logologologo
  • Home
  • About
    • Contributors
    • Guide for contributors
  • Themes
    • Technology strategy
    • Open innovation
    • Roadmapping
    • Managing international R&D
    • Managing the R&D pipeline
    • Ideation and creativity in R&D
  • Tools
  • News
  • Resources
  • Papers
  • Case Studies
  • Events
  • R&D Conference
  • Contact
  • Home
  • About
    • Contributors
    • Guide for contributors
  • Themes
    • Technology strategy
    • Open innovation
    • Roadmapping
    • Managing international R&D
    • Managing the R&D pipeline
    • Ideation and creativity in R&D
  • Tools
  • News
  • Resources
  • Papers
  • Case Studies
  • Events
  • R&D Conference
  • Contact

Themes

Rationale for selection of key themes

There is no shortage of challenges facing R&D managers in today's world, but sources of practical help can be in short supply.

We asked R&D managers across a range of industry sectors, and within organisations of varying size, what topics they wanted to know more about.  This revealed a list of subject areas where more information and advice would be helpful.

We have selected six of these to become ‘themes’ on the R&D Today website and invited some experienced practitioners and respected academics to curate each theme and contribute their own views and personal recommendations for good tools, papers and other resources.

As the dialogue develops, we plan to extend the survey, identify and support additional themes, and include comments and experience from other R&D professionals around the world.

If there is a subject that you feel would benefit from this treatment then do get in touch and if you would like to become a theme editor please see further details here.

Technology Strategy

A technology strategy – that is aligned with the corporate mission – can help focus R&D on doing the right things for growth. It can also support the R&D manager when making difficult decisions such as how to restructure the department or manage the product portfolio.

It can also help objectively identify the right technology opportunities and defend from possible technology disrupters. Read more.

Theme editors

Imoh Ilevbare
Imoh Ilevbare

Imoh works at the Institute for Manufacturing, University of Cambridge as a Senior Solutions Development Specialist.

Steve Bone
Steve Bone

Steve is a recognised thought leader and co-founded nu Angle.

Managing International R&D

There are many challenges when managing international R&D, some of these are similar to those of international management in general but some elements come into sharper focus due to the concentrated nature of the knowledge assets. Read more.

Theme editors

Yongjiang Shi

Yongjiang is Research Director of the Centre for International Manufacturing and a lecturer at IfM.

Allison Haitz
Allison Haitz

Allison is VP Business Unit Head of Food at Wacker.

Ideation and Creativity in R&D

Creativity and ideation is a vital part of the R&D process and one that is of great interest to managers. Read more.

Theme editors

Ieva Martinaityte
Ieva Martinaityte

Ieva is a lecturer in Business and Management at University of East Anglia.

Anne Miller
Anne Miller

Anne is an innovator, entrepreneur and Director of the Creativity Partnership.

Roadmapping

Roadmapping is a powerful technique for planning an organisation’s technological capabilities to ensure they meet its commercial or strategic goals.

The concept provides a metaphorical image of a roadmap being used to navigate a business through partly known/unknown territories. Read more.

Theme editors

Rob Phaal
Rob Phaal

Rob is Principal Research Associate for the Department of Engineering at University of Cambridge.

Clare Farrukh
Clare Farrukh

Clare is Senior Research Associate of Technology Management at IfM.

Sven Schimpf
Sven Schimpf

Sven is the Managing Director of Fraunhofer Group for Innovation Research.

Managing the R&D Pipeline

For many companies the R&D pipeline contains ‘the future of the company’ as it is the main and often the only, source of future products. Therefore managing the pipeline is a business function, not just a technical one. Read more. 

Theme editors

Rick Mitchell
Rick Mitchell

Rick is a Visiting Professor of Innovation for University of Cambridge and Cranfield University.

Joe de Sousa
Joe de Sousa

Dr Joe de Sousa is Senior Leader, Non-Executive Director and Consultant at Melhor Consulting.

Open Innovation

Open Innovation (OI) is an approach whereby organisations, originally companies but increasingly governments and NGOs, seek to collaborate with others to deliver innovation. Innovation is naturally a collaborative activity, but the practice really came to the attention of practitioners and academics when Henry Chesbrough coined the phrase ‘Open Innovation’ in 2003 in a book of the same name.

This theme could equally have been titled ‘Collaborative Innovation’, and we’ll be embracing best practice and learning from all manner of such activities. Read more.

Theme editors

Tim Minshall
Tim Minshall

Tim is Head of the Centre for Technology Management at IfM

Letizia Mortara
Letizia Mortara

Letizia is a Lecturer at the University of Cambridge and Head of the R&D Management Conference.

Dominic Oughton
Dominic Oughton

Dominic is Principal Industrial Fellow for IfM Education and Consultancy Services Associates

Search R&D Today
Search
Generic filters
Exact matches only
Search in title
Search in content
Search in excerpt
Filter by Article Type
Papers
Events
Tools
Funding Articles
Case Studies
Resources
Opportunities
Theme Editor Blogs
Filter by Categories
Business model innovation
Ideation and creativity in R&D
Latest news
Managing international R&D
Managing technology platforms
Managing the R&D pipeline
Open innovation
Outsourcing R&D
Project valuation and selection
R&D strategy
Roadmapping
Stage gate processes
Technology intelligence
Tools
  • portfolio tools
    Portfolio management tools and approaches
    The aim of portfolio management is to ensure that a sensible set of innovation...
  • 'How to' statements
    A useful tool in creative problem solving is the ‘how to’ statement which provides...
  • Innovation Fitness Test - a tool to help scoring
    John Bessant recommends this tool developed by colleagues in Canada which helps with using...
  • Frugal Innovation Index
    Frugal innovation - competitive advantage when resources are limited
    Frugal innovation allows a company with a quality product to compete effectively with cheaper...
  • TRIZ Toolkit
    The challenge of applying TRIZ tool kit for ideation
    TRIZ (the theory of inventive problem solving) provides a logical approach to developing creativity...
Have Your Say…

Have Your Say / Follow Us

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

Click here to sign up to our newsletter, and click here to view our newsletter archive.

Copyright R&D Today 2020. All rights reserved.