The pandemic has increased capability to manage complex systems, says Raffaella Manzini, LIUC Università Cattaneo. When researching a special issue for R&D Management she was positively surprised to find that many organisations were already adopting new models for technology innovation.

Radical innovation requires a different skill set to new product developments, but offers a huge opportunity for business growth. Jacob Brix is keen to explore ‘why so few companies are embracing radical innovation?’ in this track in the R&D Management Conference.

This track at the R&D Management Conference explores the potential of experimentation, both success and failure, and the implications for the organisation. We are hoping to offer a new perspective on knowledge creation says Alessandro Narduzzo.

If you had a new technology to design a new food product would you create something new or slavishly produce a replica of a familiar dish? Benjamin Wurgaft is exploring the future of food in his keynote at the R&D Management Conference

The challenges reshaping the global economy have seen strategic leaders exploring differentiated ways of enabling radical innovations that will be game-changing. This track in the R&D Management Conference 2022 looks for future-focused answers on ‘how’ strategic leaders can and do pursue radical innovations. We asked co-chair Mariano (Pitosh) Heyden about the influences in this field.

Crowdfunding, rapid prototyping and the rise of Fab-Spaces are lowering the obstacles to new product development for entrepreneurs but the theories of innovation management have not kept pace, says Valeria Dammicco, who aims to stimulate debate in this track at the R&D Management Conference

Designing a new electric car or developing a new treatment for Covid – the technologies required set the context for innovation and will influence: risk, timescales, IP strategy, financing requirements and more. This track on contextual specificity at the R&D Management Conference 2022, explores the interaction between the innovation context – particularly scientific or technological  – and R&D management practices.

The need to reuse and repurpose during a time of restricted resources has created a wider resonance for a frugal approach. But there are detractors, hear the debate at the R&D Management Conference.

Climate change and social inequality are of concern to society, but to achieve a twin transition – digital and green – requires SME’s to integrate ethical principle into their business models as well as multinationals, Dr Andrea Caputo argues.

Leading journals will be participating in the tracks at the R&D Management Conference and several have special issues based on the theme of the track.

There are four broad themes and 38 tracks planned for the three days.

Managing pharmaceutical drug development is a world apart from managing software development. The timescales are different, the costs are different and the people are different too. Jeremy Klein, Chair of RADMA, explains why contextual specificity is important in R&D Development.

The organisers of the R&D Management Conference 2022 “Innovation for people and territories” have opened the call for abstract submissions.

Alberto Nucciarelli, Associate Professor at the University of Trento, announced that the R&D Management Conference 2022 would be held in the Dolomite mountains of northern Italy – we asked him more about his ambitions for the 2022 conference. 

Now is the time to change – inspirational speakers provide their insights in the three plenary sessions at the R&D Management Conference

African firms are innovative but unsupported, argues Xiaolan Fu in her most recent book  ‘Innovation Under the Radar’. The book provides the first survey-based analysis of innovation in the informal economy.

“Although the pandemic has stimulated digital innovations and digitisation of many B2C sectors, the pandemic has made it more difficult for companies developing ‘hard’ technologies,” says Jane List, editor-in-chief of World Patent Information.

2021 marks the centenary of  Chris Freeman’s birth, founder of the Science Policy Research Unit (SPRU). An influential economist and science policy advisor, he argued that growth should be sustainable economically and socially. Jeremy Hall, Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Engineering and Technology Management is to talk about his work at the R&D Management Conference.

The rate of innovation during the pandemic has increased, research has revealed, but the long term implications are less certain. Bram Timmermans comments that in May 2020 just over 50% of managers indicated that they have innovated as a result of the pandemic; this increased to 76% six months later.

Greater use of tools and techniques for innovation will have lasting impacts after the crisis, according to Charles Henry Noble, editor in chief of the Journal of Product and Innovation Management. 

The Doctoral Colloquium of the R&D Management Conference 2021 will be held on 6 July 2021. This vibrant online event, will take a workshop style to enable students to receive customised feedback on their work from established researchers.

A new e-poster session will be one of the features of the online R&D Management Conference 2021. The deadline for abstracts and posters is the 17th March 

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 its tracks.

Choosing the best conference papers from the R&D Management Symposium was a difficult job says Dr Lawrence Dooley, University of Cork, one of the judging panel that also included Prof Ellen Enkel University of Duisberg, Essen, Dr Letizia Mortara, University of Cambridge and Prof Paavo Ritala 

Business model innovation is an essential driver of a company’s competitive advantage, however, successful models seem to result from trial and error exercises rather than from a systematic process. This offers an opportunity for scholars to increase the ability of firms to engage a more systematic approach argues Cyrine Tangour.

Dr Sven Schimpf, Managing Director of Fraunhofer Group comments that the future of R&D and Innovation is highly uncertain. “A higher degree of interdisciplinarity, openness, flexibility and digitalisation with a stronger focus on user value are among the developments that we foresee in the future.

Convergence between technologies and approaches stimulates innovation but understanding the multiple interactions can be problematic, Kevin Reuter of West Saxon University discusses the need for a systems approach to research.

Digitisation is creating new challenges for intellectual property, Martin Bader discusses this ahead of the R&D Management Conference 

Evidence is busting the myth that frugal innovation is just for global south countries, this approach may provide a mechanism for affordable and sustainable solutions, Suchit Ahuja discusses this phenomenon. 

Although sustainability aspects are included in innovation strategy, it is far from being an integral part of innovation management, observes Claus Lang-Koetz. His track addresses the role of sustainability-oriented innovation in R&D management – from a theoretical but also a practical perspective.

