strategic planning for research and development

Building an R&D strategy for modern times

The global investment in research and development (R&D) is staggering. In 2019 alone, organizations around the world spent $2.3 trillion on R&D—the equivalent of roughly 2 percent of global GDP—about half of which came from industry and the remainder from governments and academic institutions. What’s more, that annual investment has been growing at approximately 4 percent per year over the past decade. 1 2.3 trillion on purchasing-power-parity basis; 2019 global R&D funding forecast , Supplement, R&D Magazine, March 2019, rdworldonline.com.

While the pharmaceutical sector garners much attention due to its high R&D spending as a percentage of revenues, a comparison based on industry profits shows that several industries, ranging from high tech to automotive to consumer, are putting more than 20 percent of earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) back into innovation research (Exhibit 1).

What do organizations expect to get in return? At the core, they hope their R&D investments yield the critical technology from which they can develop new products, services, and business models. But for R&D to deliver genuine value, its role must be woven centrally into the organization’s mission. R&D should help to both deliver and shape corporate strategy, so that it develops differentiated offerings for the company’s priority markets and reveals strategic options, highlighting promising ways to reposition the business through new platforms and disruptive breakthroughs.

Yet many enterprises lack an R&D strategy that has the necessary clarity, agility, and conviction to realize the organization’s aspirations. Instead of serving as the company’s innovation engine, R&D ends up isolated from corporate priorities, disconnected from market developments, and out of sync with the speed of business. Amid a growing gap in performance  between those that innovate successfully and those that do not, companies wishing to get ahead and stay ahead of competitors need a robust R&D strategy that makes the most of their innovation investments. Building such a strategy takes three steps: understanding the challenges that often work as barriers to R&D success, choosing the right ingredients for your strategy, and then pressure testing it before enacting it.

Overcoming the barriers to successful R&D

The first step to building an R&D strategy is to understand the four main challenges that modern R&D organizations face:

Innovation cycles are accelerating. The growing reliance on software and the availability of simulation and automation technologies have caused the cost of experimentation to plummet while raising R&D throughput. The pace of corporate innovation is further spurred by the increasing emergence of broadly applicable technologies, such as digital and biotech, from outside the walls of leading industry players.

But incumbent corporations are only one part of the equation. The trillion dollars a year that companies spend on R&D is matched by the public sector. Well-funded start-ups, meanwhile, are developing and rapidly scaling innovations that often threaten to upset established business models or steer industry growth into new areas. Add increasing investor scrutiny of research spending, and the result is rising pressure on R&D leaders to quickly show results for their efforts.

R&D lacks connection to the customer. The R&D group tends to be isolated from the rest of the organization. The complexity of its activities and its specialized lexicon make it difficult for others to understand what the R&D function really does. That sense of working inside a “black box” often exists even within the R&D organization. During a meeting of one large company’s R&D leaders, a significant portion of the discussion focused on simply getting everyone up to speed on what the various divisions were doing, let alone connecting those efforts to the company’s broader goals.

Given the challenges R&D faces in collaborating with other functions, going one step further and connecting with customers becomes all the more difficult. While many organizations pay lip service to customer-centric development, their R&D groups rarely get the opportunity to test products directly with end users. This frequently results in market-back product development that relies on a game of telephone via many intermediaries about what the customers want and need.

Projects have few accountability metrics. R&D groups in most sectors lack effective mechanisms to measure and communicate progress; the pharmaceutical industry, with its standard pipeline for new therapeutics that provides well-understood metrics of progress and valuation implications, is the exception, not the rule. When failure is explained away as experimentation and success is described in terms of patents, rather than profits, corporate leaders find it hard to quantify R&D’s contribution.

Yet proven metrics exist  to effectively measure progress and outcomes. A common challenge we observe at R&D organizations, ranging from automotive to chemical companies, is how to value the contribution of a single component that is a building block of multiple products. One specialty-chemicals company faced this challenge in determining the value of an ingredient it used in its complex formulations. It created categorizations to help develop initial business cases and enable long-term tracking. This allowed pragmatic investment decisions at the start of projects and helped determine the value created after their completion.

Even with outcomes clearly measured, the often-lengthy period between initial investment and finished product can obscure the R&D organization’s performance. Yet, this too can be effectively managed by tracking the overall value and development progress of the pipeline so that the organization can react and, potentially, promptly reorient both the portfolio and individual projects within it.

Incremental projects get priority. Our research indicates that incremental projects account for more than half of an average company’s R&D investment, even though bold bets and aggressive reallocation  of the innovation portfolio deliver higher rates of success. Organizations tend to favor “safe” projects with near-term returns—such as those emerging out of customer requests—that in many cases do little more than maintain existing market share. One consumer-goods company, for example, divided the R&D budget among its business units, whose leaders then used the money to meet their short-term targets rather than the company’s longer-term differentiation and growth objectives.

Focusing innovation solely around the core business may enable a company to coast for a while—until the industry suddenly passes it by. A mindset that views risk as something to be avoided rather than managed can be unwittingly reinforced by how the business case is measured. Transformational projects at one company faced a higher internal-rate-of-return hurdle than incremental R&D, even after the probability of success had been factored into their valuation, reducing their chances of securing funding and tilting the pipeline toward initiatives close to the core.

As organizations mature, innovation-driven growth becomes increasingly important, as their traditional means of organic growth, such as geographic expansion and entry into untapped market segments, diminish. To succeed, they need to develop R&D strategies equipped for the modern era that treat R&D not as a cost center but as the growth engine it can become.

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Choosing the ingredients of a winning r&d strategy.

Given R&D’s role as the innovation driver that advances the corporate agenda, its guiding strategy needs to link board-level priorities with the technologies that are the organization’s focus (Exhibit 2). The R&D strategy must provide clarity and commitment to three central elements: what we want to deliver, what we need to deliver it, and how we will deliver it.

What we want to deliver. To understand what a company wants to and can deliver, the R&D, commercial, and corporate-strategy functions need to collaborate closely, with commercial and corporate-strategy teams anchoring the R&D team on the company’s priorities and the R&D team revealing what is possible. The R&D strategy and the corporate strategy must be in sync while answering questions such as the following: At the highest level, what are the company’s goals? Which of these will require R&D in order to be realized? In short, what is the R&D organization’s purpose?

