Academies, he was responsible for making certain that an independent examination of this report was carried out in accordance with institutional procedures and that all review comments were carefully considered. Responsibility for the final content of this report rests entirely with the authoring committee and the institution.

Following the Executive Summary, Part I of this report presents an introduction of the current trends within industry and the policies to encourage its growth, followed by a summary of the conference presentations and the papers. Part II presents the Findings and Recommendations, which are the collective responsibility of the Steering Committee. Part III summarizes the Conference Proceedings. It is especially rich in that it sets out the views of the conference participants in some detail. Part IV presents two commissioned papers which, though subject to NRC editing, remain the responsibility of the authors.

The report’s goal is to advance our understanding of the contributions of this unique industry, the exceptional technical challenges it faces, and the substantial programs that are under way around the world to address them. If the American economy is to continue to benefit from the leading position of this industry in the global marketplace, we must renew and strengthen our commitment to the institutions and scientific research that are essential to its continued progress.

Gordon Moore William Spencer Charles Wessner