Engines of Tomorrow: How the World's Best Companies are Using Their Research Labs to Win the Future

THE FUTURE'S SECRET WEAPON From the author of "The Invention That Changed the World" comes this fascinating, in-depth look at the technological innovations and cutting-edge research that are paving the way to increased economic growth and prosperity now and for decades to come. In "Engines of Tomorrow," Robert Buderi takes us into some of America's most successful companies -- as well as top European and Japanese competitors -- and describes in compelling, accessible detail their groundbreaking work in science, technology, and the management of innovation. Focusing on the fast-paced areas of communications, computers, and electronics, he profiles leading thinkers on these subjects and explores the vital role of research in determining business strategies, including: Why IBM's eight labs around the world loom large in Lou Gerstner's plan to achieve consistent double-digit growth Why Xerox's famed Palo Alto Research Center has sent anthropologists into the field and is beefing up the social sciences to help revive the company's lagging fortunes How the October 2000 federal court decision to break Microsoft in two will affect ten-year-old Microsoft Research, the company's high-octane internal lab