Bringing the two strategies into alignment is not as easy as it may seem. In some companies, what passes for corporate strategy is merely a five-year business plan. In others, the corporate strategy is detailed but covers only three to five years—too short a time horizon to guide R&D, especially in industries such as pharma or semiconductors where the product-development cycle is much longer than that. To get this first step right, corporate-strategy leaders should actively engage with R&D. That means providing clarity where it is lacking and incorporating R&D feedback that may illuminate opportunities, such as new technologies that unlock growth adjacencies for the company or enable completely new business models.

Secondly, the R&D and commercial functions need to align on core battlegrounds and solutions. Chief technology officers want to be close to and shape the market by delivering innovative solutions that define new levels of customer expectations. Aligning R&D strategy provides a powerful forum for identifying those opportunities by forcing conversations about customer needs and possible solutions that, in many companies, occur only rarely. Just as with the corporate strategy alignment, the commercial and R&D teams need to clearly articulate their aspirations by asking questions such as the following: Which markets will make or break us as a company? What does a winning product or service look like for customers?

When defining these essential battlegrounds, companies should not feel bound by conventional market definitions based on product groups, geographies, or customer segments. One agricultural player instead defined its markets by the challenges customers faced that its solutions could address. For example, drought resistance was a key battleground no matter where in the world it occurred. That framing clarified the R&D–commercial strategy link: if an R&D project could improve drought resistance, it was aligned to the strategy.

The dialogue between the R&D, commercial, and strategy functions cannot stop once the R&D strategy is set. Over time, leaders of all three groups should reexamine the strategic direction and continuously refine target product profiles as customer needs and the competitive landscape evolve.

What we need to deliver it. This part of the R&D strategy determines what capabilities and technologies the R&D organization must have in place to bring the desired solutions to market. The distinction between the two is subtle but important. Simply put, R&D capabilities are the technical abilities to discover, develop, or scale marketable solutions. Capabilities are unlocked by a combination of technologies and assets, and focus on the outcomes. Technologies, however, focus on the inputs—for example, CRISPR is a technology that enables the genome-editing capability.

This delineation protects against the common pitfall of the R&D organization fixating on components of a capability instead of the capability itself—potentially missing the fact that the capability itself has evolved. Consider the dawn of the digital age: in many engineering fields, a historical reliance on talent (human number crunchers) was suddenly replaced by the need for assets (computers). Those who focused on hiring the fastest mathematicians were soon overtaken by rivals who recognized the capability provided by emerging technologies.

The simplest way to identify the needed capabilities is to go through the development processes of priority solutions step by step—what will it take to produce a new product or feature? Being exhaustive is not the point; the goal is to identify high-priority capabilities, not to log standard operating procedures.

Prioritizing capabilities is a critical but often contentious aspect of developing an R&D strategy. For some capabilities, being good is sufficient. For others, being best in class is vital because it enables a faster path to market or the development of a better product than those of competitors. Take computer-aided design (CAD), which is used to design and prototype engineering components in numerous industries, such as aerospace or automotive. While companies in those sectors need that capability, it is unlikely that being the best at it will deliver a meaningful advantage. Furthermore, organizations should strive to anticipate which capabilities will be most important in the future, not what has mattered most to the business historically.

Once capabilities are prioritized, the R&D organization needs to define what being “good” and “the best” at them will mean over the course of the strategy. The bar rises rapidly in many fields. Between 2009 and 2019, the cost of sequencing a genome dropped 150-fold, for example. 2 Kris A. Wetterstrand, “DNA sequencing costs: Data,” NHGRI Genome Sequencing Program (GSP), August 25, 2020, genome.gov. Next, the organization needs to determine how to develop, acquire, or access the needed capabilities. The decision of whether to look internally or externally is crucial. An automatic “we can build it better” mindset diminishes the benefits of specialization and dilutes focus. Additionally, the bias to building everything in-house can cut off or delay access to the best the world has to offer—something that may be essential for high-priority capabilities. At Procter & Gamble, it famously took the clearly articulated aspiration of former CEO A. G. Lafley to break the company’s focus on in-house R&D and set targets for sourcing innovation externally. As R&D organizations increasingly source capabilities externally, finding partners and collaborating with them effectively is becoming a critical capability in its own right.

How we will do it. The choices of operating model and organizational design will ultimately determine how well the R&D strategy is executed. During the strategy’s development, however, the focus should be on enablers that represent cross-cutting skills and ways of working. A strategy for attracting, developing, and retaining talent is one common example.

Another is digital enablement, which today touches nearly every aspect of what the R&D function does. Artificial intelligence can be used at the discovery phase to identify emerging market needs or new uses of existing technology. Automation and advanced analytics approaches to experimentation can enable high throughput screening at a small scale and distinguish the signal from the noise. Digital (“in silico”) simulations are particularly valuable when physical experiments are expensive or dangerous. Collaboration tools are addressing the connectivity challenges common among geographically dispersed project teams. They have become indispensable in bringing together existing collaborators, but the next horizon is to generate the serendipity of chance encounters that are the hallmark of so many innovations.

Testing your R&D strategy

Developing a strategy for the R&D organization entails some unique challenges that other functions do not face. For one, scientists and engineers have to weigh considerations beyond their core expertise, such as customer, market, and economic factors. Stakeholders outside R&D labs, meanwhile, need to understand complex technologies and development processes and think along much longer time horizons than those to which they are accustomed.

