Chapter 1. Using Organizational Memory to Improve Productivity

Stem cells to cure diseases, photonic crystals for superfast optical computer chips, nanotubes for electronics, quantum cryptography for secure communications, and a biochip that uses water droplets as tiny test tubes—these are just five of the world’s impressive array of achievements to date. Who would have thought them possible just a few years ago? If there is one phenomenon that marks out the last century, and specifically the last 30 years, it is the rate of progress by scientists in fields such as medicine and technology. In both fields, the acceleration in their development has been extraordinary, thanks to one unique dynamic. Their evolution has been virtually seamlessly incremental, the building of one advance on another without much interruption.