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It isn’t easy getting on Larry’s calendar. This is not surprising — as Larry Burns, General Motors’ genial R&D chief, is responsible for the technical direction of the biggest car-maker on the planet.

GM has used its position as the world’s largest automotive manufacturer to remain at the forefront of technology. It was the first to employ catalytic converters on its vehicles. It pioneered the use of crash test dummies and trailblazed the adoption of finite element analysis (FEA) design techniques. And yet despite the company’s vast size, all decisions taken on advanced technology and future research rest with one individual. No wonder his diary’s so tight.

Burns has been heading the firm’s R&D since 1998 and has presided over a period when GM has shifted its focus from looking within for ideas toexploring the technological opportunities that the rest of the world presents. Methods that had for years helped the automotive giant keep on top of future technologies have no place in today’s climate, and much of Burns’s effort has been devoted to finding ways of tapping into expertise from around the world.