National Academies Press: OpenBook

Engineering in Society (1985)

Chapter: Infrastructure Development

« Previous: Undeveloped Societal Demands
Suggested Citation:"Infrastructure Development." National Research Council. 1985. Engineering in Society. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/586.
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Page 31

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EVOLUTION OF AMERICAN ENGINEERING 31 Technology Transfer. The availability of new technologies through transfer into a society or from one sector of a society to another is another force that sparks demand. In the early history of the United States, such transfer of technology took place in the form of importation of trained engineers and technical knowledge from Europe— chiefly from England. The flow of technology transfer had largely reversed its direction by the mid-nineteenth century, but remained land remains today) important as a factor in U.S. technology development in certain key areas such as optics, precision instrumentation, and electronics. This factor stimulates demand not only for goods and services, but also for development of an indigenous capability for providing those goods and services. Indigenous Advances in Technology. Autonomous technology development, whether through purposive effort or accidental discovery, can create demand if the new technology answers existing societal needs. This ''supply-push'' factor became especially important in the electrical and chemical industries, where large-scale research was more likely to produce unexpected breakthroughs in science and technology. The panel observes that the potential for such advances to affect the engineering profession is greatest if they are linked to organizational mechanisms by which (a) potential uses of the technology are identified, (b) a potential market can be identified, and (c) demand can be stimulated. Infrastructure Development. Extremely important factors in the development of the engineering profession are the components of the institutional infrastructure that supports engineers and engineering. These elements are: (a) educational institutions, (b) competitive corporations, (c) research facilities, and (d) the system of technical communication. As we have seen, engineering education emerged gradually and in the face of resistance from the established academic community. The development of engineering schools was unable to keep pace with technology development and the growing societal need for engineers until pressure from industry and trade groups led eventually to substantial federal intervention and support. Research facilities emerged at the turn of the century as a powerful force for change within the engineering profession. Allied with the expanding influence of science-based industrial companies, they were the greatest stimulant to those engineering disciplines most closely associated with those companies: electrical and chemical. Technical communication, weak and informal in the United States until the Civil War period, did not emerge in any systematic way until engineering schools became established and the

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