How can you prioritize R&D investments while balancing other business priorities?

1 Assess your R&D portfolio

The first step to prioritize R&D investments is to evaluate your current and potential research projects based on their strategic value, feasibility, and risk. You can use various methods and frameworks to do this, such as scoring models, portfolio matrices, or decision trees. The goal is to identify the projects that have the highest potential to deliver value to your customers, stakeholders, and business objectives, while also considering the costs, resources, and uncertainties involved.

3 Balance your R&D portfolio

The third step to prioritize R&D investments is to balance your R&D portfolio across different dimensions, such as time horizon, risk level, innovation type, and resource allocation. You want to have a mix of short-term and long-term projects, low-risk and high-risk projects, incremental and radical innovations, and internal and external resources. This way, you can optimize your R&D performance, diversify your risks, and capture different sources of value.

4 Monitor and adjust your R&D investments

The fourth step to prioritize R&D investments is to monitor and adjust your R&D portfolio regularly based on the changing internal and external conditions. You need to track the progress, performance, and impact of your research projects, and compare them with your expected outcomes and assumptions. You also need to scan the environment for new trends, opportunities, and threats that may affect your R&D strategy and priorities. You should be ready to revise, terminate, or scale up your R&D investments as needed.

5 Leverage your R&D capabilities

The fifth step to prioritize R&D investments is to leverage your R&D capabilities and assets to create value for your business and customers. You need to identify and exploit the synergies, complementarities, and spillovers among your research projects, and how they can enhance your products, services, processes, or business models. You also need to protect and manage your intellectual property rights, and share and transfer your knowledge and best practices across your organization and network.

6 Learn from your R&D experiences

The sixth step to prioritize R&D investments is to learn from your R&D experiences and outcomes, and use them to improve your future decisions and actions. You need to collect and analyze data and feedback from your research projects, and evaluate their results, impacts, and lessons learned. You also need to foster a culture of learning and experimentation in your R&D team, and encourage them to test, fail, and iterate. You should celebrate your successes, acknowledge your failures, and share your insights and recommendations.

7 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?