How do you respond to changing customer needs in R&D?

Customer centricity is the most important need for every function. Innovation and Research have a direct linkage to needs of customers and therefore any changes reflecting the needs of customers need to be an important strategic input for building Research Portfolio. While some of the changing needs are fast and obvious few of them are meant for medium to long term. Preparedness for short and long term technology development to meet and fulfil needs of customers is essential for all R and D professionals.

Being agile and being customer-centric with our R&D are necessary if organisations want to be competitive and adaptive as product life cycles get shorter and shorter. This probably involves harnessing technology (AI amongst others) and data insights. Using feedback and observation analysis of our customers will be a key inputs in terms of data. From there we can predict trends, and personalise our R&D solutions. Collaboration and the ability to iterate through the R&D cycles will be critical to innovate and create tailored products that address changing demands.

Adapting to evolving customer needs in healthcare R&D is crucial. Engaging medical professionals, patients, and regulatory bodies through regular feedback loops aids in device development. Real-world data collaboration identifies trends and unmet needs, enhancing solutions. Agile methodologies allow flexibility, incorporating feedback swiftly. Active listening and incremental adjustments are key. This approach ensures alignment with changing patient care demands.

A good idea may become redundant with time if it takes too long to execute! R&D is not just about executing your vision, but to do it in time to benefit the customer and the organization. A good inter-departmental connect with sales team is very essential to understand consumer needs when working in a large organization. Only they have their ear to the ground, in a manner of speaking. For a startup, a detailed customer survey with potential users is THE MOST IMPORTANT STEP in designing your solution/ product/ service. Without this, you are bound to fail! And this interaction is necessary from time to time to understand the changing needs as well.

In current times, research and development is linked to customers' needs and their changing environemnet. Working with commerciall clients over the years revelaed that the research and development needed by the industry (clients) is scarcely available or accomplished by the academicians. The reasons are different interests as clients need solutions to their problem and success in resolving those problem help grow clients business and revenue, as opposed to the publications oriented research undertaken by most academicians which is not very uselful or targeted at providing solutions to customers in generals needs. The gap between "wanted and novel" reseach need to be bridged to support the industry and help community.

In the realm of medical device R&D, vigilant environmental monitoring is paramount. As healthcare landscapes shift rapidly, staying attuned to market trends, regulatory shifts, and technological advancements is pivotal. Employing strategic analyses like SWOT and PESTEL helps discern opportunities and potential pitfalls, guiding innovations that align with evolving customer expectations and stringent industry standards. By benchmarking against rivals and industry norms, medical device developers can refine their approaches, fostering competitive strengths and addressing weaknesses, thereby ensuring cutting-edge solutions that not only meet but exceed the dynamic demands of both patients and practitioners.

Fundamental tech research involves exhaustive market analysis, predicting trends, and aligning with expectations to achieve novelty in technology, materials, or products. This long-term pursuit necessitates deep pre-project comprehension. While anticipating market shifts and their impact is tough, meticulous planning with contingencies is beneficial. A robust partnership among R&D, business, and market analysis is vital for focused research.

Porter’s Five Forces model is a powerful tool to identify strengths and weaknesses of an R&D organisation and provide direction to remain competitive in the market. I had opportunity to apply this model successfully in the case of a startup in the area of Numerical Simulation and modelling, where I worked as a senior technical consultant.

The overall themes "understand customer, monitor environment, involve customers, .. " are stable - what is challenging is the need to re-invent all the time how you do this to ensure you are slightly ahead of the curve. Taking this theme - involving customers - we see a growing trend to interact "virtually". Examples can be creating virtual digital twins that enable customers to "play" with different options of what could be possible in their next generation offerings if they used you or helping testing virtual "proof of concepts". In this way enabling customers reduce costs and speed up their time to market. This approach in some ways starts to blur the lines between customer involvement, marketing/ sales & R&D

When maintaining the technical baseline, the most successful projects, in my experience, involve a strong rapport with customers, fostering collaborative problem-solving. In such scenarios, changes can be anticipated and both sides can offer explanations. This necessitates an understanding of the market, customer needs, and their unique problem-solving approaches (which can differ significantly among customers). This comprehension, combined with robust technical support, forms the bedrock for profitable R&D efforts. Ultimately, in today's modern landscape, agility, adaptability, and compelling technical justifications have ascended in importance.

In the sphere of medical device R&D, engaging customers directly in the innovation journey is a paradigm shift. Embracing techniques like crowdsourcing and open innovation allows patients and healthcare professionals to contribute real-world insights, nurturing solutions that genuinely resonate. User-generated content and feedback loops provide crucial input, ensuring that evolving needs are met with agile, iterative solutions. This collaborative approach not only fosters unwavering customer loyalty and satisfaction but also fuels groundbreaking advancements. By inviting customers into the R&D process, medical device developers forge a potent bond, fostering a dynamic ecosystem of innovation and ultimately, improved patient outcomes.

