R&D Today
R&D Today – sharing ideas, good practice and innovation in R&D management.
R&D Today aims to share knowledge, new approaches and well proven techniques, it is the outreach site for the Research and Development Management Association (RADMA), a charitable organisation that supports research, best practice and education.
The intention is to signpost resources, papers and tools that would be of value to someone working in R&D and innovation management. All content is credited and referenced back to the source in line with the fair use doctrine.
We have found the Pentathlon provides a useful framework for discussion – click through the slides below to explore further.
If you are working in this field do get in contact.
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Our Themes
There is no shortage of challenges facing R&D managers, but sources of practical help can be in short supply. To assist we have selected a number of themes that are of wide interest:
– technology strategy
– ideation and creativity
– managing the pipeline
– open innovation
– roadmapping
– managing international R&D
For each we have invited two guest editors, a practitioner and an academic, to curate a useful resource for each.
View more about our themes here.
The Pentathlon Framework
Without risk you cannot have game-changing innovation
The key to successful innovation is to fail fast at the front-end, where the impact on the business can be managed.
The Pentathlon Framework can be used to describe a structured process that removes the risk of failure as ideas progress through the ‘Innovation Funnel’.
Read more about the Pentathlon Framework here.
Tools
R&D Management Conference 2021
Innovation in an era of disruption will take place on Wednesday 7 to Thursday 8th July Glasgow, Scotland. See more information here.
Latest
Innovation in an era of disruption – R&D Management Conference 2021 announces tracks
The disruption of the coronavirus pandemic showed that innovation can happen at faster clock speeds when it is imperative. The R&D Management Conference 2021 'Innovation in an era of disruption' is reviewing the impacts and has just announced...
Read moreMuseum of Making shows movement still relevant today
The world’s first factory, in Derby, UK has been opened as a museum to celebrate the role of the maker as a driver of innovation.
Read moreDigital fabrication maker response to COVID-19
The rapid spread of Covid-19 has led to an unprecedented bottom-up, distributed, frugal innovation response from individuals and maker communities worldwide who have rapidly developed and distributed crisis-critical items, filling shortages and providing a stop-gap solution for the disrupted...
Read moreInnovation in an Era of Disruption – R&D Management Conference 2021 – Call for tracks
The pandemic is driving economic and societal change, creating a space for new thinking, new business models and sustainable innovation. Do you have a track recommendation?
Read moreHow to gain private sector funding for discovery science
A game of chess is how Dr Lawrence Dooley describes the strategy that academic principal investigators (PI) have had to develop to ensure funding for discovery science. He discusses how conflicts in different agenda risks stifling blue-sky research prized...
Read moreSee more news >>
R&D Today sharing ideas, good practice and innovation in R&D management.
There is no shortage of challenges facing R&D managers, but sources of practical help can be in short supply. To assist we have selected a number of themes that are of wide interest:
– technology strategy
– ideation and creativity
– managing the pipeline
– open innovation
– roadmapping
– managing international R&D
For each we have invited two guest editors, a practitioner and an academic, to curate a useful resource for each.
View more about our themes here.
The Pentathlon Framework

Without risk you cannot have game-changing innovation
The key to successful innovation is to fail fast at the front-end, where the impact on the business can be managed.
The Pentathlon Framework can be used to describe a structured process that removes the risk of failure as ideas progress through the ‘Innovation Funnel’.
Read more about the Pentathlon Framework here.
Latest news
Innovation in an era of disruption – R&D Management Conference 2021 announces tracks
The disruption of the coronavirus pandemic showed that innovation can happen at faster clock speeds when it is imperative. The R&D Management Conference 2021 'Innovation in an era of disruption' is reviewing the impacts and has just announced...
Read moreMuseum of Making shows movement still relevant today
The world’s first factory, in Derby, UK has been opened as a museum to celebrate the role of the maker as a driver of innovation.
Read moreDigital fabrication maker response to COVID-19
The rapid spread of Covid-19 has led to an unprecedented bottom-up, distributed, frugal innovation response from individuals and maker communities worldwide who have rapidly developed and distributed crisis-critical items, filling shortages and providing a stop-gap solution for the disrupted...
Read moreInnovation in an Era of Disruption – R&D Management Conference 2021 – Call for tracks
The pandemic is driving economic and societal change, creating a space for new thinking, new business models and sustainable innovation. Do you have a track recommendation?
Read moreHow to gain private sector funding for discovery science
A game of chess is how Dr Lawrence Dooley describes the strategy that academic principal investigators (PI) have had to develop to ensure funding for discovery science. He discusses how conflicts in different agenda risks stifling blue-sky research prized...
Read more