Frost & Sullivan's Growth Team Membership™ (GTM) recently completed its 2012 survey of R&D/innovation and product development executives globally. The executives were asked to identify their most pressing challenges for 2012. GTM will focus its best practices research to address the prominent issues identified in the survey.
R&D/Innovation and Product Development in 2012 - A Snapshot
- Generating an accurate and relevant technology roadmap is the primary challenge of R&D/innovation executives
- Insufficient personnel is the root cause of R&D's primary challenge
- In comparison to 2011, budgets and staffing levels are expected to increase in 2012
- The majority of companies have some staff assigned to open innovation (OI)
- Open innovation is pursued primarily for idea generation
- Creating an effective collaboration framework is the primary challenge with open innovation
2012 R&D/Innovation and Product Development Survey Executive Summary
This year's survey indicates R&D executive struggle with two chronic challenges: (1) managing the product portfolio and (2) finding the next disruptive idea. In regards to portfolio management challenges, respondents struggle to develop accurate technology maps for planning, to prioritize innovation projects, and measure their portfolios' success rate. Overcoming these challenges requires R&D executives to map out their portfolio strategy and develop key performance indicators to guide project prioritization and monitoring.
Identifying the next breakthrough idea rarely involves a "Eureka" moment, but does require time and resources. While companies understand the need to develop emerging technologies, they are reluctant to commit substantial resources to high-risk projects. This risk aversion appears to be impacting R&D budget allocations - budgets for incremental innovations are increasing, while disruptive technology budgets remain stagnant.
