logologologo
  • Home
  • About
    • Contributors
    • Guide for contributors
  • Themes
    • Roadmapping
    • Open Innovation
    • Managing the R&D pipeline
    • Technology Strategy
    • Managing international R&D
    • Ideation and creativity in R&D
    • Impact of digital technologies
    • The resurgence of frugal innovation
    • Design Thinking
    • Penetrating the fog of Agile
    • China’s Belt and Road Initiative, a new model for Open Innovation
  • Tools
  • News
    • R&D Today newsletter archive
  • Resources
  • Papers
  • Case Studies
  • Events
  • R&D Conference
  • Contact
  • Home
  • About
    • Contributors
    • Guide for contributors
  • Themes
    • Roadmapping
    • Open Innovation
    • Managing the R&D pipeline
    • Technology Strategy
    • Managing international R&D
    • Ideation and creativity in R&D
    • Impact of digital technologies
    • The resurgence of frugal innovation
    • Design Thinking
    • Penetrating the fog of Agile
    • China’s Belt and Road Initiative, a new model for Open Innovation
  • Tools
  • News
    • R&D Today newsletter archive
  • Resources
  • Papers
  • Case Studies
  • Events
  • R&D Conference
  • Contact

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.

The pipeline will contain a variety of projects, some short-term and others long-term, but all involving a greater or lesser degree of innovation and hence of uncertainty.

This may be not only on the technical side, regarding what can be achieved, but also on issues, such as manufacturability, the size of the market, what balance of features will appeal to customers and so on. In the early stages of more innovative and hence longer-term projects these uncertainties may be largely unresolved and yet decisions must be made.

Managing the R&D pipeline

Valuation

The first issue in pipeline management is how to estimate the likely profitability of each project and the investment required. This will include resource not only in the design but also in the other parts of the organisation needed to bring the product to market. This is the Valuation problem.

When projects are near to commercialisation managers must expect a financially-based valuation. But earlier on the information required for this may be unreliable or unavailable and choices must be made on other grounds, for example using multi-factor scoring methods.

Portfolio mix

The second issue is to decide what mix of projects is required to meet the long-term and short-term needs of the organisation. This may involve choosing, for example, a mix of long and short term or low and high risk projects, as well balancing the needs of different market sectors or parts of the business. This is the Portfolio problem. People often talk of achieving portfolio “balance” but a better word is “compromise” because the portfolio is bound to be different from what one would obtain from merely selecting projects in order of their expected value. How can this be done rationally?

Management

Finally, as projects proceed they may turn out better or worse than hoped so managers must be ready to review them, change course or possibly cancel them.

This is the Management problem. It also includes the issues of how best to assemble and visualise the information, some of it factual some of it intuitive, on which decisions will be based; and the best way (is there one?) to handle the cancellation of projects that people may have worked on enthusiastically for a long time.

For many organisations successful management of the R&D pipeline is key to longer term success. For sectors where the R&D process is expensive, the timeline is long and project attrition is high, management of the pipeline is critical.

Best practice

Within this theme ‘Managing the R&D Pipeline’ we will present some examples of what we consider to be useful tools and examples of good practice and also some of the papers written about this subject that provide useful insights.  We hope this will be a starting point for useful discussions and would welcome your contributions, through the contact form.

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
View our newsletter archive
Associated Papers
  • Building Innovation Capabilities
Related Posts
  • Reviewing the innovation pipeline to detect timely opportunity
  • Techniques for Effective Prioritisation
  • Improving Product Features: When is More Less?
Tools
  • Green Check Your Idea
    “Green Check Your Idea” – assess the environmental impact of innovation ideas
    The Green Check Your Idea tool helps innovation managers prepare an initial assessment of...
  • Innovation Fitness Test - a tool to help scoring
    John Bessant recommends this tool developed by colleagues in Canada which helps with using...
  • Kano model of product or service features 2
    Improving Product Features: When is More Less?
    Different types of feature have different effects on customer satisfaction - analysis by Quality...
  • Paul Barrett
    Tools support objective discussion of portfolio strategy
    Paul Barrett is part of a RADMA working group providing a selection of recommended...
  • Creating compelling objectives to deliver strategic growth platforms
    Leaders want their teams to think beyond the day-to-day and create thriving visions for...
Have Your Say…

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.

