Free trade in ideas.

Research and development (R&D) in the forest products industry, or the lack of it, has had considerable discussion in this publication and other venues. Obviously, R&D is the lifeblood of any industry. Who does it, and how it happens is changing. The traditional model involves tightly controlled and highly secretive R&D within individual companies with ideas rarely--if ever--shared with outsiders.

A new model may now be emerging, and the forest products industry is a prime candidate to use it. A column by Darrell Rigby and Christopher Zook, "The Marketplace of Ideas," in the December 3, 2002, Wall Street Journal, describes this new model as "free trade in the marketplace for new ideas." The idea is that the R&D projects of a company are offered to other companies under licensing arrangements or other means if not used internally. Another scenario has competitors jointly developing technology, such as Ford and General Motors announcing that they are working on a fuel-efficient automatic transmission to match European technology.

"In essence, [in the marketplace of ideas] a company gets lower cost, higher quality ideas from the best sources in the world, allowing it to refocus its own innovation resources where it has clear competitive advantages," the article says. "With the right people in place to recognize beneficial trade-offs, the company is able to 'export' ideas that other businesses could put to better use."

This concept makes sense for financially stressed industries, including ours. A chorus of voices has rightly been warning that a dearth of R&D spending will inhibit new product development and technical advances in the forest products industry. Perhaps the time is correct to start "trading" in new ideas and looking outside the industry for R&D ideas that may lead to the next breakthrough, high-margin product.

The industry has already taken a step in this direction through Agenda 2020 and the ideas developed at the Technology Summit. Solutions! had the privilege of publishing an extraordinary series of articles from the Technology Summit. Each outlined the technology opportunities existing in different areas of the forest products industry and the gaps that must be overcome before commercial development. (A book is available from TAPPI PRESS summarizing the findings.) Several associations sponsored the Technology Summit. It is a great example of the role associations can play in jump-starting the marketplace of ideas. This kind of "pre-competitive" R&D is then useful for individual companies to focus their own R&D programs. As Jim Thompson has rightly noted in his "Spotlight" column in Solution!, however, this type of R&D is not sufficient. Companies must still develop propriety products that add value to their bottom line.

We have heard many times that we must be willing to east off old ways of doing business and embrace new ones as we move into the uncharted economic future. This may be a "new way."

ALAN ROOKS Editorial Director

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