The Research Delusion
[Image from Dan Kimble]
The last 7 hours was spent writing up a proposal for QoH which is to be submitted to an industry partner. This proposal was being written in consultation with a lab mate of mine who is now part of the work force. We argued and debated pretty much every single thing on the proposal which is great and is exactly what scientific writing is about. It was not until the end of the day that I dawned on me that how little of “actual” research is involved. The whole thing is more about developing a product for industrial use with minimal risk than it was about research. Every effort of mine to include some new aspect, any new aspect, was met with resistance.
Most of the funding our lab gets is from industrial partners and nearly 99% of our research is application based, so I am not in total denial about the need of industrial partner. In the past we at least made a perfunctory dabs at research here and there, but with this new proposal we just gave up on the whole thing. I am certain that this proposal is going to get funded, and I am equally certain that I, in clear conscience, cannot work on it. I understand the need to lower standards for sake of survival, but when is enough enough?
When did the engineering academia stop being the bed of new tech2nology and start being the outsourced R&D wing of product development?
