Whatever forms technology businesses assume, their passion for change requires a core workplace whose complex, restless and demanding environment would resemble chaos anywhere else.

Humble beginnings
What is the power of a garage that so many great technology enterprises, including Apple Computer, Hewlett Packard and Microsoft, are born there? The technology entrepreneur considers the garage a launching pad because it's available, unstructured and adaptable. When successful technology companies outgrow their garages, they generally discard them along with yesterday's technology to build better equipped, more effective and more comfortable facilities. Yet the freedom of the garage can still be felt in the research and development facilities they build.

Of course, the transition from a garage start-up to an established business in a state-of-the-art R&D campus is full of uncertainty for technology businesses. Years of R&D are required to turn an idea into a working prototype that can be refined into a production model. Gratifying as the potential rewards may be, the fate of a new technology business can easily end in failure rather than tomorrow's Google. No one knows what will be the next big thing in technology until the marketplace decides.

In fact, the impact of new technology on society, while always subject to speculation, seems to defy prediction even by its most astute observers. The problem may be caused by the gap between technological change and social change, since human behavior is only partly ruled by the logic revered by scientists, engineers and technicians. Even Microsoft chairman Bill Gates badly underestimated the significance of the fledgling Internet in his 1995 book, The Road Ahead, when he dismissed it as a generic precursor to a vastly superior "information highway" that would emerge someday.

Fast and frequent changes occur in the size, composition and function of these workplaces as individual projects advance from inception to maturity.

Unpredictable but too dangerous to ignore
Still, there is little doubt about the impact — both creative and destructive — of technology businesses on the U.S. economy. Successive waves of technological progress caused jobs in factories and agriculture to disappear rapidly at the dawn of the 20th century, only to be replaced by jobs and growth in new industries. Clearly the net balance has been a gain, since the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) shows that jobs exploded from about 12 million in 1870 to some 144 million in 2002, in keeping with an expanding population driving an increasingly dominant global economy.

Technology will play a key role in the new jobs projected by the BLS for the 2002-2012 period. As part of a long-term shift from goods-producing to service-providing employment, professional, scientific and technical services will grow by 27.8 percent and add 1.9 million jobs by 2012, while employment in the information industry is expected to increase by 18.5 percent to 632,000 jobs. Yet technology-based manufacturers, reacting to productivity gains, job automation, international competition and outsourcing, could expand output without adding any U.S. jobs. Computer and electronic product manufacturing industries, for example, could lose 189,000 jobs through 2012.

An industry of organized chaos
Aside from the basic business functions almost every enterprise maintains, technology businesses rely on scientific R&D to create competitive advantage. Not surprisingly, here is where the spirit of the garage thrives. While R&D facilities follow no single format, certain characteristics show up repeatedly. For example, fast and frequent changes occur in the size, composition and function of these workplaces as individual projects advance from inception to maturity, with their work forces rising and falling accordingly.

Michael Lewis portrays just how swift a technology business's transformation can be in The New New Thing, a 1999 chronicle of celebrated Silicon Valley entrepreneur Jim Clark. The birth of Netscape began in 1994 as Mosaic Communications, "which consisted of three million dollars of his [Clark's] money and seven new graduates of the University of Illinois." Eighteen months later, in one of America's most memorable initial public offerings, Netscape emerged as a company with some 200 employees and a publicly traded stock that opened at $28 per share and soared to $58.25 during the first day of trading, making Clark an instant billionaire.

Knoll furnishings function superbly in an R&D office because they can be used interchangeably to equip offices whether they are open or enclosed, formal or casual, communal or private.

Besides changing form rapidly, R&D offices support multiple levels of activity, ranging from individual effort to group interaction through formal meetings, casual "water cooler" gatherings and chance encounters. Ideally, specialized environments shelter these activities, so individuals have privacy, formal groups have convenience and casual gatherings have comfort. That is indeed true among progressive technology companies, where cappuccino bars, cozy lounges, white board walls, 24-hour cafés, privacy rooms and private offices are regarded as business tools rather than perks.

Knoll can help
Is there any way to manage the controlled chaos of R&D office space? Knoll furniture systems, designed to coordinate with its seating and freestanding storage units, tables and filing cabinets, function superbly in an R&D office because they can be used interchangeably to equip offices whether they are open or enclosed, formal or casual, communal or private. Their compatible forms, materials, dimensions and colors give technology businesses the freedom they need to make changes quickly and create special areas whenever and wherever the next New New Thing is about to take off.