I wouldn't see this as a 3rd step, but rather a first step. See my comments above to understand we always start with involving the customer before our first effective steps towards a solution begin ... In the end, the customer needs to be satisfied with the solution provided.

I agree with the fact that it is the customer who needs to be satisfied ultimately, hence, involving customer in identifying problems and providing solutions should be the priority.

Testing your assumptions and hypothesis can be challenging, try looking into prior art or information available and set up your borders. To get rid of bias use statistical software in combination with technical knowledge for evaluation.

In the dynamic realm of medical device R&D, the pursuit of innovation hinges on the willingness to experiment and learn. Rigorous testing with actual users, be it healthcare professionals or patients, unveils invaluable insights that refine assumptions and prototypes. Metrics like customer satisfaction, adoption rates, and revenue growth serve as beacons, guiding the path to success. By embracing methodologies like the lean startup approach and design thinking, medical device developers can navigate the intricacies of failure and triumph. This adaptive mindset enables continuous improvement, ensuring that R&D endeavors remain steadfast in addressing evolving needs while driving transformative advancements in healthcare technology.

In the realm of medical device R&D, cultivating an innovation-driven culture is the catalyst for groundbreaking advancements. Nurturing a team that thrives on curiosity, collaboration, and adaptability is pivotal. Providing resources and autonomy empowers them to explore uncharted territories, translating inventive ideas into tangible solutions. Acknowledging both successes and failures as vital steps in the journey fosters resilience and continuous growth. By celebrating innovation, medical device organizations invigorate their teams to craft solutions that resonate with ever-evolving patient needs, propelling the industry toward a future of transformative healthcare technologies and enhanced patient outcomes.

This is very important aspect in a R&D team. We can use tools such as sprints, scrums, kanban boards, or retrospectives to plan, execute, monitor, and improve our R&D activities. By using an agile and iterative approach, we can reduce the risk of failure, increase the speed of delivery, and improve the quality of your outcomes and have good room for innovation.

In todays fast ever evolving market, it is key to keep up with market dynamics and early signs of change. Two main parameters to monitor are general economic indicators as well as strategies and goal settings of key players in the market.

I like this category the most. From my current CSO, "Take the organization to become a transformational leader." From the beloved Steve Jobs, give customers something that they don't know what it is, but they will fall in love with it when they see it -- which is the Kano model to delight the customers. How to get there is the QFD tool which I use to translate from VOC into speciations, and I'm referring to OTS more than MTO for exceptional branding. After QFD, rather than to use OFAT or Taguchi method for fractional-factorial DOE like years ago, apply AI with deep ML to create predicting models to understand which attribute data become critical predictors for the needed response, & all predicting models are trained, validated and tested.

I agree. Future thinking is the way to go. Ideally, you know exactly what your customers will need in the future. Then you can start anticipating. On the other hand, your customers don't always express (or know) their future needs. They usually talk about (current) unmet needs. In our experience, innovation is also sometimes about surfing the wave of an emerging technology trend, implementing it and disrupting your market. I realize this carries a higher risk than a pure market-pull approach. On the other hand, short-term R&D initiatives can focus on using solutions with a high TRL, while in the background you can invest in research and tailoring this disruptive idea into a truly breakthrough product. My five cents.

I feel anticipating future needs of the potential customers is key to advance R&D planning for future projects from customers. Being an aerospace specialist I had the right connections in the aerospace and defence organisations, which helped me anticipate their future needs and thus help my organisation to be future ready.

In my experience, customers set out with a ambitious goal and aggressive target timeline in a well meant good intention. However, all things change as time come along partly their customers (and their customers’, etc) change theirs too. It’s evolving and fluent. In many cases, projects are not executed on time due to scope creep and waning interest and changing targets. Instead of setting lofty grandiose goal and target, they should be more focused and reasonably executable within a timely manner.

Responding to changing customer needs in R&D involves a dynamic and adaptable approach. Engage with customers through surveys, interviews, feedback forms, and market research to understand their changing needs, preferences, and pain points. Identify patterns and trends in customer feedback and market data. Collaborate with marketing, sales, and customer support teams to gain a comprehensive understanding of customer needs and expectations. Maintain a flexible product or project roadmap that can accommodate changes. Create feedback loops with customers during development phases. Conduct regular review meetings involving cross-functional teams to assess progress, align with changing needs, and make informed decisions.

I agree with the different steps of the approach that are relatively exhaustive. To simplify the workload, I would suggest to identify key clustomers/players for one given market and have with them periodic meeting to detect potential changes.

Two things to ad: -In earlier TRL’s, I believe, it’s important to balance market needs with fundamental research to avoid creating more of the same and enable break-through innovation. -Involving all functions in the value chain to capture critical details that can secure future profitability.

A business model becomes necessary along with R&D programs. For example, providing reliable electricity to farmers requires a deep understanding of purchasing power of this segment as also the technology gaps. A business model that makes it possible for an appropriate technology to be a viable solution is essential for successful deployment. A decentralized power generation technology of capacity 20 kWs or higher failed because business model to match the purchasing power of farmers was not considered.