De l’atelier au laboratoire. Recherche et innovation dans l’industrie électrique XIX-XX siècles From workshop to laboratory. Research and innovation in electric industry, 19-20th centuries

The goal of the book is to explore the variety of ways in which innovative activities were carried out in the electrical industy from its pioneering phase in the mid-19th cebtury to the present. It is a shared assumption among historians of technology and economic historians alike that during the first half of the 20th century the mainsprings of innovation shifted from an activity pursued by a few highly creative individuals to one carried out by teams of specialists operating within industry, in structures specifically devoted to research. In electrical technology, as in other fields, the transition was gradual and it has continued to the present day. Laboratories, established in electrical engineering firms, were dominant but many of the advances in electrical technology originated from a variety of sites and environments that were not necessarily denominated as laboratories.