A detailed examination of the innovation process of important advanced materials and their products
Few areas play such a large role in the technological and economic activity today as the field of advanced materials. Why do advanced materials play such an important role in 21st century society? Which of the promising advanced materials being created in laboratories around the world are likely to become market reality? Which companies and governments will be the winners and which the losers in the advanced materials game? This book explores these questions through detailed case studies that highlight the technical, organizational, economic and human dimensions of the most important advanced material creations of the latter 20th and early 21st century.
- Comprehensive study that encompasses the three major categories of advanced material technologies, i.e., Structural Materials (metals, polymers, and fuels), Functional Materials (transistor, microchip and semiconductor laser) and Hybrid and New Forms of Matter (liquid crystals and nanomaterials).
- Extensive use of primary sources, including unpublished interviews with the scientists, engineers, and entrepreneurs on the front lines of advanced materials creation
- Innovative approach to case study narrative emphasizing interaction between advanced material process, perceived risk and the creative champion in directing and accelerating breakthrough technology
- Comparative analysis of failures and successes that help understand why firms falter as well as why they triumph
- Summary final chapter that constructs a "Gauntlet of Risks" approach to predicting a firm’s chances of succeeding at creating breakthrough advanced materials.
"Sanford Moskowitz [in his] book Advanced Materials Innovation: Managing Global Technology in the 21st Century [shows that] the time between lab and markets is very difficult to predict for new materials [but that] the search for new material properties remains an integral element in a healthy and dynamic innovation ecosystem."
--The Economist
"Moskowitz has written a surprisingly accessible…book that traces the history and key breakthroughs in the realm of advanced materials, an important growth engine in emerging markets. This is an important book that has relevance for academics, students, researchers, executives and policymakers."
--Jonathan P. Doh, Rammrath Endowed Chair in International Business, Professor of Management and Operations, Villanova University School of Business
"An elegantly crafted book…with an insightful analysis of advanced materials innovation. We learn how major corporations have navigated minefields and opportunities; why some companies succeed in turning out winners and why others fail. Even though I have been investing in the advanced materials space for 15 years, this book gave me a much better appreciation for the importance of advanced materials to our economy and their global impact."
--Chris Erickson, Founder and General Partner, Pangaea Ventures Ltd., Advanced Materials Venture Capital, Vancouver, BC
