ROBERT BUDERI

The U.S. economy is the envy of the world, and the key to its success is technological innovation. In this fascinating and in-depth account reported from three continents, Robert Buderi turns the spotlight on corporate research and the management of innovation that is helping drive the economys robust growth. Here are firsthand communiques from inside the labs of a reborn IBM, resurgent GE and Lucent, research upstarts Intel and Microsoft, and other leading American firms -- as well as top European and Japanese competitors. It was only a few years ago that competitiveness experts -- U.S. well-wishers and naysayers alike -- concluded that America had lost its business and technological edge. The nations companies, they asserted, couldnt match the development and manufacturing efficiency of overseas rivals. Yet now the nation is humming along, riding an unparalleled wave of innovation. Buderi tells us this turnaround has come on many fronts -- in marketing, sales, manufacturing, and the creation of start-up companies. But Engines of Tomorrow deals with a central element that has gone largely unexamined: corporate research. Its the research process that provides the technologies that spur growth. Research is behind the renaissance of IBM, the stunning growth of Lucent, and much of the steamrolling American recovery. Focusing on the fast-moving communications-computer-electronics sector, Buderi profiles some of the worlds leading thinkers on innovation, talks with top inventors, and describes the exciting technologies coming down the pike -- from information appliances to electronic security and quantum computing. In the process, he examines the vital strategic issues in which central labs play a determining role, including: How IBMs eight labs around the world figure in Lou Gerstners plans to achieve consistent double-digit growth -- and to join GE as a $100 billion concern. Why Xeroxs famed Palo Alto Research Center is vying to resuscitate its companys lagging fortunes by sending anthropologists into the field to study the hidden ways people really work. What Hewlett-Packard will do without its original instrument business, recently spun off as Agilent Technologies. The business was central to HP Labs MC2 philosophy of merging research expertise in measurement, computation, and communication -- and its departure removed a lot that was unique about HP. How the November 1999 federal court finding that Microsoft operates a monopoly hinders the Seattle giants acquisition plans and makes it increasingly vital for nine-year-old Microsoft Research to lead the way in innovating from within. Could this be the next great lab for the twenty-first century? With authority and undaunted optimism about the underlying vitality of the research process, Buderi discusses these issues and reveals the future of some of the worlds best and most powerful companies.

The evolution of the most innovative square mile on the planet: the endless cycles of change and reinvention that created todays Kendall Square.Kendall Square in Cambridge, Massachusetts, has been called the most innovative square mile on the planet. Its a life science hub, hosting Biogen, Moderna, Pfizer, Takeda, and others. Its a major tech center, with Google, Microsoft, IBM, Amazon, Facebook, and Apple all occupying big chunks of pricey office space. Kendall Square also boasts a dense concentration of startups, with leading venture capital firms conveniently located nearby. And of course, MIT is just down the block. In Where Futures Converge, Robert Buderi offers the first detailed account of the unique ecosystem that is Kendall Square, chronicling the endless cycles of change and reinvention that have driven its evolution. Buderi, who himself has worked in Kendall Square for the past twenty years, tells fascinating stories of great innovators and their innovations that stretch back two centuries. Before biotech and artificial intelligence, there was railroad car innovation, the first long-distance telephone call, the Polaroid camera, MITs once secret, now famous Radiation Laboratory, and much more. Buderi takes readers on a walking tour of the square and talks to dozens of innovators, entrepreneurs, urban planners, historians, and others. He considers Kendall Squares limitationsits gentrification gone rogue, by one description, with little affordable housing, no pharmacy, and a scarce middle classand its strengths: the human collisions that spur innovation. Whats next for Kendall Square? Buderi speculates about the next big innovative enterprises and outlines lessons for aspiring innovation districts. More important, he asks how Kendall Square can be both an innovation hub and diversity, equity, and inclusion hub. Theres a lot of work still to do.

Half a world away from the calm beauty of Puget Sound, theres a lab where Bill Gatess software dreams come true. . . . So begins Guanxi, the compelling on-the-scenes tale of the allure of China today -- and of a unique partnership between the worlds most famous capitalist and the worlds largest communist nation that showcases what it takes to compete in the age of global innovation. Guanxi (gwan-shee), the Chinese term for mutually beneficial relationships essential to success in the Middle Kingdom, tells the story of the juggernaut research lab that underpins Microsofts relationship building in China. Unfurled through a gripping narrative that moves between Beijing and Microsoft headquarters in Redmond, Washington, it follows the labs emergence as a mecca for Chinese computer-science talent -- a place where 10,000 resumes arrive in a month, written exams are farmed out to eleven cities to screen applicants, and interns sleep on cots next to their cubicles. So far, the company has invested well over $100 million and hired more than 400 of Chinas best and brightest to turn the outpost into an important window on the future of computing and a training ground to uplift the state of Chinese computer science -- creating dramatic payoffs for both Microsoft and its host country that are helping the company overcome many of the challenges of China. Guanxi traces the arc of the labs stunning success from a memo by erstwhile Microsoft visionary Nathan Myhrvold to its early days under maverick speech recognition guru Kai-Fu Lee (since plucked away by Google for some $10 million), and to its more recent tutelage under former child prodigies Ya-Qin Zhang and Harry Shum. The two China-born stars, who both attended college in their native country by the age of thirteen, have orchestrated the Beijing labs recent emergence as an epicenter of Microsofts intensifying battles against Google in the search wars, Nokia in the wireless arena, and Sony in graphics and entertainment. As pundits rail about the "China threat" to U.S. competitiveness and offer often-hackneyed arguments against outsourcing, Guanxi explores the true ramifications of Chinas high-tech buildup -- and the means by which it can be turned to competitive advantage, in part by "insourcing" the untapped talent in the countrys top universities. Sprinkled with telling observations, compelling characters, and lively anecdotes about the brilliant successes and sometimes painful stumbles of the worlds most powerful software company, Guanxi is essential reading for business leaders, entrepreneurs, and technologists around the globe.