Innovations across the boundaries – is the theme for the 2020 R&D Management Conference and there are 25 tracks to choose from and we have asked the track chairs to give an insight into what fascinates them about the subject. If you would like to submit an abstract then hurry as the deadline is 10th February.

Universities all over the world are facing pressure to deliver knowledge in a way that supports a more sustainable development of societies. Emphasis on this ‘third mission’ is creating discussion over the techniques used.

How do social systems shape the development and diffusion of new manufacturing technologies and how will these societal systems be affected by new technological trends? These are the big questions being discussed in this track.

There is a lot of work done on the third mission, knowledge triangle and triple helix which postulate that universities research should be more aligned to industrial application but the best methods of implementing this are unclear. This track looks at the current findings.

Details of nearly a million startups from all over the world are now available through publicly accessible databases, this track explores how this wealth of information can be used.

Traditional marketing techniques often prove to be ineffective for the design and diffusion of truly innovative offers, hence the need for a real “innovation marketing” but what techniques are available?

Digital technology has made it much easier to develop, test and launch new products, lowering the barrier of entry for start-ups but should they collaborate with encumbents? Who wins? Ferran Giones discusses.

Diversity in the different fields of R&D is often overlooked in the drive to create general-purpose frameworks, track chair Dr Jeremy Klein is looking forward to exploring this topic at the R&D Management Conference. 

The role of Public Research Organizations (PROs) is often overlooked, however these institutes are often engaged in capital-intensive research projects that may incur significant public investment. Raffaella Manzini discusses the role of PROs and their value to industry. 

Over hyped technology is part of the journey – but does this kill or make innovation?  An R&D Management Conference track is exploring the dynamics of technological hype and legitimacy – two phenomena at heart of any technology’s innovation journey. 

Look beyond the walls. The call for proposals has opened for the 2020 R&D Management conference: Innovation Across Boundaries: Historical Reflection and Future Vision closing date 28th October 2019

In my view, the conference has been a fantastic opportunity to discuss cutting-edge themes with colleagues from all over the world. We discussed the challenges and relaxed within one of the most prestigious engineering university in the world, comments Letizia Mortara.

Is this the age of metanationals? As companies such as Google, Amazon, Unilever, Dyson become effectively stateless, this is creating challenges for R&D managers. The issues were discussed in a keynote for the R&D Management Conference 2019

One of the major challenges we face in the world of 4.0 is how to change the way we think, train and work with data in order to create value

The response to our call for abstracts has been impressive, says Prof. Thierry Rayna, Professor of Innovation Management École Polytechnique.

The R&D Management Conference 2019 has opened a call for submissions. Topics relating to this year’s conference main topic ‘The Innovation Challenge: Bridging Research, Industry and Society” are welcomed. Deadline March 1st 2019

The response of established businesses to the perceived threat of disruptive technologies is often counter productive, observes Prof. Thierry Rayna, Professor of Innovation Management École Polytechnique and co-chair of the 2019 R&D Management Conference.

The R&D Management Conference moves about the world and is organised by a new team each time, we asked Sihem Jouini, a professor at HEC Paris, to ask her how she got involved.

I’ve often been asked what the value of the R&D Management Conference is to a practitioner such as myself. For me, it’s often snippets of ideas that I’ve never come across before.

“The Innovation Challenge: Bridging Research, Industry and Society” is the theme of the 2019 R&D Management Conference, that will take place from 17-21 June 2019 in Paris. There is a call for proposals that will reflect the themes of the conference.  Suggestions can be seen here and they include subjects […]

The digital revolution has impacted every aspect of our lives and for R&D management it has changed the clock speed.  There is increased pressure to ‘get something out there’ and to improve new products iteratively with the involvement of partners and end-users. Accelerated development means that rigorous processes, tools and […]

Companies are increasingly investing in innovation with the intention of generating a social or environmental impact, which requires trade-offs and balance…

Supply chain innovations can drive business model innovations and vice versa.

The 2018 R&D Management Conference has opened its call for papers – the deadline for abstracts is 15 February 2018.

R&D Management Conference 2017 attendants from academia and business were able to challenge and discuss their insights and the many still open questions we face and dare to ask.

Dr Letizia Mortara has been appointed head of the R&D Management Conference Office, a new position announced by RADMA chairman Jeremy Klein at the 2017 Leuven conference.

A structured approach to R&D Management helps to de-risk innovation and this is why sharing best practice is vital for the discipline, Dr Jeremy Klein, chair of RADMA, said to delegates at the R&D Management Conference

How can we make a difference in a world ‘awash with ideas’? This is one of the keynote addresses at the R&D Management Conference 1-5 July, which provides an opportunity to hear the latest thinking in this progressive field.

The programme for the next R&D Management Conference is shaping up. There will be a good mix of sessions of interest both to academia and industry, including a session of the role of software in roadmapping.

‘Very relevant and excellently operationalised paper on the phenomenon of circular economy with focus on cradle to cradle quality standard. This is one of the first works in this area providing such broad empirical evidence’

A highlight of the year is the R&D Management Conference. The 2016 conference ‘From Science to Society: Innovation and Value Creation’ was held in Cambridge, UK, and the 2017 conference will be held at the University of Leuven, Belgium, from 2-5 July.

Over 300 papers have been presented at the R&D Management Conference representing a huge body of work.

R&D Today officially launched at R&D Management Conference 2016; community website aims to be ‘trip advisor’ of best practice.

R&D Management Conference is kindly sponsored by Beko, BP, thyssenkrupp, Routledge Taylor & Francis and Wiley. Sessions will be of interest to academics and practitioners.

R&D Management Conference includes many sessions of interest to practitioners including keynotes by Warren East of Rolls-Royce plc, Joe de Sousa AstraZeneca, David Teece Haas School of Business and Mark Samuels NIHR.