Research Management
Whilst effective operational and project management will ensure
the short term success of a business, the long term success,
particularly for industries which are largely based on the
application of science, technology and engineering depend on the
development of new knowledge and techniques to maintain their
leadership.
Although research is often connected with esoteric blue skies
projects, much can be gained from well focused industry directed
projects. These projects may not carry all of the kudos of the blue
skies research but can deliver business benefits quickly with a
high return on investment. Examples of such projects include
industry wide reviews of current practice, regulatory impact
assessments and development of best practice guides.
To ensure the successful delivery of a research project, the
principals of project management need to be applied. It is
particularly important to ensure that the outputs and success
factors have been clearly defined. This is also essential for
success in any funding bids.
Collaborative projects bring particular problems and defining
the collaboration agreement, IPR ownership details and
confidentiality requirements may need careful negotiation between
the parties as wellas careful definition of the inputs and outputs
to be provided by each collaborator.