Evidence suggests that medical innovation is becoming increasingly dependent on interdisciplinary research and on the crossing of institutional boundaries. This volume focuses on the conditions governing the supply of new medical technologies and suggest that the boundaries between disciplines, institutions, and the private and public sectors have been redrawn and reshaped. Individual essays explore the nature, organization, and management of interdisciplinary R&D in medicine; the introduction into clinical practice of the laser, endoscopic innovations, cochlear implantation, cardiovascular imaging technologies, and synthetic insulin; the division of innovating labor in biotechnology; the government- industry-university interface; perspectives on industrial R&D management; and the growing intertwining of the public and proprietary in medical technology.

Table of Contents


FRONT MATTER
PART I: SETTING THE STAGE
1 THE CHANGING NATURE OF MEDICAL TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENT
2 RECENT TRENDS IN SUPPORT FOR BIOMEDICAL RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT
PART II: MEDICAL DEVICE INNOVATION
3 PHYSICIANS AND PHYSICISTS: THE INTERDISCIPLINARY INTRODUCTION OF THE LASER TO MEDICINE
4 FROM THE SCALPEL TO THE SCOPE: ENDOSCOPIC INNOVATIONS IN GASTROENTEROLOGY, GYNECOLOGY, AND SURGERY
5 COCHLEAR IMPLANTATION: ESTABLISHING CLINICAL FEASIBILITY, 1957-1982
6 INNOVATION IN CARDIAC IMAGING
PART III: BIOTECHNOLOGY INNOVATION
7 INCENTIVES AND FOCUS IN UNIVERSITY AND INDUSTRIAL RESEARCH: THE CASE OF SYNTHETIC INSULIN
8 THE DIVISION OF INNOVATIVE LABOR IN BIOTECHNOLOGY
PART IV: CONCLUDING OBSERVATIONS
9 PERSPECTIVES ON INDUSTRIAL R&D MANAGEMENT
10 THE INTERWINING OF PUBLIC AND PROPRIETARY IN MEDICAL TECHNOLOGY
APPENDIXES
APPENDIX A: WORKSHOP AGENDA
APPENDIX B: CONTRIBUTORS
INDEX