Competing for the Future

Henry Kressel is Managing Director of Warburg Pincus, LLC. He began his career at RCA laboratories where he pioneered the first practical semiconductor lasers. He was the founding president of the IEEE Laser and Electro-Optics Society (LEOS) and co-founded the IEEE/OSA Journal of Lightwave Technology. He is the recipient of many awards and honors, a fellow of the American Physical Society and the holder of 31 issued US patents for electronic and optoelectronic devices.

Everybody knows that digital technology has revolutionised our economy and our lifestyles. But how many of us really understand the drivers behind the technology - the significance of going digital; the miniaturization of circuit boards; the role of venture capital in financing the revolution; the importance of research and development? How many of us understand what it takes to make money from innovative technologies? Should we worry about manufacturing going offshore? What is the role of India and China in the digital economy? Drawing on a lifetime's experience in the industry, as an engineer, a senior manager and as a partner in a venture capital firm, Henry Kressel offers an expert personalized answer to all these questions. He explains how the technology works, why it matters, how it is financed and what the key lessons are for public policy.

Everybody knows that digital technology has revolutionised our economy and our lifestyles. But how many of us really understand the drivers behind the technology? How many of us understand what it takes to make money from innovative technologies? Drawing on a lifetime's experience in the industry - as an engineer, a senior manager and as a partner in a venture capital firm - Henry Kressel explains how the technology works, why it matters, how it is financed and what the key lessons are for public policy.

List of figures; List of tables; Acknowledgements; 1. Genesis: inventing electronics for the digital world; 2. Building digital systems; 3. Edison's legacy: industrial R&D; 4. R&D goes global; 5. Financing innovation: venture capital; 6. Manufacturing: globalizing faster than ever; 7. Your government is here to help; 8. The digital world: industries transformed; 9. The digital world: a global village; Appendix 1.1 Smaller, faster, more efficient MOSFETs; Appendix 1.2 Building multi-transistor logic gates ; Appendix 1.3 MOSFETs in memory devices; Appendix 1.4 CMOS reduces logic gate power dissipation; Appendix 1.5 Laser diode basics; Appendix 1.6 Light emitting diodes (LEDs); Appendix 1.7 Photodetectors; Appendix 1.8 Making fibre optic cables; Appendix 1.9 Principles of LCD displays; Appendix 2.1 The demise of analog computers; Appendix 2.2 IP, TCP, and the internet; Appendix 2.3 Building an object-oriented program; Index.