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The internationalization of science in a commercial context: research and development by overseas multinationals in Britain before the mid-1970s

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 May 2007

SALLY M. HORROCKS
Affiliation:
School of Historical Studies, University of Leicester, Leicester LE1 7RH, UK. Email: [email protected].

Abstract

The establishment of research and development (R & D) laboratories by the UK affiliates of overseas-controlled firms was a feature of the R & D landscape throughout the twentieth century and had its origins even earlier. From their foundation they served as sites for international scientific and technological collaboration and exchange. Here I draw on both quantitative and qualitative evidence to examine the research and development activities of overseas multinational enterprises in the UK. This activity has a longer history than most previous commentators have suggested. The integration of at least some R & D facilities into international research networks was already a feature during the inter-war years. This became far more common after the early 1960s, as firms worked hard to integrate previously independent laboratories into coordinated research organizations. Far from being a ‘new collaborative mode’ in the late twentieth century, cross-border networks of industrial laboratories have long contributed to the internationalization of science.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
© 2007 British Society for the History of Science

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Footnotes

I would like to thank participants in conferences organized by the Association of Business Historians, the European Business History Association and the British Society for the History of Science. I would also like to thank Andrew Godley and an anonymous referee for this journal for their comments on earlier drafts of this paper. Dr J. Morice facilitated access to materials held by Philips Research Laboratory, Redhill.