For an R&D strategy to be robust and comprehensive enough to serve as a blueprint to guide the organization, it needs to involve stakeholders both inside and outside the R&D group, from leading scientists to chief commercial officers. What’s more, its definition of capabilities, technologies, talent, and assets should become progressively more granular as the strategy is brought to life at deeper levels of the R&D organization. So how can an organization tell if its new strategy passes muster? In our experience, McKinsey’s ten timeless tests of strategy  apply just as well to R&D strategy as to corporate and business-unit strategies. The following two tests are the most important in the R&D context:

• Does the organization’s strategy tap the true source of advantage? Too often, R&D organizations conflate technical necessity (what is needed to develop a solution) with strategic importance (distinctive capabilities that allow an organization to develop a meaningfully better solution than those of their competitors). It is also vital for organizations to regularly review their answers to this question, as capabilities that once provided differentiation can become commoditized and no longer serve as sources of advantage.
• Does the organization’s strategy balance commitment-rich choices with flexibility and learning? R&D strategies may have relatively long time horizons but that does not mean they should be insulated from changes in the outside world and never revisited. Companies should establish technical, regulatory, or other milestones that serve as clear decision points for shifting resources to or away from certain research areas. Such milestones can also help mark progress and gauge whether strategy execution is on track.

Additionally, the R&D strategy should be simply and clearly communicated to other functions within the company and to external stakeholders. To boost its clarity, organizations might try this exercise: distill the strategy into a set of fill-in-the-blank components that define, first, how the world will evolve and how the company plans to refocus accordingly (for example, industry trends that may lead the organization to pursue new target markets or segments); next, the choices the R&D function will make in order to support the company’s new focus (which capabilities will be prioritized and which de-emphasized); and finally, how the R&D team will execute the strategy in terms of concrete actions and milestones. If a company cannot fit the exercise on a single page, it has not sufficiently synthesized the strategy—as the famed physicist Richard Feynman observed, the ultimate test of comprehension is the ability to convey something to others in a simple manner.

Cascading the strategy down through the R&D organization will further reinforce its impact. For example, asking managers to communicate the strategy to their subordinates will deepen their own understanding. A useful corollary is that those hearing the strategy for the first time are introduced to it by their immediate supervisors rather than more distant R&D leaders. One R&D group demonstrated the broad benefits of this communication model: involving employees in developing and communicating the R&D strategy helped it double its Organizational Health Index  strategic clarity score, which measures one of the four “power practices”  highly connected to organizational performance.

R&D represents a massive innovation investment, but as companies confront globalized competition, rapidly changing customer needs, and technological shifts coming from an ever-wider range of fields, they are struggling to deliver on R&D’s full potential. A clearly articulated R&D strategy that supports and informs the corporate strategy is necessary to maximize the innovation investment and long-term company value.

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• The "game plan" for an R&D organization can be broken down into 4 strategic levers: architecture, processes, people, and portfolio. Together, decisions made in each of these categories constitute the R&D strategy.
• R&D performance results from the interaction of many different decisions and choices, including the size and location of R&D facilities, the division of labor between various groups, the choice of technologies used inside the R&D organization, the selection of personnel, the allocation of resources, the design of processes for managing projects, and other factors.

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Strategic Plan

The U.S. National Science Foundation 2022–2026 Strategic Plan describes NSF's mission, vision, core values, goals and strategic objectives for the next five years.

The NSF 2022–2026 Strategic Plan builds on 70 years of NSF driving critical research across all fields of science and engineering and lays out the agency's vision for the future of discovery and innovation. 

Read on to learn more about NSF's mission, vision, core value and goals and objectives.

The NSF vision: A nation that leads the world in science and engineering research and innovation, to the benefit of all, without barriers to participation.

The NSF mission: NSF promotes the progress of science by investing in research to expand knowledge in science, engineering and education. NSF also invests in actions that increase the capacity of the U.S. to conduct and exploit such research.

To promote the progress of science; to advance the national health, prosperity and welfare; and to secure the national defense.

NSF's core values: NSF's core values are essential and enduring tenets that guide everyone in the organization as we support the agency's mission. They have been developed with the active engagement of NSF staff. These values identify who we are and what is important to us. They guide how we make decisions, set priorities, address challenges, manage trade-offs, recruit and develop personnel and work together with our awardees.

• Scientific leadership.
• Diversity andinclusion.
• Integrity and excellence.
• Public service.
• Innovation and collaboration.

Explore NSF's Strategic Goals and Objectives

Strategic goal 1 — empower, empower stem talent to fully participate in science and engineering..

S&E are key to the nation's economic progress, and people are the core of America's scientific progress. To accelerate the advancement of discovery and learning, prepare for a world in which work is increasingly reliant upon scientific and technological skills and ensure that all citizens share in the benefits that flow from research, we must promote inclusion in the research community and STEM workforce, access to STEM learning and training and widespread STEM literacy.

Our global competitiveness depends critically on the readiness of the nation's STEM workforce, but millions of talented individuals are missing from that workforce. NSF seeks to empower these missing millions15 by making strategic investments in researchers and research training to harness the talents and creativity of America's diverse population. NSF also supports research into practical ways to promote a scientifically literate U.S. population that is well prepared for the economy and challenges of the 21st century.

NSF also supports research into practical ways to promote a scientifically literate U.S. population that is well prepared for the economy and challenges of the 21st century.

Strategic Objective 1.1 — Ensure accessibility and inclusivity Increase the involvement of communities underrepresented in STEM and enhance capacity throughout the nation.

Strategic Objective 1.2 — Unleash STEM talent for America Grow a diverse STEM workforce to advance the progress of science and technology.

Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) NSF funds a large number of research opportunities for undergraduate students thought its REU Sites program. These experiences have inspired many students to pursue careers in research and science. REU Sites make a special effort to recruit from groups underrepresented in science and engineering.

Strategic Goal 2 — Discover

Create new knowledge about our universe, our world and ourselves..

This goal furthers the first part of NSF's mission, "to promote the progress of science," pursuing the generation of new knowledge so the nation remains a global leader in expanding discovery in science, engineering and learning. By generating new knowledge, NSF-funded researchers provide the nation with the capability to maintain scientific, technological and economic leadership in a competitive world.

Fundamental research is a capital investment for the nation. Basic research leads to new knowledge. It provides scientific capital. It creates the fund from which the practical applications of knowledge must be drawn. New products and new processes do not appear full-grown. They are founded on new principles and new conceptions, which in turn are painstakingly developed by research in the purest realms of science. Those practical applications of knowledge sometimes begin to be realized very quickly; for example, some of NSF's investments in research related to the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic produced actionable results within months. In other cases, the practical applications may not be fully felt until decades after the initial basic research. A connection between fluid dynamics and an improved industrial process may be easier to foresee than the practical benefits of fundamental physics research into what Einstein called "spooky action at a distance," but the initial research on quantum mechanics in the early 20th century paved the way for the development of new approaches to secure communications and more powerful computers that is underway in the 21st century's research on quantum information systems.

