Abstract
For most of the years since World War II , proponents for various points of view concerning the merits of defence spending in general , and defence R&D spending in particular, have debated over the significance of the collateral benefits of defence R&D to the civilian sector (variously characterised as either “spin-off” or “trickle-down” depending on the point of view of the speaker(1) . Some have argued that spin-offs from defence R&D have had a major influence in spawning new industries and giving the United States substantial advantages in international competition for civilian goods. Others have maintained that relative to the large resources expended on defence R&D, the contribution to civilian industry is negligible and perhaps in some ways even negative. Dr. Lewis M. Branscomb, former Vice President and Chief Scientist for IBM, has stated that companies outside the defence sector generally discount the spin-offs of defence research and referred to the process as “drip-off”(2) . Dr . Richard Morse, an entrepreneur and former defence R&D official has said: “I am concerned with the aerospace and defence sector and its adverse effect on our economy ... Technical people who know only the aerospace and defence industry become almost unemployable in the commercial sector. They do not know commercial product design, consumer styling, low-cost manufacturer, or international marketing. They have none of the characteristics needed to take on the Japanese ...”(3)
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Flax, A.H. (1988). Interdiffusion of Military and Civil Technologies in the United States of America. In: Gummett, P., Reppy, J. (eds) The Relations between Defence and Civil Technologies. NATO ASI Series, vol 46. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-015-7803-5_8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-015-7803-5_8
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