. in specific U.S. industries. The goals of the program were described as follows:

One of ADL's main resources for work on these problems is its experience in recent decades, with hundreds of specific cases involving different aspects of technical innovation. This work has covered all major industrial areas.

It has been in the nature of product and process development, research, research planning, and the conversion of research results to new products. Most significantly for this study, it includes, in the last 15 years, our 100 Technical Audits-that is, work with companies on problems in building and using research and development capabilities.

What we propose here is:

1. To use this experience, as it exists in case files and in the knowledge of ADL staff members, to study, in five industrial areas, the process by which inventions and discovery occur and are used.

2. To identify significant problems and obstacles in this process.

3. To study a variety of institutions which embody ways of stimulating and supporting technical innovation, and to draw out of this study implications for change leading to more effective use of our technical

resources.

4. To indicate directions for more extensive studies of this kind in the future.

Five industrial areas were chosen :

A. Textiles.-Emphasis is on cloth and garment manufacturers, rather than on producers of fiber, yarn, textile chemicals, textile machinery, and the like. B. Machine Tools.-Industrial production machinery is meant here. This segment of industry is both critical to economic growth, and, at present, under severe threat from foreign manufacturers.

C. Construction.-Industrial, commercial, and residential building. We propose to concentrate on manufacturers of building materials and components in their relation to building.

D. Appliances.-White goods and electrical appliances, for consumer use. E. Semi-conductors.—An industry which has risen quickly, on the basis of recent innovation. These industries were to be studied in the light of questions that included the following:

(1) What are the dominant patterns of innovation in these industries? What are the special features of innovation that are taken up, with regard to degree of technical novelty, time span required for adoption, etc.? From what part of the organization or from what points outside the organization do new products tend to come? (Do they tend to come, for instance, from small companies which are then incorporated in larger ones; from individual inventors; from internal research and development resources?)

We will examine whether problems and blocks in technical innovation can be related, on the one hand, to processes and conditions internal to a company or, on the other hand, to the environment in which the company operates.

(2) Are there internal problems of technical innovation characteristic of each of these industries? What problems arise as a result of the way in which R & D is organized in a company and viewed by key individuals in such areas as management, marketing, and production? How do these relationships affect the innovative process?

(3) What emerges from these case studies with respect to the role of:
(a) The chief characteristics of the industry in which a company
operates?

(b) The form of competition in the industry? (Whether, for example, competition is concentrated among few giant companies or spread over many smaller ones.)

(c) The industry's relation to its market outlets?

(d) The degree to which the industry is competitive with other industries? (As the leather industry, to take one instance, is competitive with manufacturers of plastic sheet.)

(e) The way in which the industry has traditionally used the patent system?

(f) The degree to which the industry is subject to foreign competition, or is protected by tariff regulations?

Finally, these further steps were to be taken:

In addition to examining these five industries, we will also examine a number of institutions whose practices may be instructive for new ways of thinking about special models for technical innovation within industry and government. These institutions include:

1. The U.S. Department of Agriculture, particularly the activities of its extension service in forwarding innovations in agriculture.

2. Wartime research and development organizations such as OSRD. 3. The work of industrial associations.

4. Efforts of certain foreign governments to stimulate and support technical innovations.

These institutions will be studied primarily on the basis of available literature, together with the experience of ADL staff members who have been associated with them. A small number of interviews will be conducted with individuals who are playing, or have played major roles in them.

III. We will attempt to draw out of the material referred to . . . above, what indications we can for possible new ways of coping with problems of technical innovation so as to make more effective use of technical resource. IV. On the basis of this work, we will indicate directions of more extensive study, pertaining to patterns of innovation in these and other industrial areas, problems of technical innovation, and institutions for coping with these problems.

The study of patterns and problems of innovation in each of the industrial areas was assigned to an ADL staff member familiar with the industry who used as material his own experience with the industry, case histories from ADL's file, and selected interviews with individuals knowledgeable in the industry. Study of the textile industry was assigned to Mr. Dan Singer; building and construction to Dr. Harold Webber and Mr. William Hearne; the machine tool industry to Dr. Raymond Hainer and Dr. Donald Schon; the semiconductor industry to Dr. Gunther Rudenberg; and the appliance industry to Dr. Schon.

CHOICE OF INDUSTRIAL AREAS

It soon became apparent that one of the central problems of the study would have to do with the question, "What is an industry?". We are accustomed to speak of the "textile" and "machine tool" industries, for example, as though they were fairly well-defined areas which remain substantially the same from year to year so many companies which share a common set of functions and at least an overlapping family of products and processes. They are defined in this fashion by the Standard Industrial Classification manual and by the industrial associations themselves. Nevertheless, each of the industries studied turned out to be complex, ill-defined and shifting. It is not even clear that textiles, building and construction, and semi-conductors are "industries" in the same sense. In textiles, for example,

-Several different kinds of companies-mills, fiber producers, machinery producers, garment manufacturers-are all more or less associated with the industry.

-Many companies traditionally associated with the industry have been moving out of it, and other companies (notably from the chemical industry) have been moving in.

-It becomes difficult to identify the industry as a set of companies, since many traditionally non-textile companies have been establishing textile divisions and traditionally textile companies have been establishing nontextile divisions.

-The "industry" appears to be quite a different set of companies if companies filling textile functions (even though the products are paper- or plasticbased) are included.

The boundaries and the nature of the industry have been in process of change. This change, moreover, turns out to be essential to innovations in the industry. In studying each industry, we began with traditional definitions to be found in the SIC or in industry association charters; sometimes, as in the case of building and construction, we limited the field in an arbitrary fashion for the sake of manageable subject-matter. Then, as the inquiry required it, we modified these first definitions. In most cases, we had to distinguish between traditional and functional views of the industry-a distinction which will be elaborated in the following sections.

While each of these sections represents a pilot study, the five areas have not been studied in equal depth. Our primary emphasis has been on textiles, machine tools, and building and construction. Applicances and semi-conductors have been taken only far enough to show contrasting patterns and problems of innovation