Just as financial advisors stress the importance of diversifying investments, so the benefits of research are maximized when a wealth of different fields and research questions are supported. NSF embodies this by supporting all fields of basic science, engineering and STEM learning research. NSF welcomes proposals for original research and for new tools, such as advanced instrumentation, data analysis, computation and novel facilities. Investment in competitively selected projects expands the knowledge base from which innovation springs. A special role of NSF is to encourage creative efforts that may not fit within the domain of specific mission agencies.

NSF fosters a culture of "smart risk-taking" and cultivates the spirit of exploration in researchers and students. Reviewers are encouraged to look for high potential rewards that justify taking risks to support projects that may not always work as planned.

NSF provides leadership in an evolving global research enterprise by supporting modern collaborative approaches to science, funding research within and between traditional fields and strengthening interactions between U.S. researchers and their leading counterparts abroad. By using novel funding mechanisms for exploratory research, NSF catalyzes and incubates new fields of research and the search for new insights that disrupt traditional understanding.

Strategic Objective 2.1 — Advance the frontiers of research Accelerate discovery through strategic investments in ideas, people and infrastructure.

Strategic Objective 2.2 — Enhance research capability Advance the state of the art in research practice.

Enabling the biotechnology industry NSF-supported researchers Jennifer Doudna and Emmanuelle Charpentier teamed up to fuse tracr-RNA and CRISPR-RNA to produce what they called guide RNA, a tool that enables cleavage of DNA molecules at extremely precise locations, based on how the guide RNA was designed. This technology continues to transform the way we understand gene regulation.

Strategic Goal 3 — Impact

Benefit society by translating knowledge into solutions..

NSF has since its creation in 1950, impacted society not only in the U.S. but also around the world. From groundbreaking discoveries used for medicine and gene therapies to cybersecurity research that protects individuals, corporations and governments alike, NSF has been at the forefront of scientific discovery and technological advancements improving society for this generation and the next.

Curiosity-driven, discovery-based explorations and use-inspired, solutions-focused innovations are part of NSF's DNA. The scientific pursuit of knowledge and understanding is part of the development of new technological capabilities. And in turn, those new capabilities allow us to pursue new research questions that were either unseen or out of our reach.

For the past 70 years, NSF has made transformative impacts possible through strategic, long-term commitments to advancing the entire spectrum of research, and through partnerships to catalyze new ideas, new discoveries and new technologies.

Decades of investment have positioned the U.S. as the world leader in curiosity-driven research and resulted in breakthroughs in emerging fields from renewable energy to quantum computing and AI. These discoveries have also resulted in translation of research and innovations that have changed the world — from smartphones to 3D printing and much more.

To accelerate translation of knowledge to innovation outcomes requires looking at all the components that make it possible — partnerships, infrastructure, and most importantly, people. NSF advances scientific careers by providing the support needed for researchers to explore bold ideas. For example, NSF has a multitude of programs, fellowships and career awards to strengthen pathways into STEM fields, increase diversity and expand our reach into all communities where talent exists.

By engaging stakeholders outside the research community, research questions whose answers will have a meaningful societal impact can be more readily identified. Such research is strengthened by the active involvement of stakeholders in shaping and facilitating the research, as well as in evaluating intermediate results.

Strategic Objective 3.1 — Deliver benefits from research Advance research and accelerate innovation that addresses societal challenges.

Strategic Objective 3.2 — Lead globally Cultivate a global S&E community based on shared values and strategic cooperation.

Jump-starting the Quantum Revolution NSF's strategic investments in foundational R&D have jump started the quantum revolution. NSF-funded researchers are laying the groundwork for quantum technologies by developing new materials and components. Efforts to develop a viable quantum computer could advance multiple fields including AI, personalized drug development and weather forecasting.

Strategic Goal 4 — Excel

Excel at nsf operations and management..

The first three strategic goals are associated with quickly evolving challenges. Meeting these and effectively fulfilling NSF's mission requires blending strong scientific leadership with robust organizational leadership. Both are characterized by vision and flexibility. NSF will reinforce its capacity to scale rapidly to advance an expanding portfolio that meets the growing need for breakthroughs in research and innovation.

With the rapidly growing importance of exploratory and solutions-focused research for securing economic competitiveness and meeting pressing societal challenges, NSF must expand and strengthen the speed and scale at which research is conducted, research products are delivered and research and innovation communities grow.

Strategic Objective 4.1 — Strengthen at Speed and Scale Pursue innovative strategies to strengthen and expand the agency's capacity and capabilities.

Strategic Objective 4.2 — Invest in People Attract, empower and retain a talented and diverse NSF workforce.

United States Antarctic Program Without interruption since 1956, Americans have been studying the Antarctic and its interactions with the rest of the planet. These investigators and supporting personnel make up the U.S. Antarctic Program. Funded and managed by NSF, the program carries forward the Nation's goals of supporting the Antarctic Treaty, fostering cooperative research with other nations, protecting the Antarctic environment, and developing measures to ensure only quittable and wise use of resources.

Research Strategic Plan

In 2019, the Department of Medicine invested considerable effort and resources to devising a strategic plan that will provide a roadmap for our research mission today and into the future.

This work was guided by a Research Planning Committee that convened throughout the first half of 2019, reviewing the current state of research in the Department, generating recommendations for strengthening our research efforts, and developing the following plan. Many of our faculty and research administrators participated and contributed ideas as part of this process—through interviews, a survey, and robust discussions at the 2019 Research Retreat.

The result of this combined effort is the clear, direct, ambitious, and ultimately achievable research strategic plan that follows.

We identified five strategies for achieving our vision.

We will foster the success of our current faculty by enhancing our faculty development, mentoring, and funding programs while also strengthening the pipeline of the next generation of outstanding investigators in Medicine.

