Are You Prepared to Innovate?

R&D Today – sharing ideas, good practice and innovation in R&D management

We have found the Pentathlon provides a useful framework for discussion – click through to explore further.

Latest News

Innovation, interdisciplinarity and the urgency of biodiversity

The question is no longer if biodiversity matters to industrial innovation, but how quickly and effectively we can adapt our systems to reflect this new reality says Fiona Lettice, RADMA trustee reporting about the R&D Management Conference. "We are seeing the early signs of this transformation – but the road ahead will require a much more integrated approach to research, regulation, and investment," she warns.

Innovation & Biodiversity – the heat is on

The R&D Management Conference 2025 in Pisa – brought together around 500 participants from across the world and has been the hottest conference on record. Innovation & Biodiversity was a challenging theme, but the organisers have successfully created a coherent programme with excellent keynotes and presentations, says RADMA chair Jeremy Klein.

Prantar Tamuli co-founder of Tattva with its novel biomaterial Somate developed by photosynthesising cyanobacteria

1,000 years in 10 days – Tattva’s biomaterial offers carbon sequestering alternative for construction

Biomaterials offer an alternative to the cement and plastics widely used in the construction sector – which account for 37% of global carbon dioxide emissions. But the challenge for innovators is how to offer higher perceived value. Tattva's Stromate is a strong, lightweight, fire resistant alternative to conventional building materials.

Zuduz offers potential for sustainable packaging

Breaking the innovation bottle-neck with continuous foresight

Just 35% of global consumer-packaged goods launched in the first 5 months of 2024 were genuinely new products - the lowest since tracking began (1996). Sunanda Jayanth argues that continuous technology foresight, which forecasts the trajectory of emerging technologies using global invention data, can help innovation managers to overcome this challenge.

Corporate venture capital the corporate venturing symposium is held at County Hall

Will rise of Corporate Venture Capital overcome ‘trough of disillusionment’?

Corporate investment is a crucial component of the innovation ecosystem but the sector is in a time of transition. The CVC invests in businesses that are relevant and beneficial to the parent group gaining market insight and innovative technology. The business gains access to expertise and contacts.

Circular business models E-Waste Recycling, June 2022

The circular leap – inspiring new business models for the circular economy

The circular economy calls for a fundamental redesign of how value is created, delivered and retained. A creativity workshop can help teams find inspiration for the circular leap

Can a climate tech ecosystem accelerate innovation adoption?

Innovation ecosystems are often geographically focussed, but the Climate Tech SuperCluster is changing this model. It aims to become a growth engine for innovation that will decarbonise the grid, drive the hydrogen economy and improve housing for a net zero future. We discuss its role with the co-founder and members.

The Shifted Team its solution offers storage and inertia to reduce curtailment and increase resilience

Renewable curtailment is major obstacle to decarbonisation – Shifted prioritises customer insights to build solution

When Spain lost all power in April 2025, there was concern that a heavy reliance on renewable energy was to blame. The intermittent nature of renewables creates challenges for the national grid which needs constant balancing to ensure it is not overloaded or under powered.

Silbat melting silicon battery for long duration energy storage.

100 hours energy storage for $20/kWh? Is Silbat’s melting silicon battery the solution?

When the incumbent is a proven technology and 90% efficient, an emerging challenger needs a strong value proposition. Silbat says its revolutionary melting silicon battery offers flexibility to locate energy storage where it is needed, addressing a major challenge faced by producers of renewable energy.

Green hydrogen – Electrogenos reducing the cost of production

Green Hydrogen will play a key role in decarbonising heavy industry, but there are still many technical, logistic and policy changes that are needed before it is widely adopted. Augustro Bartolome of Electrogenos discusses the challenges and how its innovation will support the transition.

Industrial sustainability – an interview with Professor Steve Evans

“If you're in R&D management and you're ignoring sustainability, you are limiting your future job prospects,” says Steve Evans, Centre for Industrial Sustainability. He explains the importance of the energy transition to enabling sustainability and the role of value as tool for determining how to create change for the better.

Cambridge Value Mapping Tool identifies failed value

What does failed value mean in the world that’s interested in sustainability?

