INTRODUCTION

Entrepreneurs, inventors, and innovations have driven the electronics revolutionsince its chaotic beginnings in the early years of the twentieth century.Unfortunately, the astonishing advances of the last thirty years have obscuredthe contributions of the pioneers of that era. These men laid the foundation fortoday’s wired and wireless society, but they rarely get the credit theydeserve.

Case in point: David Sarnoff of the Radio Corporation of America (RCA), thecompany he built and directed for a half-century. Sarnoff was the Bill Gates orSteve Jobs of his day, a visionary who pushed his company to develop or adoptnew communications technology, create a market for it, and become the dominantplayer in that market.

Under his leadership RCA successfully commercialized both radio and television,either inventing the technology or licensing others’ intellectual property (IP)as needed. At Sarnoff’s urging RCA later invented most of the technology forcolor television, from the cameras to the displays. It was also the i rstcompany in the world to successfully commercialize these innovations. He alsounderstood that he couldn’t commercialize major innovations alone, so helicensed RCA’s IP to competitors. They helped him create market momentum, andthe license fees generated a handsome revenue stream.