How can you make sure your R&D projects are unique and innovative?

Make sure that internal and external stakeholders have been engaged to confirm and validate the identified goals and gaps. Develop a matrix for selecting the R&D objectives.

Understanding of the market needs is the first and most important step. It is not just the latest hype or talked about features, but what matters and would make the product more useful or valuable. Aligning these requirements to the best R&D ideas is all that is left to identify killer R&D projects.

"?Why are you innovating?" would be a question to ponder first. I find that in engineering innovation is driven by three main factors: 1) what I'm doing know won't be possible tomorrow (is unsustainable); 2) what I'm doing know can be done much better in another way; 3) An opportunity presents itself and I have to innovate to take advantage of it. In some contexts a fourth factor may come into play: sheer creativity, in which case is not a matter of taking advantage of an opportunity, but of creating such opportunity. Identifying the driving factor helps set goals, strategy, and priorities.

1. Encourage a culture of innovation: Foster an environment that promotes creativity, 2. Set clear goals and objectives: Define specific, measurable, and achievable goals that align with your organization's vision. 3. Conduct thorough market research: Analyze competitors, industry trends, and customer needs to identify untapped opportunities. 4. Embrace diverse perspectives: Assemble a diverse team with various backgrounds, expertise, and experiences to bring unique insights. 5. Adopt a user-centered approach: Focus on solving real-world problems and creating solutions that meet users' needs. 6. Stay up-to-date with emerging technologies: Leverage cutting-edge technologies, tools, and methodologies to drive innovation.

The main Objective of R & D is to develop product at affordable prices and by assessing and eliminating majority of adverse drug reactions and events with appropriate therapeutic efficacy and continuous availability of product in the market and sourcing of container closure system with least interaction on drug product with respect to Extractable/ leachable and dye migration perspective and cost effectiveness.

To generate new R&D ideas, explore your options and opportunities by: 1. Scanning emerging technologies, market trends, and customer needs 2. Brainstorming with a diverse team, including customers, suppliers, and experts 3. Analyzing customer feedback, complaints, and suggestions 4. Conducting market research to identify unmet needs and opportunities 5. Reviewing patent and scientific literature 6. Benchmarking against competitors

Sage advice: "you should aim to generate as many ideas as possible". This is true for all settings (university, startup, large company, etc.). One way to increase idea generation is to increase the headcount and one way to do this is to bring on a few seasoned consultants which can be more affordable than hiring more full-time personnel. Recognize that idea generation doesn't happen at any particular hour or day, so consultants used for the purpose of idea generation need to be engaged for a period, several months perhaps (even if just for a few hours each week to sit in on weekly group meetings, etc). Engaging consultants in this manner gets the consultant up to speed and increases the chances they contribute that sought after eureka idea.

R&D projects are unique and innovative, specifically given your background and experience: - Developing new technologies to improve the performance and efficiency of 5G networks. - Designing new network architectures to support next-generation applications, such as augmented reality and virtual reality. - Developing new methods to secure telecom networks from cyberattacks. - Creating new tools and software to help telecom operators manage their networks and services more effectively. - Exploring the use of emerging technologies, such as artificial intelligence and machine learning, to improve the performance and efficiency of telecom networks.

Diversity in thought and experience is a catalyst for innovative ideas. However, the real challenge lies in the filtration and prioritization of these ideas. Novelty alone isn't sufficient! The ideas must be relevant to the market and feasible to execute within your resources and capabilities. This is where tools like SWOT analysis, patent analysis, and feasibility studies become invaluable. They help in assessing the potential impact and practicality of the ideas. Finally, it’s important to maintain a flexible approach. In the rapidly changing technology landscape, being able to pivot and adapt your R&D strategy is crucial.

For a company's R&D, IP landscaping can shed light on market trends, emerging technologies, research gaps, and key players, including researchers and competitors in the area of interest.

Innovation Recipe? Trial and Error Prototype, test, refine – these are your ingredients for success. Tools like mockups, surveys, and user testing are your kitchen gadgets. Don't fear failure; it's your taste tester. Learn from it, adapt, and create a recipe of innovation that's uniquely yours.

Learn and practice DoE principles. Nobody has infinite time or energy to execute full factorial matrices. Separating coarse from fine tuning of parameters frees you to perform more replicates. This allows you to stand firmly behind your data, and more importantly it allows you and your team to run faster by running smarter. Picking up JMP helps massively, makes plotting data a breeze.

Experimentation is very time consuming and money intensive. To reduce the number of experimentation and budget requirement, to the extent possible, digital tools employing simulation, digital twin, CAD/CAM, modelling, etc shall be used. For experimentation design of experiments and Taguchi methods are helpful in reducing the number of experiments and noise reduction.

Pursue new concepts, sometimes we stay at the confort zone of if it works don’t touch it. Investigate funny behaviours, some of my bes breakthroughs came while dealing with unexpected results that at first glance seemed a bug or an issue, most times it is, but there are few instances where that spot gives you a marvellous insight that helps you increase your development to new highs you where not having in mind before.

In complex projects, co-creation in experimenting new solutions and developing new tools. This is a major aspect in projects we’re you want to increase the success of having user requirements integrated in a lean and sustainable fashion.

