The dream lab

Increasingly, there is concern that the environment for conducting excellent research is deteriorating within the United States' large public research laboratories. This worry is being voiced both by the rank and file scientists within these institutions, as well as by leaders responsible for stewarding the US research infrastructure. The article describes a study which is limited to assessing the research environment, rather than measuring the outputs and outcomes of that environment, such as publications, citations and new products. Nine focus groups were held, each consisting of approximately ten scientists and R&D managers. Thirty-six attributes have been identified as most important to creating an environment that fosters excellent research. The 36 attributes reflect the complexity of the science and technology research organizations and are arranged in four groups: human and physical resource development; innovation and cross fertilization of ideas; management and internal processes; setting and achieving relevant goals.