Abstract: The study of the development history of industrial laboratory has important reference significance for the development of new quality productivity in China. This paper selects representative industrial laboratories such as General Electric Research Laboratory, Bell Labs, General Motors Research Corporation, Du Pont’s Eastern Laboratory and Experimental Station, and IBM Thomas J. Watson Research Center in the United States to carry out a systematic investigation and analysis on the motivation and timing of their establishment. In terms of the motivation for the establishment of the industrial laboratory, one is that the companies feared the antitrust prosecution by the US government, thus facing the risk of being split up or having its market position weakened, but according to the “Rule of Reason” of the US Supreme Court, the public interest brought by research can be regarded as exceeding anti-competitive harm they brought; the other is the recognition and firm support of the scientific strategy by the founder and top management of the company. In terms of the timing of establishment, enterprises have all set up small-scale research and development working groups before establishing formal large-scale industrial laboratories, and these groups effectively demonstrated the supporting role of research in the enterprise’s products and markets, proving the value of science in the future development of the enterprise; and at the same time enterprises have recruited research directors who possess both scientific research capabilities and engineering implementation capabilities. Eventually, largescale industrial laboratories were successfully established when the time was ripe.

Key words: Industrial Laboratory; Industrial Research and Development Laboratory; Enterprise Scientific Strategy; Innovation Management; New Quality Productivity