Lead: Andrew Alspaugh, MD

Initiatives:

• Strengthen faculty career development programs (Xunrong Luo, Matthew Crowley)
• Build a diverse and inclusive Department of Medicine (Laura Svetkey, Julius Wilder)
• Foster a culture of outstanding mentorship in the Department (Alspaugh, Cathleen Colon-Emeric)
• Expand physician-scientist recruitment and programmatic support (Rodger Liddle, Matt Hirschey)
• Launch a Department partnership hires program (Xunrong Luo, Chris Holley)
• Expand cadre of independent PhD investigators (Scott Palmer, Amy Porter-Tacoronte)

We will enhance our partnerships with other departments, centers, institutes, schools, and programs across Duke University.

Lead:  David Simel, MD, vice chair for veterans affairs

• Duke Clinical Research Institute
• Duke Cancer Institute
• Durham VA Medical Center
• Duke Molecular Physiology Institute
• Pratt School of Engineering and MEDx
• Duke Human Vaccine Institute
• Duke Global Health Institute
• Center for Applied Genomics and Precision Medicine

We will solidify a leadership position in data science by leveraging the clinical disease expertise of our faculty; building our data assets; and improving our data collection, storage and analytics resources.

Lead: Chetan Patel, MD, vice chair for clinical affairs

• Cultivate DOM data assets into open science platform
• Augment biostatistics & bioinformatics resources
• Create new leadership role for data science
• Implement learning health units
• Continue implementation of Science Culture and Accountability Plan

We will foster a community and culture of rich scientific investigation by making research easier while achieving the highest levels of research integrity.

Lead: Erica Malkasian

• Provide outstanding grants and administrative support to investigators
• Position Duke as a leader in site-based research
• Develop next-generation biorepository capabilities
• Catalyze innovation and entrepreneurship
• Expand international research efforts

We will invest in emerging research content and method areas that leverage our strengths and address important unmet patient-centered medical needs.

Lead: Heather Whitson, MD

Cross-cutting themes:

• Immunology, inflammation & fibrosis
• Aging, resilience & pain
• Energy, obesity & metabolic disease
• Precision medicine
• Population health & disparities research

To learn more about our research strategies and initiatives, contact

• Scott Palmer, MD, MHS, Vice Chair for Research
• Saini Pillai, MBA, Senior Program Coordinator, Research

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More From Forbes

Three steps to implementing a successful r&d strategy in your business.

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What’s the first thing that comes to mind when you think about research and development (R&D) in your business?

Most of the time, you’ll immediately go to product-based research, but R&D can (and should) be so much more than that. There are myriad aspects of your business where innovation will make a huge difference, not only with your products and services, but also in more broad terms, such as the efficacy of your customer flow and systems that can help your business run more smoothly.

At the end of the day, R&D is about taking what you have and doing the necessary research to enhance capabilities and be more efficient, and that is important to all business owners, regardless of company size or industry. In my experience, there are three important steps (and time-savers) to implement a successful and effective R&D strategy for your business:

1. Build a clear strategic framework.

As I’m sure many entrepreneurs can attest, there’s usually no shortage of good ideas being thrown around about how to improve your business.

So, the first step toward building your strategic framework is to resist the urge to "boil the ocean," and understand which aspects of your business you need to focus R&D around. Ask yourself what the current business demands are in order for you to reach your goal, then identify the limitations you’re facing and what you need to change or improve upon in order to achieve the desired result. Once you know where you are and where you want to go and have clarity on your goals and objectives, you can start drilling down on your approach, determinants of success, measurements and reporting.

I believe that strategy is all about allocation of scarce resources, so you want to be selective, test appropriately, analyze the metrics and, if something isn’t working, be able to identify where you need to pivot and make sure you have the resources available to do so.

2. Assign a dedicated R&D team to manage the strategy.

Having a dedicated team to manage R&D with carefully assigned roles and responsibilities will help determine whether or not your R&D program is implemented effectively. Everyone on the team needs to know the structure of the group and who is responsible for researching, designing, and implementing the new product, process or service; and, perhaps most importantly, they need to know how it’s being tested. You’ll also want to define who is accountable for making the "go" or "no go" decisions and ensure everyone understands those firm decision-making points. That way, you can measure when something is working or when it needs to be changed.

Now, this doesn’t mean you need 100%-dedicated roles­. If you’re a small business that isn’t big enough for a dedicated team, the important piece here is having some measure of accountability. You need to have a clear idea of who is responsible for driving the program forward and clear milestones to measure your progress against so it doesn’t become an afterthought when other aspects of the business start calling for attention.

3. Have a proper test environment.

The final step in determining the effectiveness of your R&D program is making sure you have the right test environment.

For example, if you have a restaurant and add a new menu item but people don’t buy it, that isn’t a thorough test of whether or not it was a good product. It should be about more than, "yes, we changed this service" or "yes, we tried that product." It should be about the whole package. The product could be perfectly good, but did you market it? Did you talk about it? Was the staff trained on how to promote it? A good test environment will clearly indicate where you need to make adjustments by taking all of these factors into account. Otherwise, you could end up killing off a perfectly good program simply because it needed a few tweaks.

Some business owners are hesitant about R&D because of the expense and uncertainty, but it’s also important to think about the risk of staying stagnant. Will your competitors surpass you? Will you go from a market leader to a follower? Will your customers opt for something better or more efficient?

Let me share a recent R&D program success story from one of my company's brands. Earlier this year, we followed these three steps to improve membership-program conversion. We started with a clear framework, which included a long-term approach to sales and conversion training (online and in person), simplifying the membership marketing materials and building a new online dashboard to measure our success. The results have been phenomenal: From January through July, the average membership conversion for one of our franchise brands was 16.4%. In October, the brand’s efforts yielded a 5% average-conversion-rate increase.

I've found that the risk of stagnation is always greater than the risk of innovation, especially if you implement R&D programs with a well thought out strategy, a dedicated R&D team and a proper testing environment. Innovation is the most critical component of a successful company, no matter the size or structure. Businesses with the innovative advantage are businesses that are able to scale, stand out, attract the best talent and stay top of mind in an increasingly crowded marketplace.

Bottom line: Status quo only works for so long, and if your doors open, you should keep innovating.

