Recognizing, appreciating, and capturing the tacit knowledge of R&D scientists

One of the most important assets of biopharmaceutical firms is the expertise of their R&D scientists, and it is important that such intellectual assets be developed for competitive advantage. On the other hand, we have observed instances in which tacit knowledge-that which resides in the minds of scientists but is not yet communicated-was overlooked. For the biomedical sector, tacit knowledge is an important issue from the perspectives of retirement, recruitment, and turnover. As the National Science Foundation noted, (1) retirement of PhDs will dramatically increase over the next decade, and (2) between 1998 and 2008, the biological sciences are expected to have the highest job growth rate of the life sciences (35%). In addition, turnover among small, startup biotechnology companies can be a sizable fraction of total scientific employment. If the tacit knowledge of experienced scientists is not captured, in each of the above cases it may become a lost rather than a strategic asset. Our objective is to focus readers' attention on the tacit aspect of scientists' expertise and to suggest tactics for capturing and communicating that knowledge, for the strategic advantage of teams, departments, and organizations. (C) 2002 Wiley-Liss, Inc.