Research, particularly on the "discovery" end of the R&D spectrum, is complex and easily misunderstood. Scientific advance doesn't always precede, it often follows, engineering advance. Answering questions isn't always the goal, finding questions often is. We don't always seek to strengthen conventional wisdom, sometimes we seek to surprise it. What if we could rethink research so that its nurturing, through policy and management, harmonizes with its nature?

Venkatesh Narayanamurti is Benjamin Peirce Professor of Technology and Public Policy, Engineering and Applied Sciences, and Physics Emeritus at Harvard University. He was formerly: Director of the Science, Technology and Public Policy Program at the Harvard Kennedy School (2009-2015); John L. Armstrong Professor and Founding Dean of the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, and Professor of Physics and Dean of Physical Sciences at Harvard (1998-2009); Dean of the UCSB College of Engineering (1992-1998); VP of Research at Sandia National Laboratories (1987-1992); and researcher then Director of the Solid State Electronics Research Laboratory at Bell Labs (1968-1987). He is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and an elected member of the U.S National Academy of Engineering, of the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences and of the World Academy of Sciences. He is also co-author, with Professor Tolu Odumosu (James Madison University), of Cycles of Invention and Discovery (Harvard University Press, 2016).

Birck Nanotechnology Center

The Genesis of Technoscientific Revolutions

Rethinking the Nature and Nurture of Research

Venkatesh Narayanamurti, Jeffrey Y. Tsao
Harvard University Press
ISBN 9780674251854

Research powers innovation and technoscientific advance, but it is due for a rethink, one consistent with its deeply holistic nature, requiring deeply human nurturing.

Research is a deeply human endeavor that must be nurtured to achieve its full potential. As with tending a garden, care must be taken to organize, plant, feed, and weed—and the manner in which this nurturing is done must be consistent with the nature of what is being nurtured.

In The Genesis of Technoscientific Revolutions, Venkatesh Narayanamurti and Jeffrey Tsao propose a new and holistic system, a rethinking of the nature and nurturing of research. They share lessons from their vast research experience in the physical sciences and engineering, as well as from perspectives drawn from the history and philosophy of science and technology, research policy and management, and the evolutionary biological, complexity, physical, and economic sciences.

Narayanamurti and Tsao argue that research is a recursive, reciprocal process at many levels: between science and technology; between questions and answer finding; and between the consolidation and challenging of conventional wisdom. These fundamental aspects of the nature of research should be reflected in how it is nurtured. To that end, Narayanamurti and Tsao propose aligning organization, funding, and governance with research; embracing a culture of holistic technoscientific exploration; and instructing people with care and accountability.

Researchers should cite this work as follows:

• Venkatesh Narayanamurti (2021), "Rethinking the Nature and Nurture of Discovery Research," https://nanohub.org/resources/35749.

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