"...Lag...occurred between an initial discovery and its effective clinical application. We analyzed 111 such lags: 8% amounted to 0.1 to 1 year; another 18% were 1 to 10 years; 17% (lagged) 11-20 years;...39% (lagged) 21-50 years; only 18% required more than 50 years for application."

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For 500 years the West patented six killer applications that set it apart. The first to download them was Japan. Over the last century, one Asian country after another has downloaded these killer apps- competition, modern science, the rule of law and private property rights, modern medicine, the consumer society and the work ethic. Those six things are the secret sauce of Western civilization.

— Niall Ferguson