The most innovative and audacious among the U.S. responses to Japan's Fifth Generation Project is that of the Microelectronics and Computer Technology Corp. MCC is a consortium of thirteen companies formed to conduct long range research and development in advanced computers. The member companies are investing in MCC projects in return for a three-year lead in implementing the resulting technology.The President of MCC, retired Admiral B. R. Inman, must chart this new course for U.S. industrial research: a course of cooperation among competitors whose goal is to achieve U.S. supercomputer dominance in the 1990s marketplace.