Bill Buxton writes in a recent issue of BusinessWeek about "The Price of Forgoing Basic Research". His major argument is that return on investment is actually higher on basic research than on applied research, "the return on investment goes down as the R&D budget shifts from basic to applied research". He finishes with writing "..academics should get back to long-term work". Interesting ideas.....I agree..
Interaction Design, HCI, Philosophy of Design, Technology and Society
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I enjoyed that article, thank you for sharing.
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Ok, this might be a dumb question, but applied research, is just research that's being conducted because a company needs or wants to know something very specific? (i.e. company specific- depth first?) Whereas basic research is just general research in an area? (i.e. area specific breadth first?)
I would think that you would need a balance of both types to be successful, in any given area.
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Thanks again for sharing.
Thanks for your comment. I agree with you. As with so many things in life, balance is needed. What is happening today though is that basic research is slowly disappearing since no one want to fund it, which is bad and sad.
Erik