Fundamental research in electrical insulation and electrical asset management: is there any link?

The rhetoric title of this paper reflects a continuous debate between researchers and company/funding institutions on the value and meaning of basic (fundamental) and applied research. On one hand there is a rush in going to short term application of research work, because the return of any industrial investment is more and more in the time range of a very few years. Unfortunately, also research financial institutions, such as European Community, EPRI, CRIEPI etc., are going in the direction of promoting applied work. This can be seen with favor as long as it can correct distortions of the past, when fundamental research had been seen as a permanent exercise of speculations without oversight for an applied end, but the risk is to lose the fundamentals of knowledge which is the only way to promote real and stable innovation. This paper has thus the purpose to highlight again how much fundamental research has contributed to practical topics such as management of electrical assets, which is a key point for reliability, availability, cost saving and energy quality of any electrical system. After a broad introduction, focus is made on how basic research has contributed to the development of diagnostic tools that are fundamental for maintenance decisions involving electrical assets.