New business models are key to sustainability, but many of the traditional tools fail to provide a solution. Our value mapping exercise unlocked the intellectual logic. What we found was designers didn't need better design tools, they needed tools to understand failed value, and that's all they needed.

Introducing RADMA Scholars

R&D Today is the outreach site for the Research and Development Management Association, a charitable organisation that supports research, best practice and innovation. www.radma.net

Loading...

Roman Schumacher

Sara Hajnassiri

Leon Pietschmann

Nopparuj Chindasombatcharoen

R&D Conference Tracks

R&D and Innovation Management is a dynamic field. The conference aims to capture the current interests of researchers and practitioners, curated into a number of tracks.

Sustainable Innovation

Sustainable innovation supports growth and profitability by facilitating product reuse and circularity and making business operations more efficient and safe. It is also essential for the health of the planet.

Entrepreneurial Ecosystems, Innovation Ecosystems and platforms

With the growth of digital platforms the need for Entrepreneurial Ecosystems to be geographically co-located has become less crucial. This is creating the opportunity for looser, more dispersed innovation ecosystems.

Business model innovation

Business model innovation is vital to the future sustainability of organisations and firms. With digitalization, electrification, and the circular economy, among the factors reshaping the ways industries operate, adapt, and innovate, necessitating novel business models.

Intellectual Property Rights

Around 90 per cent of the value of modern-day companies is determined by their intangible assets, which includes Intellectual Property Rights (IPR), such as patents, copyrights, trademarks and design rights. Formal and informal leverages can be used to create and protect value.

Innovation Leadership

Although inherently risky, innovation management has an underlying body of knowledge, tools and approaches that can be widely applied. Here is an introduction to some of these concepts.

Best books for innovation management?

There are many inspirational books for R&D management practitioners and scholars. Here is a short list of some of the best books for innovation management.

Must read papers on aspects of R&D Management

Want to know about R&D Management but too busy to read all the journals? The editors for R&D Today have each selected a journal and have made a selection of the most interesting papers of recent years.

Are these the best tools for R&D Management?

There are many excellent tools and techniques for R&D management, but all too often people re-invent the wheel as knowledge of these gems is not shared. Here are some of the tools that RADMA trustees and contributors to R&D Today have found useful, but we are keen to know what has been missed or what others think of these tools.

Eight principles of Innovation Management

Which of the eight principles of Innovation Management do you think is most important? Victoria Milne and Joanne Hyland discuss how the framework is universally applicable but can be customised as required.

R&D Project Exchange

The R&D Project Exchange offers a unique platform for collaboration between university students and companies. This initiative invites students and businesses to co-develop research proposals, ensuring a balanced approach that addresses both academic objectives and real-world industry challenges.

The innovation disconnect

There is a disconnect between R&D spend and performance, says Professor Magnus Karlsson. Ahead of the launch of the international standard ISO 56000 he explains that the purpose of an Innovation Management System is to improve an organisation’s ability to realise value under conditions of uncertainty.

Is it time to professionalise Innovation Management?

The challenge of how Innovation Management can gain the recognition it deserves stimulated a lively discussion in our webinar “Is it time to professionalise Innovation Management”. If you missed the webinar – you can watch the presentations from our two speakers and listen to the full discussion via a podcast on Soundcloud.

Innovation Management System ISO 56002:2019

Innovation is the driving force for companies to stay relevant in the market, observes the guidance for ISO 56002:2019 Innovation management system.

Innovation Manager job description

The innovation management professional job role is broad. It encompasses both strategic and operational elements. These elements can be combined into a single role, or divided into separate roles. Innovationsledarna has created this useful job description that can be used as a guide to assembling one’s own job description or to create a new role as appropriate.

Special Features

Events

Festschrift to honour Henry Chesbrough

20-21 April 2026 at Luiss Business School in Rome. 2026 will mark Henry Chesbrough‘s 70th birthday. In honour of this milestone, some of his colleagues have organized a conference, a special issue of California Management Review, and a special section of Industrial & Corporate Change.

R&D Management Workshop 2026 – R&D in an era of AI

29 – 30 May 2026: The R&D Management Workshop 2026 will be held in Seoul, Korea.

R&D Management Conference 2026

The R&D Management Conference goes back to Manchester in 2026.