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Running chemical R&D as a business

Posted on May 12th, 2017 by Christina Valimaki in Chemical R&D

In some companies, the R&D team is not always wholly aligned with the business executives. This can arise from communication difficulties and conflicting priorities. To bridge this gap, the heads of R&D must learn to present their goals for innovation in the language of dollars and sense.

Follow this three-point plan to help business executives and R&D management see more eye-to-eye:

Make strategic innovation investments where the majority of projects have almost guaranteed returns—then a small slice of the budget can be devoted to riskier endeavors.
Track and report results internally based on the 5-year outlook for the projects, constantly monitor the progress, adjust as needed and continually confirm that they are meeting the needs of the market.
Track and report results externally by identifying need in the market and analyze the benefits of addressing that need; when launching the product, articulate how the company solved the problem.

To learn more, read our white paper “Staying Alive: Running Chemical R&D Like a Business.”