This need is coming at a time when, for the reasons discussed above, the industrial research resources are being stretched by the needs of the new businesses. Industrial research capability has not been increased in pace with the business goals, and in many cases has fallen behind. The major source of the knowledge required to advance the field is the academic world. Financial forces lead American industry to plan within a time frame that is too short to be compatible with scientific discovery. The short term focus of industry is another reason for the enhanced importance of the academic world.
Industry tends to look at the research budget with the time frame of the financial community.
This attitude is not general across the world, for example it may not exist in Japan, but it has certainly affected the American scene. Industrial research is increasingly done in an environment controlled by development schedules. Basic knowledge research can rarely produce needed answers at this pace. Therefore, it will not be practical to initiate a project in the industrial lab to address a given problem. Instead, it will become necessary to seek out an academic researcher who has long term expertise in the particular field, and who therefore has a good chance of finding the needed answers expeditiously.