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The Secretary seeks to ensure technological improvement efforts, both across DHS and with external partners, are coordinated and integrated to achieve optimal outcomes for its operators and other stakeholders. Innovation, research and development (IRD) efforts help build the capabilities needed to address the homeland security threats and hazards of today and tomorrow.

The first-of-its-kind DHS Innovation, Research and Development Strategic Plan identifies ways to coordinate IRD investments to maximize impacts across our components and missions. The plan brings focus to our IRD portfolios by highlighting eight key, cross-cutting strategic priority research areas (SPRAs) that the Department will foster over the next seven fiscal years. These SPRAs will improve internal DHS collaboration, guide the resource allocation plan (RAP) development as part of the planning, programming, budgeting, and execution (PPBE) cycle for FY 2026-2030 and beyond, and serve as a demand signal to industry, interagency, academic, and international communities on future partnerships and collaborations.

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Research, Development and Technology Strategic Plan 2022–2026

• By United States. Department of Transportation. Office of the Assistant Secretary for Research and Technology
• Corporate Creators: United States. Department of Transportation. Office of the Assistant Secretary for Research and Technology
• Subject/TRT Terms: [+] Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) Climate Change Development Economic And Social Factors Emissions Reduction Equity (Justice) Fatalities IIJA Innovation Intelligent Transportation Systems Laws Mobility Plan Implementation Policy Public Law 117-58 Infrastructure Investment And Jobs Act Regulatory Reform Research Safety Strategic Planning Supply Chain Management Sustainable Development Technological Innovations Technology Technology Transfer Transportation Planning
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.21949/1528384
• Resource Type: Organization Info
• Right Statement: Public Domain
• Geographical Coverage: United States
• Edition: 2022–2026
• Corporate Publisher: United States. Department of Transportation
• Abstract: This U.S. DOT Research, Development, and Technology Strategic Plan for FY2022 – 2026 establishes the Department’s leadership role in supporting, fostering, and safeguarding transportation innovation so that it meets our goals and reflects our values. The RD&T Strategic Plan describes the Department’s research priorities, objectives, and strategies in support of the Department’s strategic goals. This U.S. Department of Transportation (U.S. DOT, or the Department) Research, Development, and Technology (RD&T) Strategic Plan (RD&T Strategic Plan) presents U.S. DOT’s transportation research priorities and strategies for the next five years and beyond. The purpose of this RD&T Strategic Plan is to outline a national transportation research vision to guide America’s research priorities while improving coordination of transportation research. It defines the role of U.S. DOT’s RD&T programs to lead the transformation of our Nation’s transportation system in partnership with stakeholders. This RD&T Strategic Plan will guide Federal transportation research, development, and technology deployment activities as mandated by 49 U.S.C. §6503. This includes more than $5 billion in research activities funded through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL), also known as the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) (Pub. L. No. 117-58). The BIL establishes policies, investments, and partnerships that together will provide a once-in-a-generation opportunity to transform our Nation’s transportation system. This RD&T Strategic Plan reflects input from a wide range of stakeholders and integrates the research and development (R&D) programs of all U.S. DOT Operating Administrations (OAs) and the Office of the Secretary (OST). The transformation envisioned in this document relies on the strength and creativity of stakeholders across the entire transportation ecosystem, including State, local, Tribal and territorial governments; universities, community colleges, and research labs; organized labor; small businesses and entrepreneurs; the non-profit and philanthropic sectors; and other industry partners. We envision a people-centered transportation system that provides safe, accessible, reliable, equitable, and sustainable transportation for all through purpose-driven research and innovation for this and future generations. More ▼ -->
• Format: PDF
• Collection(s): US Transportation Collection
• Main Document Checksum: [+] urn:sha256:6e7a382a60dc6df37f25d92337a064c15804acbae1461a06024cdda4b413d567
• Download URL: https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/65890/dot_65890_DS1.pdf

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Stanford Research Development Office

Guidance for Writing Proposal Sections

Most recent content update: July 2, 2024

The following proposal sections, listed in alphabetical order, are commonly required by a variety of funders. For each, we have provided resources to assist in preparing content; some have been developed by RDO, while others are curated from trusted internal and external sources.

The resources below are intended to be a starting point. Solicitations will often specify unique requirements for each of these sections. Always check the requirements from your specific agency and call. 

We encourage you to check this page regularly, as additional content will be added over time. Email us at [email protected] if you have suggestions. 

Biographical Sketches

These documents provide evidence of an individual's qualifications for the role played in a proposed project and are generally requested in specific formats based on sponsor. For most STEM sponsors, RDO recommends using SciEnCV for generating and saving your biosketch as it will be easier to update and the interface allows reformatting for use in proposals for different sponsors.

• Start here : Stanford ORA Biosketch Resource Page - Stanford resource with links to NSF and NIH biosketch guidance as well as SciEnCV resources
• SciEnCV - a tool for assembling biographical information for federal sponsors that can easily be ported into multiple sponsor formats. It is quickly becoming an accepted (and often required) biosketch format for many sponsors including NIH, NSF, and DOE
• NSF SciEnCV FAQs and Guide - start here if you need help setting up your SciEnCV account or run into questions along the way

Broader Impacts

Broader Impacts requirements generally ask for the answer to the question "how does your research benefit society?" This term and requirement are commonly associated with NSF, but other agencies can also have similar requirements. The resources below help to describe the breadth of what broader impacts can be as well as give advice on how to develop a vision and craft a compelling story about the broader impacts of your work. 

• Stanford Grant Writing Academy Broader Impacts Resources - Among other information, includes a short video explaining NSF's BI requirement and suggestions on crafting a strong BI element for your proposal
• Stanford Office of Education and STEM Outreach - A part of the Office of Community Engagement, ESO serves as a nexus connecting Stanford faculty, students, and postdocs with youth, schoolteachers, nonprofit organizations, and the broader community with the goals of increasing engagement, participation, equity and inclusion in STEM fields
• ARIS Broader Impacts Toolkit - resources from the Center for Advancing Research Impact in Society designed to assist proposal teams as they develop broader impact projects

Budget and Budget Justifications

Budgets are an integral part of proposals that have a direct effect on how monies can be used, are tracked, and are audited in the post award period.

