Read on Twitter
I have no insider knowledge, but this story illuminates why it is so hard for firms to invest in “basic research” (which I defined loosely as research not directly tethered to business needs. https://twitter.com/_KarenHao/status/1335055489168797697
You know that (good) researchers will expect autonomy. You promise them exactly that. But then it turns out that what you mean and what they understand is not the same at all. And it can blow up, as in this case.
Very tempting to say in these conditions: “I am just going to invest in stuff that has direct relevance to my business, and ignore the rest. This way I will never run the risk of a controversy like this one. Problem solved.”
And the truth is that if you do that, nothing bad will happen. Consequences, if any, will arrive over the course of the next 10 years and will take the form of "missing innovations".
You will never get to see the missing products (much less attribute it to your failed HR policies/narrow vision). My view is that if you run an internal research effort, and you never encounter this type of event…you are probably not trying hard enough to push out the frontier.
