Great post! Do either you or other commentators here have a sense of how Fraunhofer compares to publicly funded research groups in other countries, like NASA, NIH, etc?
Also, have there been unusually strong success stories from other groups in that reference class?
I do not know much about any other publicly funded research group. It could be possible that only few projects have an impact and that that impact is tremendous (unusually strong success). Whilst that would justify continuing the funding it clearly would not justify sticking with the current system since improvements can be made. I highly encourage further analysis of their operations since I would not be surprised to see similar issues. If someone is interested, do not hesitate to contact me.
I regard Australia’s Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) as having been quite successful. From Wikipedia:
Notable developments by CSIRO have included the invention of atomic absorption spectroscopy, essential components of Wi-Fi technology, development of the first commercially successful polymer banknote, the invention of the insect repellent in Aerogard and the introduction of a series of biological controls into Australia, such as the introduction of myxomatosis and rabbit calicivirus for the control of rabbit populations.
And the items listed in the Innovation section. Still, I’m sure they have had (at least) a few research projects that didn’t go anywhere.
Great post! Do either you or other commentators here have a sense of how Fraunhofer compares to publicly funded research groups in other countries, like NASA, NIH, etc?
Also, have there been unusually strong success stories from other groups in that reference class?
I do not know much about any other publicly funded research group. It could be possible that only few projects have an impact and that that impact is tremendous (unusually strong success). Whilst that would justify continuing the funding it clearly would not justify sticking with the current system since improvements can be made. I highly encourage further analysis of their operations since I would not be surprised to see similar issues. If someone is interested, do not hesitate to contact me.
I regard Australia’s Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) as having been quite successful. From Wikipedia:
And the items listed in the Innovation section. Still, I’m sure they have had (at least) a few research projects that didn’t go anywhere.