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Subject:

Conference in Mulhouse: call for papers

From:

Stephanie Jenkins <[log in to unmask]>

Reply-To:

Stephanie Jenkins <[log in to unmask]>

Date:

Mon, 29 Nov 2004 11:16:43 +0000

Content-Type:

text/plain

Parts/Attachments:

Parts/Attachments

text/plain (163 lines)

Between workshop and laboratory:
Research and innovation in the electrical industry since the mid-nineteenth 
century

Mulhouse, 8-9 December 2005


Call for papers

It is a shared assumption among historians of technology and economic 
historians alike that during the first half of the twentieth century the 
mainsprings of innovation shifted from an activity pursued by a few highly 
creative individuals, most of them working as independent inventors, to one 
carried out by teams of specialists operating within industry, in 
structures specifically devoted to research.

In electrical technology, as in other fields, the transition was gradual 
and it has continued to the present day. Before 1914, in-house laboratories 
were still few in number, and their work was devoted not to the pursuit of 
novelty, but rather to routine tasks such as  testing and quality control. 
Inventors, for their part, continued to play a significant role until well 
after the first world war, either preserving an independent status or 
working within or in association with firms. But in the course of the 
twentieth century innovation emanated increasingly from other sources as 
well. Often major breakthroughs were conceived and hatched by highly 
innovative small firms whose patents were later purchased by larger and 
more established companies, or assimilated by them through a process of 
merger. Important contributions also came from public research 
institutions, as well as the research laboratories of engineering and 
science departments in higher education.

This said, students of innovation and the history of the origins and 
development of organizational structures for R&D concur that by the eve of 
the second world war the mainstream of technological change came from 
industry. Laboratories were established in all the main electrical 
engineering firms, and the number of highly qualified personnel working 
within those structures increased steadily. The underlying assumption was 
that research was most effectively pursued within industry itself. American 
firms, especially large corporations, were especially prompt in recognizing 
the importance of the contributions emanating from in-house research, and 
they took the lead in this process; in fact, the early creation and growth 
of investment in such structures is regarded as one of the main factors in 
the commercial success of the American electrical industry. Typical 
historical studies in this vein are those by David C. Mowery and Nathan 
Rosenberg. Without detracting from the importance of an involvement in 
research activity of a fundamental character, this literature has also laid 
great emphasis on the D side of the R&D binomial: the main contribution of 
the research done within industry-based laboratories, it is argued, 
consists of a stream of evolutionary innovations, in the adaptation of 
existing technologies to new applications and in the quest for quality and 
effectiveness as well as cost reduction.

Yet, whether the focus is on major, radical departures or on incremental 
change, the attention of scholars of innovation and of R&D tends to focus 
on the laboratory as the locus of technological innovation. Accordingly, 
industrial research is taken to mean primarily an activity carried out in 
dedicated physical spaces, and the laboratories of the most successful 
companies are usually favoured both for study and as the bench-mark for the 
assessment of the effectiveness of any form of innovative work.

However, innovation - radical or incremental - did not necessarily emerge 
from departments designated as laboratories. In fact, many of the advances 
in electrical technology that took place before the first world war did not 
originate from settings that we could identify as devoted to research.  And 
subsequently ,when research began to acquire a more prominent role within 
industrial establishments, the way in which it was organised and performed, 
its physical and institutional location, its philosophy and its practice, 
varied considerably as a result of the particular circumstances of the 
firms in which it was carried out. Its characteristics depended on a 
variety of factors: among them, managerial cultures, economic and 
geographical settings, patenting strategies, and the levels of relevant 
technological knowledge and know-how. If we want to explore the process by 
which such an extraordinary qualitative and quantitative growth was 
achieved, we have to adopt a broader, more flexible interpretation of the 
term research and of the way in which it was carried out.

----------------------------

Conference themes

The goal of the conference is to explore the variety of ways in which 
innovative activities were carried out in the electrical industry from its 
pioneering phase in the mid-nineteenth century to the present. While the 
electrical industry (including electro-metallurgy, electro-chemistry, and 
the applications of electronics) will provide the main focus, case studies 
from other industrial sectors will be considered in so far as they provide 
relevant terms of comparison.

Contributions drawing on current studies of in-house research laboratories, 
especially in European and European-based firms, will be welcomed. So will 
papers on interactions between industry and public or independent private 
laboratories. We especially invite presentations about work carried out at 
workshop level, in close connection with production.
Among the questions that we hope will be addressed are the following:

-  To what extent did the organization of research depend on particular 
stages in the development of a new technology?

-  How was innovation pursued in firms where engineering departments alone 
provided the environment for the formulation of production guidelines?

-  If we assume that the adaptation and adjustment of existing technologies 
require some form of engagement in research, how was this engagement 
pursued in firms that did not invest significantly in laboratories? Is it 
possible to identify firm-specific or location-dependent approaches to 
innovation? If so, who were the agents involved?

-  What do we know about the relations between industry and public and/or 
academic laboratories where in-house laboratories did not provide the 
interface?

-  Where laboratories were set up, to what extent did they reflect the 
specific approaches to innovation of the firms to which they belonged?

In the selection of papers, balance will be sought between themes and 
between the various periods from c. 1850 to the end of the twentieth century.

----------------------------

Organization

The meeting, extending over two days, will be arranged in sessions of three 
or four papers each. Ample time will be allocated for the discussion, which 
will be based on pre-circulated papers. It is one of the special aims of 
the meeting to encourage the participation of post-doctoral researchers and 
junior scholars.

Offers of papers should take the form of short abstracts of approximately 
300 words, in either French or English. These should be accompanied by a 
short cv, including information on current research projects or 
publications on the theme of the conference. The abstracts and accompanying 
information should be sent before 25 February 2005 (using any version of 
Microsoft Word) to:

Yves Bouvier
Chargé de mission Historie
Fondation EDF
9 avenue Percier
75008 Paris

----------------------------

Scientific Committee

Robert Fox      University of Oxford
Anna Guagnini   Università di Bologna
Pascal Griset   Université de Paris Sorbonne - Paris IV (CRHI)
Muriel Le Roux  Chargée de recherche, CNRS (IHMC)
Yves Bouvier    Chargé de mission Histoire, Fondation EDF
François Caron  Président du Comité d'Histoire de l'Électricité de la 
Fondation EDF, Professeur émérite de l'Université Paris Sorbonne - Paris IV.
Dominique Barjot        Université de Paris Sorbonne - Paris IV
Alain Beltran   Directeur de Recherche, CNRS (IHTP)
Pierre Fluck    Université de Haute-Alsace
Pierre Lamard   Université technologique de Belfort-Montbéliard,
Florence Ott    Directrice du CERARE (Centre Rhénan d'Archives et de 
Recherches Economiques)
Serge Paquier   Université de Genève
Girolamo Ramunni        Université Lyon Lumière - Lyon 2
Denis Varaschin Université d'Artois
Claude Welty    Directeur du Musée EDF Electropolis
Ulrich Wengenroth       Technische Universität, München

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