It's a team sport! Engage with stakeholders like customers, investors, and regulators. Involve them in every step from ideation to implementation. Share your journey, including challenges and successes. Their insights and support are your secret sauce for groundbreaking R&D. Innovation thrives in the collective, not in solitude.

Industry-academic collaboration for R&D projects can offer several benefits. Academic institutions often have advanced research facilities and expertise, while industries can provide funding and practical insights. Collaboration can lead to the development of innovative solutions and the transfer of technology from academia to industry. The projects may also lead to joint publications and shared intellectual property rights, benefiting both parties.

La comunicación permanente, es clave en el funcionamiento de los equipos. Esto incluye la definición correcta y precisa de las metas, objetivos y de las tareas y responsabilidades de cada integrante del equipo del proyecto. Fallar en la comunicación del objetivo o responsabilidades, puede hacer fallar el proyecto. También debe haber una comunicación interna fluida, entre los miembros, para una colaboración más eficiente, con reuniones periódicas, breves, con objetivos y resultados definidos previamente. Siempre debe haber retroalimentación del equipo interno y de la parte interesada externa, que permitan adaptarse continuamente.

As a graduate student during the Covid pandemic, I quickly recognized the critical importance of global collaboration to advance my research objectives. The success of my project success hinged on connecting with experts worldwide, so I proactively sought out global research partnerships. Through these collaborations, we collectively tackled complex challenges by leveraging diverse perspectives and expertise, and achieved significant milestones, resulting in multiple publications that not only propelled my research forward but also fostered valuable connections within the global academic community. These partnerships not only mitigated the disruptions caused by the pandemic but also enriched the depth and breadth of my research endeavors.

There is a nice bit of whole value chain innovation process! I’d add from my experience in academia, education, startups, and innovation analysis: A lot of friction in the process can be avoided by good record keeping as you go. Never plan to write it up later, train yourself and your team to make it good enough as they perform the work. Of course, one still summarises separately at appropriate milestones for reflection and reporting. Consider open lab books to synthesise team work and individual work into a more creative whole. Share work early without judgement for greatest transparency and growth opportunity. Practice immediacy and radical candour. You didn’t break it, it got broken, and why? How do we avoid that in future?

In my experience, it's essential to possess a deep understanding of existing knowledge, identify gaps within that knowledge, and craft a well-defined research question to ensure your R&D projects are not only unique but also drive innovation

Consider viewing the R&D project portfolio through a lens of "multiple futures" and maintain projects that remain viable in a variety of future scenarios. Relatedly, be aware of projects that are less robust to changes in the marketplace and actively monitor them as the future unfolds.

My primary goal in this scenario would be to identify the problem I am trying to address completely. Then deep dive into understanding the root cause of the problem.. In my case a disease/condition/ process that R&D is addressing. Once this understanding is clear I look into the traditional, contemporary ways of addressing the project. Once this is ready only then I try to identify the latest technology/technique that I can apply to the project to get the best results and data which is safe and acceptable by the regulations. This process makes the project unique in its own way.

Before writing any research project, do a through literature survey, which guides you towards specific objectives and clear innovation pathway.

As many would say, without failures, they could never be success, and in R&D is even more relevant. This is all because any types of data contributes to somewhere in a research projects, learn from all the failures, adept to all different kind of ways to process it

A couple of thoughts that come to mind: 1. Holistic Approach to Innovation. 2. Inclusion of Risk in Innovation. 3. Multidisciplinary Team Building. 4. Problem-Centric Focus and Iteration. 5. Cross-Pollination of Ideas.

It is my experience that a multidimensional R&D project becomes successful when a functional multicultural team manages the project. This is not about "political correctness". In fact, G-d designed all of us to be different. Females have a diffident way of thinking, compared to males - consider intuition, rational thinking. Similarly, engineers vs. "poets" see events differently and can offer different solutions. Each team member should bring a unique perspective and must be heard with equal attention.

Interesting question - but I think that I question an implied assumption. Both in my experience and in the wider literature, one of the best ways to make a project successful is to /avoid/ uniqueness and innovation wherever possible! As Flyvbjerg would say, make your project "one of those". But, many will say, the point of R&D is to do unique and innovative things! Not so, I reply: the point, certainly at the D end of the spectrum, is to deliver a uniquely valuable experience to your customer; your job as a good R&D leader is to do this with the least actual innovation possible - not because you're lazy, but because you're boxing clever and know that any risk which doesn't hold the promise of value for the customer is cost for no benefit.

Start with the user experience and work back toward the technology, not the other way around. Divide the user experience into the smallest steps possible, and that’s where you’ll find the right questions for the answers you have OR the right answers for the questions nobody thought of yet. Read between the finest and simplest details to find your silver lining. Once you conclude the idea statement, then comes the most important part: "execution". When done the right way, the combination of ‘Research’ and ‘Development’ inherently becomes innovative. After all, R&D is fundamentally driven by curiosity; the same force that has led to the greatest discoveries and inventions in the world. Rest is your luck.

Long-Term Vision: Embrace projects that harbor long-term promise, recognizing that genuine innovation frequently necessitates extended periods for development and maturation. Compliance with Regulations: Maintain up-to-date awareness of industry regulations and standards. Ensuring that your innovative solutions align with these requirements is paramount for achieving success in your ventures.