The Column - August 2007 - (Page 14)

Zosimus The Column www.thecolumn.eu.com August 2007 Time To Re-Think Outsourcing? I recently read a report on how companies are now outsourcing their R&D. When I first read the article I was horrified at the thought of large companies no longer doing R&D. You may have read my comments about outsourcing analytical services in a previous column and I believed then, and still do, that analytical services should be the centre of any organization, it is the core business and is the core to understanding the products of a company. However, after calming down, I had a second read and actually started to re-think things. Thinking more and more about this move in a rational sense I came to the conclusion that it could be a positive and interesting move as it could lead to a more open R&D society where results are more freely available. My mind was changed when I started to think about the R&D performed by large companies way back in the 70s and 80s. In particular BP, Shell, ICI and Unilever. All of these companies invested heavily in separation science and chromatographic research. Their research laboratories were commonly known as industrial universities with the likes of Desty at BP, Adlard at Shell and Pethica at Unilever being the principle scientists. But what came out of these industrial universities? Was the research disseminated to the wider audience? I think it was, and maybe still is, maintained inside these organizations. The research performed in the 70s at BP, Shell and so on, was no doubt world class but was it ever passed on? I have tried to do a literature search, but this is now very difficult for papers published in the 70s as many are not on the electronic databases and many libraries have removed paper journals. I have been unable to find papers on the substantial amount of research performed. From the company that I used to work for I know the majority of their real research, even though it was not company confidential, was never published. I think my views are supported when I hear people saying: “It’s all been done before.” But how is a new scientist supposed to know that when the work was never published or cannot be found on any database? The new move to outsource R&D could possibly overcome this and provide a two-way information highway for companies to obtain a wide information and knowledge base. Author: Zosimus E-mail: zosimus@thecolumn.eu.com Also the outsourcing company may gain more information so that they can use it in future projects to move the science forward. Outsourcing should create more jobs and more opportunities and spread more technology out to the wider community. So maybe outsourcing R&D, although under strict confidentially, will help train more people and broaden our total R&D understanding. It will expose more scientists to the research of companies and will also provide companies with a far broader knowledge base. This two-way process must in turn start more people thinking about new ideas and so enhance our total research understanding. However, this can only work if analytical science remains inside the initiating company. 14 http://www.thecolumn.eu.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of The Column - August 2007

Contents
News
The Unsweet Smell of Success
Time to Rethink Outsourcing?
Market Trends and Analysis
Hyphenated Techniques in Ion Chromatography
Tips & Tricks: GPC/SEC

The Column - August 2007