• Start here : Stanford ORA Budget Resource Page - find templates and helpful links and information including California's partial sales and use tax exemption for research and development equipment
• Stanford VPDoR Rates page - tables, policies, and information on F&A rates, fringe benefit rates, and others

Conflicts of Interest

Often sponsors require a list of collaborators and other affiliates in a form that allows the agency to ensure that no conflicts exist in the process of selecting reviewers or to check for PI conflict of interest in various areas. These can be in the form of "COA", "Collaborator", "COI" or other documents. Be sure to check and follow your sponsor's guidelines for these documents; many provide their own specific required templates.

• Stanford Global Engagement Review Program coordinates input from multiple offices that advise on various aspects of foreign engagements to assess risks related to undue foreign influence, research security, and integrity

Data Management Plans

Many funding agencies will require a data management plan (DMP) as part of a proposal. The DMP describes the types of data you expect to collect, how they will be managed, and how access and preservation will be accomplished over time.

• Start here : Stanford Libraries has a Resource Page with information about DMPs including access to an Online Data Management Plan Tool for creating a ready-to-use plan for your proposal
• DMP Self Assessment Questionnaire (Stanford Libraries)
• Stanford Libraries Data Management Services assists researchers with data preservation and access and has other data tools and services available 
• Lane Medical Library NIH DMSP Checklist
• Stanford University IT data Storage Recommendations
• DOE suggested elements for a DMP
• NASA DMP guidance
• NEH guidelines for digital humanities  
• NIH DMS Plan policy (new guidelines effective January 25, 2023)
• NIH Sample Plans for different contexts
• NSF DMP requirements (also includes links to directorate-specific guidances)
• NSF FAQs for public access  
• RDO has prepared a guide to creating NSF Data Management Plans (current guide reflects NSF PAPPG 23-1; to be updated after PAPPG 24-1 goes into effect May 20, 2024)
• Effective practices for making research data discoverable and citable (NSF Dear Colleague Letter, March 2022)

Diversity Plans

Sponsors sometimes require demonstration that a project team will make specific efforts to promote diversity, equity, and inclusion. These requirements vary by sponsor and it is important to understand the level at which the activities are to take place. For example, does the sponsor want to see activities that are community-focused or targeted to the researchers and staff you will have on the project? In any case, a strong diversity plan also includes evaluation strategies and metrics for success. 

• Stanford RDO's thought starter for DOE PIER Plan
• Stanford SoM PDO template for NIH PEDP
• DOE CBP: Community Benefits Plans (page includes links to templates)
• DOE PIER: Promoting Inclusive and Equitable Research Plans
• DOE DEI Informational Resources
• NIH PEDP: Plan for Enhancing Diverse Perspectives

Evaluation Plans

Often addressed in multiple sections of a proposal, evaluation plans are an important component of understanding whether a project or strategy is effective and successful. Developing robust evaluation plans at the proposal stage can demonstrate to the reviewers and funders that you have thought about what "success" means and how you will be certain you will achieve it or adjust practices to course correct along the way. These are commonly requested for educational activities, outreach plans, workforce development strategies, and management plans.

• American Evaluation Association Find an Evaluator Tool - a directory that can be searched by location, area of expertise, or name

Institutional Support

Funding agencies may request that cost sharing, details on facilities, equipment, and other resources available to the proposal team, and other forms of institutional support be included with proposals. The scope and format of these requirements will depend on the specific funding opportunity or call. RDO recommends starting early in your proposal development process and working in collaboration with department or school leadership to identify and request appropriate institutional support for your proposal.

• RDO's Thought Starter: Stanford Institutional Support for Large, Strategic Grant Proposals - a list of support that may be appropriate for large, strategic proposals that are beyond the usual scale for a given discipline. Contains notes on how to start the conversations necessary to secure different types of institutional support, relevant policies set by the University, and other factors to consider.

Management Plans

Management plans are common elements of large collaborative or center grants. This section is intended to demonstrate to reviewers how teams will work together to accomplish the various goals of a project. Some plans also require detailed administrative information as well as plans for evaluation of project activities (see section on Evaluation Plans above).

• Start here : RDO Management Plan Guidelines - six common topics for consideration when devising a management plan for STEM center grants
• RDO resources for collaboration and team science
• DOE's EFRC Good Management Practices - while it originated from a specific DOE program, this document contains excellent advice that is generalizable to other research center management strategies

Postdoctoral Mentoring Plans

Postdoctoral mentoring plans (PMPs) are often required in STEM-focused proposals where a postdoctoral researcher's involvement is indicated. These serve as roadmaps for both mentor and mentee to navigate the key aspects of mentorship and professional development of postdocs. It's best to avoid using a boilerplate approach and instead tailor the Plan to the specific program you are proposing, institution you are with, and/or postdoc(s) to be mentored.

• Start here : RDO's Postdoctoral Mentoring Plan Guidelines - an NSF-focused document with prompts and suggestions for writing an effective PMP that is also useful in thinking of strategies to fulfill PMP requirements for other sponsors. Note: Proposals due or submitted on or after May 20, 2024 will be required to submit a Mentoring Plan applicable to both graduate students and postdoctoral researchers, in lieu of the prior Postdoctoral Mentoring Plan requirement. Please see NSF PAPPG 24-1 for details. 
• National Postdoc Association Institutional Guide to Postdoc Mentorship - includes specific guidance on PMPs as well as links to resources on mentorship

Sponsors sometimes request information on protocols and plans related to safety in various context including in the laboratory, at field sites, or any off-campus work environment. The university has policies and procedures related to these topics which can be found in addition to other resources linked below.

• Start here : Stanford EH&S website - central website for Stanford safety services and support which also includes information on training, standard operating procedures, and many safety related resources for the campus community
• Stanford ORA template for NSF Plans for Safe and Inclusive Working Environments for Off-campus Research - an NSF-focused document with instructions, applicable University policy information, and fillable fields for PIs to complete their project-specific information

Created: 10/06/22

Updated: 08/22/24

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6 Reasons Strategic Planning and Destination Branding Go Hand in Hand

Effective destination marketing happens when the teams behind strategic planning and destination branding work together—not in silos—to bring a vision to life. For many destinations, however, that’s not always the case.

