One of the challenges facing any physics magazine is to adequately cover the activities and interests of physicists working in industry. For a long time Physics World has followed a policy that the best way to do this is to publish articles written by physicists in industry. Just as we prefer articles about the latest research in a particular field of physics to be written by an authority in that field, we feel that articles about the applications of physics in industry and business should be written by those at the sharp end.
Last year’s reader survey showed that this policy has not always been successful. A significant number of readers wanted more coverage of physics in industry, including applications, electronics and IT, technology transfer and intellectual property rights. But relying on physicists who work in industry to write these articles poses various problems.
One could argue that the ultimate aim of academic researchers is to write up and publish the results of their research. Of course, this is something of a generalization – university researchers also teach undergraduates and train postgraduates, many of whom take up jobs in industry – but in many ways their primary outputs are research papers, conference presentations and, occasionally, magazine articles.
Industry, however, has different priorities, and making a profit comes top of the list. An unfortunate side effect of this all too understandable priority is that physicists in industry often cannot publicize the role of physics and physicists in generating this profit. There are several reasons for this.
First, industrial physicists working close to the marketplace tend to publish less than physicists working on basic research, and when they do publish, it tends to be in quite specialized journals and conference proceedings. This makes the process of identifying interesting industrial ideas much harder. Second, commercial pressures often mean that they cannot justify the time needed to write articles. Even when these two obstacles are overcome, there is the thorny issue of “clearance” and commercial confidentiality: companies simply do not want the competition to know what they are doing.
Two recent episodes – one amusing, one not – illustrate some of the difficulties that Physics World faces when commissioning or writing articles about physics in industry. In the first incident a member of staff contacted the chief physicist at a leading British company. The physicist was happy to talk about his work provided that we went through the press office. However, the press office told our astonished reporter that the company did not employ any physicists.
In the second, more serious, episode we commissioned an article from an industrial physicist about the pressures facing physics-based companies that sell cutting-edge accelerator technology to large research laboratories. The article explained the very real challenge that these companies face when competing for contracts at the research labs. To have a chance of winning a contract to supply equipment for a new accelerator, the companies often have to start R&D before the laboratory has approved funding for the new project. Indeed, the new accelerator might never be funded. Moreover, the long-term nature of the R&D is often at odds with the short-term demands of the company’s shareholders. However, at the last minute – indeed, after the article had been typeset and the proofs faxed to the author – the company changed its mind and forced the author to withdraw the article.
That said, this month on the industrial front we have a candid profile of a physicist turned venture capitalist and an article on
