I approach this interesting and worthwhile topic from the perspective of someone focused primarily on helping universities to serve society in the best ways possible. There are other ways of considering the matter (naturally enough, from either the perspective of better government or that of benefits to industry), but I believe that each is very likely to reach similar conclusions and to create similar statements of principle for success. I also write optimistically, in the firm belief that productive and mutually beneficial research and development^* relationships between government, industry, and universities can be developed and maintained, and that when they are developed well, they create broad economic, social, educational, and health benefits.

The benefits of productive relationships between the parties do not immediately accrue to universities, although universities may receive some benefits over time. Instead, the benefits fall primarily to the society that sustains the overall process and to the entrepreneurial individuals or groups who succeed in creating new business enterprises. If the relationships are appropriately structured, those benefits can substantially outweigh the costs.

As I see it, the ground rules for success in creating such beneficial relationships are not complex but in some cases may at first appear counterintuitive. However, many societies have now clearly shown that establishing and maintaining a strong set of enduring relationships, and therefore ensuring continuing success, is definitely achievable. This chapter will begin with a brief historical view of the development of productive relationships in research and development in two countries, Germany and the United States, and will then describe some ground rules that are likely to ensure success in the present day and near future.

Universities, Government, and Industry: Historical Beginnings in Prussia

Before the nineteenth century, universities in Europe and elsewhere principally functioned as communities of scholars devoted to personal intellectual development. University research, when it occurred, focused largely on the testing and refinement of ideas. Universities had, up to that point, played very little direct role in the creation or evolution of agriculture, mining, or industry. They were not expected to do so. That changed markedly, beginning in the early 1800s.

Prussia’s early defeats in the Napoleonic Wars led to a desire to improve government, education, and industrialization within a society that was both relatively affluent, because of agriculture, and relatively well organized. In 1809, Prussia’s Minister of Education, Wilhelm von Humboldt, initiated comprehensive educational reforms and in 1810 established Berlin University with the support of the King of Prussia. Humboldt had strong and, as it turned out, highly influential personal philosophies regarding education. He considered that university education should be centered on the discovery of knowledge—by students as well as by professors—something that was at that time a revolutionary concept. He stated as his ideal, “The university teacher is thus no longer a teacher and the student is no longer a pupil. Instead the student conducts research on his own behalf and the professor supervises his research and supports him in it.”^* This strong focus on research was a profound change from the accepted model and led to the development of what are now called research-intensive universities.

In large part, because of the effects on industrial and social development to be described later, the new paradigm proved to be influential first in Prussia, then elsewhere in Germany, and then in other countries. At about the same time, Wilhelm’s brother, Alexander von Humboldt, pioneered, in many senses, quantitative scientific methodology in several fields. This advancement gave valuable substance to his brother Wilhelm’s educational and research philosophies.

Berlin University,^† and then others, added the relatively new fields of physics, chemistry, and biology. Professors in those disciplines and others were expected to be active in research, were required to educate and train both undergraduate and graduate students in research methodology, and were empowered both with financial support for their research and with a high degree of freedom of inquiry. The universities created both research-capable individuals and new knowledge. These products (the creatively trained people and the new intellectual property) became available to a society that, in the case of Prussia, was ready to adopt them in the development of new business enterprises, and that had the will and ability to invest in risk enterprises.

The result, within only a few decades, was not only the creation of new industries within Prussia and then in other societies that followed Prussia’s example, but also the creation of a vibrant diversity within such new industries. Foremost among these were the development and industrial manufacture of chemicals, dyes, and pharmaceuticals. Similar advances occurred in precision manufacturing, mining, and metallurgy. A high level of capability and international competitiveness in aviation, weapons production, and automotive manufacturing followed. The strength of these areas of the German economy has continued since that time.

Refinement and Broad Adoption: the United States

Other European countries began to follow the German example, but it was the vibrant, creative, and rapidly developing United States of America that most rapidly adopted the new German model and that has maintained and refined it ever since. Although many other countries now work to emulate what the United States has achieved, it is instructive to consider the key elements that have lead to this nation’s success.

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