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.
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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.
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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
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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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