secondary education and the transfer of technology is the need for the rapid revision and
updating of the curriculum.
I should also Iike to emphasize the role of technical education and the neOO to
provide an adequate number of technicians if new technology is to be successfully
introduced. One of the unfortu nate consequences of the neg lect of technical ed ucat ion is
the development of what has been called the "inverted pyramid", a sítuatíon in which the
radio of engineers and technologists to technícians ís too high. Technology transfer
requires the advice and supervísion of professional engíneers, but the need for technicians
and supporting manpower is €Ven greater.
Let me turn to the universities. The traditional mission of a university is, as Ashby
has said,7 to educate "a selected cohort of people to serve society"; and in the context of
technology transfer this service amounts to contributíng to the solution of the problems
previously outlined. However, as Alvin Weinberg, the Director of Oak Ridge Laboratory
has said,s "These problems are not generatOO within a single intellectual discipline, their
resolution is not to be found within a single discipline". He adds that "In societ
y
the
non-specialist and synthesiser is'king". On the other hand, Weinberg has pointed out that
"In the university the specialist and analyst is king". This is true enough and the
university researcher does tend to concentrate his efforts on basic science with 1 ittle or no
concern for the practical application of any results which may follow.
Certainty, mere volumen of scientifíc research does not contribute much to industrial
and technological development unless the means exist for the effective exploitation of the
results of the research. In Britain this loo to the formation of the National Research
Development Corporation, a Government-backed organization which "promotes the
adoptionby industry of neW productsand processes invented in governtnent laboratories,
universities and elsewhere, advancing rroney where necessary to bring them to a
commercially viable stage".9 In Australia, the Australian Innovation Corporation Limited
was establishOO in
1970.
This Corporation is owned by Australian companies and
institutions. It is profit-oriented, and it aíms, arnong other thíngs, to promote the
industrial utilization of scientificand technical developments.
10
Such Corporations fulfil an extremely useful role, but they are to some extent
peripheral. The real problem is OOucational, the neOO to ensure that management staff are
properly informOO and that there is adequate dialogue between university and
government scientistswith industrialists.
The university is certainly involved in this beca use management staft are
increasingly drawn from the ranks of university graduates. There is therefore a neOO for
universities to provide their students both in the humanities and sciences, with a
background relevant to the technological problems encounterOO by rnanagement. The
development of modern technology and business methods is making increasiflJ calls on
mÚltidisciplinary skills. The time when clear-out divisions between.eflJineers, salesmen
and rnanagement existed is passing, and management-technologists who combine a
knowledge ot engineering principies, industrial economics, behavioural science, and
management information systems are now called foro This change needs to be reflected in
7
a
9
10
E. Ashby, Adapting Universities to a Technological Society, Jossey-Bass, San Francisco, 1974,
158 pp., P. 11 3.
A. Weinberg in Science and the University (Ed. B.R. Keeman), Columbia U.P.. 1966.
Inventions for Industry, February 1970; see also Annual Reports of National Research
Development Corporation, H,M. Stationery Office.
Australian Innovation Corporation Limited, 5th Annual Report, 1974.
31
