Without university research, smartphones would not be very smart

9:35 a.m., Oct. 8, 2014--The Association of American Universities (AAU) has released a new graphic illustrating that today’s smartphones would be impossible without the federally funded university research that laid the foundation for many of their key components.

The graphic includes information on multi-touch technology, a functionality developed at the University of Delaware by Wayne Westerman and John Elias, founders of the FingerWorks touch screen manufacturing company that was later acquired by Apple Inc.

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Both Westerman, a UD alumnus, and Elias, adjunct professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, were named fellows of the National Academy of Inventors earlier this year.

As the new graphic shows, such elements as multi-touch screens, GPS, lithium ion batteries, and multi-core processors have their origins in university research supported by federal research agencies such as the National Science Foundation, NASA, and the departments of Energy and Defense.

“With top technology companies issuing new smartphones seemingly by the day, we thought this would be a useful time to remind the public and policymakers that these amazing devices would not exist were it not for the university research on which so many of their essential components are based,” said AAU President Hunter Rawlings. “It is estimated that more than 50 percent of U.S. economic growth is based on technological advances, many of which, like the smartphone, have their basis in federally funded science and engineering conducted at AAU and other research universities.”

The graphic opens up to show several components and allows the user to click on each component and find out about the university research on which it was based. The final screen shot reveals what your smartphone would look like without university research. 

AAU is an association of 60 U.S. and two Canadian research universities organized to develop and implement effective national and institutional policies supporting research and scholarship, graduate and professional education, undergraduate education, and public service in research universities.

Image courtesy of the Association of American Universities