Minutes and presentations from Management forum on long term R&D

R&D managers, regional developers and managers of large research facilities gathered on 15 November to discuss best practice for investment in long term R&D and use of large research facilities.

Bernard Cabane, CNRS Research director at ESPCI, Paris, gave a talk on "Industry and academia: experience from joint units". He described how to create a joint industry-academia unit to work on new methods for industry. He was followed by Ed Mitchell, Head of Business Development at ESRF, Grenoble who spoke about "Frameworks for industrial R&D at the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility". Anders Ola Karlsson, Research and technology manager at TetraPak Processing systems, Lund, provided an industry perspective.

Minutes from the meeting

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Cabane presentation
Mitchell presentation

Checklist for successful R&D projects
The afternoon was ended with group discussions around the creation of a checklist for successful long-term R&D projects:

Have the right person(s) in the right place(s)!

• Motivated and qualified staff
• Competence
• Age structure – ensure continuity
• Team diversity
• Effective networking

Setup the project properly!

• Limit number of partners
• Get commitment of partners
• Ownership defined and clear
• Expectations of industry involvement
• Common understanding
• Mutual benefit
• Objectives and deliverables well defined from the start
• Proper business plan (sustainable, self-generating)
• Clear responsibilities - good contracts

Setup a proper project management function!

• Open minded
• Should include a fund raising function
• Dedicated/specialised project management – do not mix roles and allows researchers to be in the lab.
• Risk analysis
• Plan with Toll gates

Other issues to consider:

• Scope
• Awareness
• Business of each other
• Stakeholders
• The fun factor!