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At Sematech a group of 14 semiconductor manufacturers has been working since last year on joint research, bolstered by a $100 million federal grant. Says Sanford Kane, an IBM official who serves as chairman of Sematech's executive committee: "We've discovered a formula where normally fierce industry competitors can work together with the Government. Fear ((of foreign rivals)) can be a very persuasive motivator." Democratic Presidential Candidate Michael Dukakis apparently thinks the idea could serve older industries as well. On a tour of a specialty-steel plant in Pittsburgh last week, he promised that as President he would create a national steel-technology research center.
Some tinkering with tax policy could encourage more long-term research and development. The elimination of the investment credit in the 1986 tax reform discouraged many large manufacturers from investing in new plant and equipment. Capital spending in the U.S. stagnated in both 1986 and '87, though the Commerce Department expects it to increase nearly 11% this year.
Large corporations can do a lot on their own to become more nimble. One way is to stimulate employee innovation by providing entrepreneurial incentives. Under the IDEA program at Texas Instruments, workers who propose promising ideas are given the time and resources to test them. One result: the development of gallium arsenide, a material with the properties of silicon but able to withstand higher temperatures. Big companies just might find that the more opportunities they offer for employees to live out their entrepreneurial dreams while still on the payroll, the more rewards both will share.