5th Novamber 1968

Dr. J.A.B. Gray
Medical Research Council
20 Park Crsscznt
London, W.1.

Dear John

As you know th3 Board have had sav3ral informal discussions h.erre about
th.3 optimum siz2 of our sort of laboratory.  Although wa have only our
impressions to go on, w,z  doubt whsth.er it would be wts3 to exnand this
laboratory much beyond thz size it will be in, say, October 1969, mainly
bzcausa we fe,zl that personal interaction goes down if a laboratory is
more than a cartain size and because, if it didn't go down, the greatly
increased amount of interaction would probably b,z too distracting.

For this reason wa have not been enthusiastic about making this into an
3~30 laboratory, or having a large ZMBO laboratory on the same sitd.
Howzvsr,  these arguments would not apply to anything like th3 same axtent
if we wzre next to a Larg? laboratory (or set of laboratories) with which
w.3 interact,zd "waaklytt - that is,  in a way which would only take up a
small fraction of our time,  and with which we would not faal compzllad to
associate closely.

All this preamble is to introduce a suggestion which occurred to me when
I recently visited the Wsizmann Institute at Rehovot, when they told m-3
that they had started up nearby an "Industrial Research Park".   individual
firms were encouraged to rent space in special buildings, in the hope that
they would get advice on soma of their problems from people working in the
Weizmann.  This has proved profitable to tha Weiamann and useful to the
firms.   In the case of Cambridge it might be sensibta to limit it to
research rather than to manufacture.

It szems to me that this sort of schemd is worth serious consideration by
the MRC and other Government Agencies.  It is often complained that th3r.e
is too little interaction in this country between Industry and peopla
doing pure research.  An excellent way to promote this is physical proximity.
Max feels that there are probably szvsral opportunities on the model-building
and x-ray equipment side, and it saems highly 1 ikely that in the future
various pharmaceutical and chemical firms will become interested either in
our results or our techniques.  The same must suraly be true for other large
MRC labs, like the one at Mill Hill.  In these matters a little timsly advice
can go a long way.

At this staga I do not wish to do more than raise thz possibility with you
in a preliminary way.  Clearly, a fairly detailed study would have to be


Dr. J.A.B. Gray                            5th Novambor 1968

mad2 on the exp2rienca in other countries.  (I am told there ara several
Industrial Parks in the USA - at MIT for axampla) and an assessment as
to thJ conditions (geographical, etc.) where such an association might
b3 expacted to work wall.  It would in any case b3 sansibla in th3 first
instance to try it out on a limited Scala.  I hops you will not think ma
frrasponsibla when I say that I hope that this exploratory work can b.3
don3 by others!

tJhils I am on tha topic, may I suggest that tha attituda of the MRC (and
no doubt the ARC, etc.) to consulting n*ads to be rzconsidersd,  I recently
enquirad about this and found that although th3 MRC does not forbid it, it
certainly does not encourage it.  Naturally there have to be restrictions
on consulting,  In particular, the MRC itself must not appear to support a
particular individual firm.  Howaver, I do not ~33 why we should not be
allowed to do up to, say, 10 days' paid consulting a year, one's salary
baing reducad by an amount equivalent to the tim spent.  Personally, I
am not mysslf vtry kean to do much of this sort of thing, but it s33ms to
ma that if ~30~13 wish to do it (no doubt partly to augment their income)
it is in ths national intarast that they should be encouraged to do so1
Moraover, it is generally felt that a little consulting, lika a little
teaching, can have a vitalising effect on ona*s own work.  Th3 reason
against it given to ma verbally by one council employee - that one would
be favouring one f inn at the expsnsa of another - sa3med to me to have a
rathar oldtifashionad nineteenth century ring about it.

If you are at all interasted in Industrial Research Parks I could, of
coursa, maka further enquirias myself.  A first ste:, would perhaps b-3 to
writa to the head of the Waizmann and ask him to give us tha benefit of
his axpsrience of the scheme there.  But no doubt such an approach would
coma batter from you than from me.

Yours sincsrsly

F.H.C. Crick