Posts relating to managing the R&D pipeline

  • R&D Banner
    Strategic Project & Portfolio Management Conference
    Berlin, Germany / virtual; 2 – 4 February, 2022. Prioritising projects is critical to avoid wasteful or loss-making investments. This conference looks at techniques for project and portfolio management.
    Read More
  • The problem with Value
    Answering the question "What is the value of R&D activity?"
    The question that all R&D managers are asked is "What value will this activity generate for the company, its products and services?” In her paper Valerie Lynch explores the ways that this thorny question can be answered.
    Read More
  • Effective decision-making in R&D - Biofilms
    Effective decision-making in R&D: a case study using biofilms
    Deciding which project to progress when the technologies and applications are diverse is a challenge that faces many innovation managers. In this guest blog Mark Richardson, CEO of the National Biofilms Innovation Centre, discusses how he resolved this problem and introduced an objective scoring system for projects. 
    Read More
  • RnD Lab after lockdown
    Challenges of opening labs after lockdown
    Gradual lifting of lockdown by the UK government means that laboratories in both academic and industrial settings will be opening, Steve Bone explains this is far from trivial and offers some advice on best practice. 
    Read More
  • Peter Robbins
    Managing the Front End of Innovation - could Goal Orientation hold the key?
    The leadership style of the innovation team leader - learning goal or performance goal - sets the team's ambition for front-end innovation, Peter Robbins found; "for genuinely novel, original ideas a learning motivation is needed."
    Read More
  • Hourglass - time in R&D
    The Cost of Time in R&D projects
    Rick Mitchell explains how to estimate in financial terms the impact of delay to an R&D project - a vital input when deciding what actions are worth taking.
    Read More
  • Paired comparison
    Techniques for Effective Prioritisation
    Gut feeling may be a valid basis for making decisions about your personal life but a more objective and rigorous approach is needed within R&D Management.
    Read More
  • Lessons learnt or lessons lost
    R&D Post-Project Reviews: Lessons Learnt or Lessons Lost?
    For every new product development important lessons are learnt but unless these are captured and shared future teams will waste time and effort solving similar problems, argues Keith Goffin. Good post-project reviews (PPRs) can be invaluable in making future developments more productive.
    Read More
  • Margherita Pero
    Managing at the intersection between Innovation and supply chain management
    Supply chain innovations can drive business model innovations and vice versa.
    Read More
  • Kano model of product or service features 2
    Improving Product Features: When is More Less?
    Different types of feature have different effects on customer satisfaction - analysis by Quality expert, Noriaki Kano, is just as relevant now as it was in 1984
    Read More
  • Managing the R&D pipeline
    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. The pipeline will contain a variety of projects, some short-term and others long-term, but all involving a greater or lesser degree of innovation...
    Read More
  • Efficiency of engineers working on multiple projects
    Loading and Turbulence in R&D: Is there a Reynolds Number?
    A friend in R&D was moaning about how his CEO was forever loading new projects into R&D. “It just fouls things up”, he said, “The more we try and take on, the less actually gets done”. It got me thinking is there a Reynold's number for R&D that predicts when more is genuinely less.
    Read More
  • Is effective R&D Management training available?
    Although there are many tools and methodologies available to support R&D and much best practice, this is not readily available to those in industry. Assessing the appropriateness of R&D management training would make a good industry project for a masters student.
    Read More
  • Rick Mitchell
    John Shave’s “Revenue Replacement Rule”
    When I was an R&D manager I often used to face the situation John Shave describes in his introduction when I was asked to approve projects that didn’t seem to be an adequate use of the engineers’ time, and yet I didn’t have a persuasive answer. Shave'sRevenue Replace Rule offers a powerful truth.
    Read More
  • How end user focus determines clock speed for R&D programmes
    Procter & Gamble is a global consumer products company, the R&D activities are strongly driven by consumer needs and as a result the clock speed is fast. Many projects complete within six months to a year, with management requiring status reports every two weeks. Dr Hajime Endo now of TouGas Oilfield Solutions compares his experiences at P&G with...
    Read More
  • Top Trumps with Joe De Sousa
    Using the game 'Top Trumps' as a communications tool
    Large R&D centric businesses have a huge asset in the vast experience that exists in their leading scientists - every trick in the book should be used to help staff access this expertise...
    Read More
  • Hurdlers feat
    Learning from the past: portfolio management in pharma R&D
    Pharmaceutical R&D is a complex, long and expensive task with a high project attrition rate. Only 5% of drug projects, that reach the stage of first human dose progress through all phases of clinical trials to reach patients.
    Read More
  • Assessing Risks in R&D projects
    Making up a “Risk Register” at the beginning of an R&D project obviously makes a lot of sense. However, risk assessment is not easy. There are some helpful tools like Failure Mode and Effect Analysis (FMEA), but it all relies on team members being able and willing to identify the risks.
    Read More
  • Thinking, fast and slow
    Decisions in projects: how good is intuition?
    Intuition can be very powerful, but when faced with novel situations our intuition is surprisingly easily led astray. There’s a whole body of work on this in the field of Behavioural Economics.
    Read More
  • EPSRC Portfolio diagram
    Portfolio Visualisation: Making it easy, being transparent, making better decisions
    A good understanding of the R&D pipeline and portfolio is essential to reduce waste, duplication and poor use of valuable resources, says Joe de Sousa of AstraZeneca
    Read More
  • Building Innovation Capabilities: An Inquiry into the Dynamic Growth Process of University Spin-Outs in China
    Building Innovation Capabilities
    University spinout (USO) are an important source of innovation however concerns are raised about the mediocre survival rate in general and even a lower rate for those to grow larger. This paper aims to develop a conceptual framework, in order to understand the dynamic growth process of university spin-outs (USOs) in China.
    Read More
  • Forecasting emerging technologies: Use of bibliometrics and patent analysis
    Forecasting emerging technologies: Use of bibliometrics and patent analysis
    It is challenging to forecast emerging technologies as there is no historical data available. However, the use of use of bibliometrics and patent analysis has provided useful data.
    Read More
  • Frugal innovation in a complex world
    Frugal innovation in a complex world
    Resources are increasingly scarce and organizations are looking for ways to do more with less. The frugal approach can be applied to intellectual and skilled resources as much as to physical ones – something of relevance in a world where R&D productivity is increasingly an issue.
    Read More
  • Valuing and comparing small portfolios
    Many of the tools used in valuing and selecting projects are only really applicable to large portfolios because they assess value by using statistical concepts such as probability, mean and risk.
    Read More
  • The theory of crowd capital
    Crowdsourcing is well-known as a problem-solving and production model but how can organisations use it effectively?
    Read More
  • Portfolio Management techniques
    Portfolio management is crucial to balance benefit against risk. A number of techniques are discussed in this workbook created by Joe Tidd and John Bessant of the Innovation Portal.
    Read More

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.