Theodora chairs the R&D selection panel at a global professional service firm. She recently had to lead the committee in deciding whether to fund a proposal from an up-and-coming engineer and one of the company’s business leaders. The project focused on how to design rooms in intensive care units to minimize sleep disruption and facilitate healing. Gerhard, from the infrastructure group in Munich, started the discussion: “This project is just too out there. It is not really what we do.” Frank, an expert in water engineering from the consulting unit in Edinburgh, said, “Funding should be sought for client work. This is not going to generate much benefit for the organization.”
The Biases That Keep Good R&D Projects from Getting Funded
And how to overcome them, according to a new study.
March 17, 2017
Summary.
The researchers explored how organizations decide to invest in different innovations by studying a large professional service firm with offices in 37 countries. They analyzed all of the R&D project proposals submitted by its staff, including information about which projects received funding, and found that managers don’t always carefully weigh the pros and cons of each project and that biases can creep into the decision-making process. They found that there is a sweet spot of novelty that makes R&D committees more likely to fund a project, and that certain characteristics of the R&D selection committee can also influence funding decisions.