(Research Misled.) Pierre Piganiol, Editions Larousse. Pals, 1987 288 pp. Fr 69
The Creativity of French research is on the decline. State-supported research is too isolated from industry, too centralized and often “functionnalized,” to the extent that researchers are discouraged from physical as well as intellectual mobility. The most prestigious engineering schools have not given enough importance to research, but often serve as stepladders for students to reach the exalted status of technical adminstrators. By then, however, most are lost to individual research and innovation. University administrators tend to he authoritarian, and the traditional mistrust in “profit” and “business” is still rampant. Moreover, state-supported research has been subjected in recent years to the inconsistent whims of political leaders. The consequence of all this is a technological lag, hence a loss of competitiveness of French industry.
Few people are in a better position to offer this diagnosis than chemist Pierre Piganiol, ...
