Chapter 1. R&D ORGANIZATIONS AND RESEARCH CATEGORIES

Clockmakers were the first consciously to apply the theories of mechanics and physics to the making of machines. Progress came from the collaboration of scientists—Galileo, Huygens, Hooke, and others—with craftsmen and mechanics.

The Discoverers

—Daniel J. Boorstin

The historic collaboration between scientists and craftsmen to create the clock, which Boorstin calls "the mother of machines," represents a rudimentary R&D organization.

Today the complexity of the technology has created correspondingly complex organizations, with sometimes hundreds of employees. Many disciplines have to be coordinated and it's the manager who brings the many components together so they can function smoothly, each making an optimal contribution to the R&D organization. Thus, today, as in the past, progress requires collaboration.

Managing a research and development (R&D) organization is, to a great degree, the art of integrating the efforts of its many participants. Beyond this, the manager has to provide order, purpose, and foresight and do this while dealing intelligently with the uncertainty inherent in an R&D enterprise. Considering the important role R&D plays in the economic well-being of a nation, the profitability of a business enterprise, the effectiveness of a technology-based governmental agency (e.g., the Department of Defense), and the enormous investment nations make in R&D activities ($355 billion in the Unites States in 2007), effective R&D management can have profound and far-reaching consequences. Effective management, coupled with a vigorous research and science policy, is necessary for a nation to sustain economic growth, provide a strong national defense at an affordable cost, and maintain a position of leadership in the international community. It is therefore important to understand R&D organizations and their relationship to society. For this reason, the first chapter provides some basic definitions of research categories and research organizations and chapter 17 covers macro issues related to R&D and science policy. This information should be useful to those who conduct and manage research, and especially to those who seek funding support for research and who want to develop allies in influencing science policy.

This chapter first provides a perspective on R&D management and then discusses research and development definitions and categories. Sections that follow examine the question: What to research? This is in some respects a key question for an R&D manager. To what extent, for instance, should the manager allow basic research to be done in addition to the applied research needed by the organization? What is the best way to establish priorities among competing research projects? There are numerous suggestions in the literature on how to do that. Since a question is often raised as to what is so unique about an R&D organization management, a discussion of this issue is included in this introductory chapter.