A window on the world of research & development
10/2/2000
What is happening in the research and development community? R&D Magazine has covered the subject for more than 40 years and, like most trade publications, has transferred a sampling of its knowledge to the Web. The online version includes selected articles from the print magazine, plus Web exclusives and an archive that goes back to April 1999. Some of the information here is highly focused and of interest only to specific audiences. ("Focus on Vacuum/Thin Films"; "Research Innovation in Scotland," and so on.) There is also a gap between the time articles appear in print and when they go online. But there is plenty here to give the more casual observer insight into the state of R&D. The annual R&D 100 Awards, for example, highlight "the most technologically significant new products and processes of the year." (Past winners include the digital wristwatch, antilock brakes, the automated teller machine, the liquid crystal display, the halogen lamp, and the fax machine.) Other special features (under Exclusives) include reports on independent R&D organizations and "R&D in the New Millennium." Hardcore R&D professionals will find the site a supplement to, not a replacement for, the print magazine. But others will find it a good window on practices and activities in R&D.