The synergy of the two, when working hand in hand, provides big benefits for destinations. Rather than work separately, join forces and understand the concrete benefits for any DMO looking to increase visitation and attract a certain kind of traveler.

1. Ensures long-term alignment

First and foremost, when strategic planning and branding happen in tandem, a destination ensures that its brand reflects its long term goals. A brand all by itself can’t achieve goals, and a strategic plan all by itself can’t communicate those goals. Together, however, the two compliment each other.

A strategic plan is a long-term commitment, so ensuring that your brand and key messaging are in lock-step with that commitment helps reach goals more efficiently. When everyone is on the same path forward, adopting a holistic perspective of a destination, it’s easier to achieve success.

2. Indicates needed updates

When destinations bring together strategic planning and branding, it’s a way to understand what needs to change. It uncovers potential blindspots in your efforts. Only when marketers are in conversation with planners does it become clear if the brand truly reflects the destination’s future goals, or if changes are needed.

When the two work together, it becomes easier to understand what needs to be addressed, to bring everything into better alignment. Yesterday’s branding messages won’t always be tomorrow’s, especially as the plans and goals change over time.

3. Streamlines efforts among stakeholders

When the two teams come together, you streamline conversations with stakeholders and partners. Cut down on redundant questioning and communication of partners in your destination by collaborating and getting what marketers and planners both need from interactions with these stakeholders. It avoids leaving stakeholders thinking, “Didn’t someone else just ask a very similar question?”

Time is the one resource no destination likes to waste, so maximizing conversations with all those involved in your destination’s marketing and planning will streamline efforts in an exercise of efficiency. It will free up time for the rest of the work filling everyone’s to-do lists.

4. Maximizes research resources

Just like time, money is a resource that’s best to avoid wasting. For strategic planners and branding teams, this means spending money on research that covers both of their needs. Taking a two-for-one approach to surveys, perception studies, and any other destination research allows you to maximize your spending.

When reaching out to past and prospective visitors, be sure to have both teams weigh in on questions to ask to ensure everyone gets something out of it. Do one slightly larger study than act independently on two different—but very similar—studies.

5. Identifies competitors efficiently

Strategic planners and branding teams are allies, working toward the same goal. Collaborating more closely means understanding the bigger picture detailing all of your destination’s competition. Marketers may overlook a competitor that planners see as a major source of competition. 

Partner up to better get the whole picture and be sure that your efforts are working to elevate your destination above each and every competitor out there.

6. Anchors creativity in reality

Branding professionals often think big, but strategic planners need to set achievable goals. The two can balance each other out if they work together effectively. It’s important to be sure the brand and strategic plan are targeting reachable audiences with realistic tactics.

The strategic plan also lays the framework for how to staff the DMO, and that reflects on having enough people to carry out marketing tactics. A major marketing campaign may seem exciting, though realistically, there may not be sufficient hands on deck to achieve it. The strategic planning anchors the creative branding and marketing efforts in reality, helping make sure everyone is set up for success. 

Looking to build out a better destination brand? Contact Sarah Reinecke at [email protected] and learn what DCI’s nearly 65 years of experience can do for your destination.

Sarah Reinecke

Clinical Research Medical Advisor

About the role.

As a CRMA your responsibilities include, but are not limited to: •Closely collaborates with Study & Site Operations (SSO) to ensure fast clinical trial start up,recruitment according to planned timelines, early identification of potential delays and robust recruitment mitigation plans. Co own start up phase and the recruitment plan for the development clinical trials with the local SSO organization. •Provide clinical development and indication expertise and drives, together with the local SSO, the execution of clinical trials with high quality and within planned timelines; provide indication and protocol training's to investigational sites as well as SS O colleagues. •Assess the clinical feasibility of implementing a clinical trial protocol based on regional/local medical practice using physician interviews, local databases (RWE, payer data, patient association feed back, etc.) and analysis of the competitive environment. •Cooperates with local functions such as e.g. Medical Affairs, Patient access to identify and involve qualified investigators with recruitment potential and relevant key experts for clinical development in order to exploit the value of the assigned project( s) in the context of the investigational product(s). •Review and resolution of local medical issues / questions if necessary, support the discussion of issues to global teams. Requirements: •Scientific degree ideally MD •experience in the pharmaceutical industry with at least 3 years’ experience in clinical development or trial monitoring across different indications / therapeutic areas. •Fluent English •Ability to manage a study from the medical / clinical perspective, and a demonstrated capability to problem solve and mediate complex clinical / medical / operational issues. •Demonstrate an understanding of regulatory requirements and policies, procedures, and guidelines pertaining to clinical trials. •Track record of delivering complex global clinical projects in quality and time. •Excellent communication and interpersonal skills, with ability to build rapport and trust with diverse stakeholders. •This position will require local and international travels; up to 30% of working time Why Novartis: Our purpose is to reimagine medicine to improve and extend people’s lives and our vision is to become the most valued and trusted medicines company in the world. How can we achieve this? With our people. It is our associates that drive us each day to reac h our ambitions. Be a part of this mission and join us! Learn more here:

https://www.novartis.com/about/strategy/people-and-culture

Commitment to Diversity and Inclusion: Novartis is committed to building an outstanding, inclusive work environment and diverse teams' representative of the patients and communities we serve. Join our Novartis Network :

If this role is not suitable to your experience or career goals but you wish to stay connected to hear more about Novartis and our career opportunities, join the Novartis Network here: https://talentnetwork.novartis.com/networkhttps://talentnetwork.novartis.com/network

Why Novartis: Helping people with disease and their families takes more than innovative science. It takes a community of smart, passionate people like you. Collaborating, supporting and inspiring each other. Combining to achieve breakthroughs that change patients’ lives. Ready to create a brighter future together? https://www.novartis.com/about/strategy/people-and-culture

Join our Novartis Network: Not the right Novartis role for you? Sign up to our talent community to stay connected and learn about suitable career opportunities as soon as they come up: https://talentnetwork.novartis.com/network

Novartis is committed to building an outstanding, inclusive work environment and diverse teams' representative of the patients and communities we serve.