Planning and Financing R&D

This Representatives' Round Table examines how companies plan and finance R&D to address their global business objectives. The meeting will explore this theme from various perspectives, including: R&D's role in extending the business portfolio, for example in terms of the product/service base or into new geographical regions outside the home base; and participation in significant joint ventures, either business-to-business or public/private. It will also consider opportunities and disruptions linked to major global issues such as climate change and energy security, and how to take into account the associated financing opportunities and the on-going requirement to maintain an adequate skill base to address business objectives.

Strategy Planning for R&D and for New Business

The first of two sessions, this one-and-a-half day Learning Group, offers a well-balanced programme of tutoring, case studies and mutual learning in interactive sessions and discussions. It will provide practical training in strategy planning for R&D and for new businesses or start-ups, based on best practices in companies. The second session, on 2 October 2008, will focus on progress and problems in strategy planning experienced since the first meeting. We expect participants will commit to both sessions.

Before the solution: identifying needs, understanding problems

“What is the problem that this solution addresses?” This is a key question in marketing and R&D that is often asked too late, when we realise that a solution won't sell as we had hoped. Innovations and new product introduction are easier if we have a good understanding of the problem well for which a solution is sought.

What methods and tools can help us frame the problems for R&D to solve? How can we avoid jumping on un-reflected guesses from marketing and sales? How can we embark on a solid technology and market assessment, rather than being fooled by hype? And how can we borrow mechanisms from marketing or business development functions and apply them to create a more structured way to elicit what needs to be done to solve problems, and to evaluate alternative potential solutions?

This Round Table provided an opportunity to exchange companies' views and experiences of improving the identification of market/customer needs, and framing problem statements for R&D to solve. This has helped many of these companies avoid wasting time and resources on the wrong solution.

Offshoring R&D

For more than a decade, call-centre services, and more recently, software and biotechnology R&D have been offshored to India. Other R&D services are increasingly off-shored to China, and Singapore already has a long tradition of attracting foreign R&D investment. Other countries are waiting to join this club. Europe's R&D-based industry needs to face this new challenge and to recognise the opportunities offered by this situation, especially by developing its ability to innovate on the basis of technology integration from globally distributed sources. This Round Table looked at how we should prepare our R&D organisations to face the challenge and to seize the opportunities.

“The best management development happens when experienced managers come together to learn from each other - to discuss common concerns and visit each other's companies.” - Financial Times

The European Industrial Research Management Association (EIRMA) is an independent, not-for-profit organisation, which aims to enhance innovation through more effective market-oriented research and development. Unique features of the Association include the networking and personal contact that the Financial Times recommends. It's been offering this forum for over 40 years.

EIRMA provides a platform for discussing ideas and exchanging practical experience. Its activities support companies in benchmarking and improving their innovation processes through well-managed and well-organised research and development. These establish EIRMA's members as a natural first point of contact for policy makers and others seeking the business community's insight.

EIRMA's website provides further information on the items featured in IQ, other key aspects of research and innovation management and records of recent meetings and all publications.

Publisher
Andrew Dearing
adearing@EIRMA.asso.fr

Editor
Luke Collins
luke@lukecollins.org

Production
Freeway Media
www.freewaymedia.com

Innovation Quarterly is published by the European Industrial Research Management Association
www.eirma.org