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GGI RapidNews R&D Product Development eZine: Volume 7, Issue 2- February 1, 2006
GGI RapidNews is published approximately once a month.

In This Issue

MANAGEMENT PRODUCTIVITY - 2006 R&D Trends Forecast

UPCOMING PUBLIC SEMINAR - Mar06 Product Development Metrics Summit

BOOK REVIEW - Innovation That Fits [Recommended By The Editors]

UPCOMING PUBLIC SEMINAR - Apr06 Product Development Innovation Summit - Early Bird

THE WISDOM iSTORE FEATURED PRODUCT - Structured Innovation

THE WISDOM iSTORE NEW LISTINGS - 1 New Listing

BIENNIAL PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT SURVEY - 2004, 2002, 2000, 1998 Results

GATEWAYS TO KNOWLEDGE - A Monthly Feature

CALENDAR OF INDUSTRY EVENTS - A Monthly Feature

TELEVISION EVENTS - Alexander Haig's World Business Review

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MANAGEMENT PRODUCTIVITY

2006 R&D Trends Forecast

Ayers, Alan D. "Industrial Research Institute's R&D Trends Forecast For 2006," Research-Technology Management, Industrial Research Institute, Inc., Arlington, Virginia, USA. Volume 49 No. 1, January--February 2006. Pages 14-19.

Information contained in this GGI RapidNews issue are excerpts from an article written by Alan D. Ayers, Manager--External Technology at Energizer Battery Manufacturing, Inc., and chair of IRI's Research-on-Research Committee; and is based on the annual forecast of the ROR Committee with the assistance of IRI staff. Copyright 2006 Industrial Research Institute, Inc.

"This is the 22nd year for the IRI Trends Forecast. It is based on 103 surveys collected from 196 member companies, of which 93 have R&D in the United States."

"Despite high fuel costs, the annual R&D Trends Forecast for companies conducting U.S.-based R&D looks more favorable than it has for the past three years." "...the results reveal a general shift to higher spending on R&D with even more emphasis on new business and less on supporting existing business."

"Total company R&D expenditures" is expected to increase again, though it may not be keeping pace fully with revenue growth."

"The 2006 forecast continues to show more companies willing to make larger overhead commitments by increasing the "R&D personnel level" and "hiring new graduates."

"There continues to be an emphasis on increasing university research, both in "participation in consortia for pre-competitive university research" as well as "grants, contracts, etc. for university research.""

"Outsourcing R&D to other companies" also continues to show strong growth."

Editorial Comment: IRI Member Companies receive a great deal of valuable information. IRI is the oldest ongoing association for corporations in North America. RapidNews has a senior readership and if you do not know about IRI, take a moment and internalize what they are about and the information they produce. More about this study may be found in IRI's Research-Technology Management magazine. Annual subscriptions are a reasonable price and value.

 

UPCOMING PUBLIC SEMINAR - METRICS SUMMIT MAR06

We are delighted to be offering a third Metrics Summit in March 2006. Over 90 people registered for the first two Metrics Summits, in September and December respectively. We had to close registration for both and we made some promises in the March time frame. Based on the September feedback, we cut the December Summit to three days and it worked well. We will stay with three days. Many December attendees said they they usually don't work or think so hard during a seminar-workshop, and that was a good thing. Some of their Testimonials are quite humorous, but much appreciated.

GGI's third Product Development Metrics Summit will be held March 14-16, 2006 in metro Boston. Please join us for a series of 3 seminars, focused on 3 major areas of importance to R&D executives and managers.

The first seminar (Measuring Product Development II (MPDII) - March 14) addresses the subjects of setting hurdle rates, assessing risk and complexity, tradeoff analysis, measuring capacity, and assessing overall financial performance. Click to view the MPDII abstract or to download the table of contents.

The second seminar (Proactive and Predictive R&D Metrics (PPRD) - March 15 AM) focuses on three different stages of developing early, predictive metrics that will enable managers to foresee issues on the horizon or to know that success is in front of them. Click to view the PPRD abstract or to download the table of contents.

The third seminar, a capstone, (Product Development Metrics Portfolios (PDMP) - March 15 PM and March 16) is expressly for the purpose of developing a set of measures for the R&D organization as a whole, including the few measures that should be used by the corporation to measure R&D productivity, output, and overall performance results. Click to view the PDMP abstract or to download the table of contents.

All three seminars are geared to executives and top-level professionals that manage entire organizations, departments, and budgets; and senior program management executives.

If you wish to register, choose the "Metrics Summit - March" button. If you are already registered, leisure time activities may be useful for planning time outside the Summit.

Discounts still apply for teams of 3 or more attending from the same company. For more information please download a brochure.


BOOK REVIEW

Innovation That Fits, by Michael Lord, Donald Debethizy and Jeffrey Wagner. Pearson/Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, New Jersey, USA. 2005. Copyright 2005 Pearson Education, Inc. 248 pages.

This is a highly useful book for senior executives and a good general background book for most business professionals. It is an easy read. Three primary learnings caught our attention.

First, a historical to present to future perspective sets the tone for the book and offers a framework to portray the range of a business's innovation alternatives to which most readers will immediately relate. Organic innovation changed to innovation by acquisition and is now moving back to organic but with more external influences. The author discusses 7 different business innovation alternatives available to top management to deploy.

Second, the 7 business alternatives are useful as they are defined narrowly enough to cover the spectrum of innovation but wide enough that they each have their own unique trends. For example, the business innovation alternative involving skunkworks, incubators, and new ventures may take on more of a generation and experimentation nature in the future the authors suggest.

Third, a somewhat hesitant statement of innovation in the near future is offered. This always takes a bit of courage as books can never be retracted. Useful and thought provoking, we wish that they would have taken a bit more risk outlining in their vision.

The text at the top of Figure 7-1 "Emerging New Model For Innovation" on page 229 of the book is indicative of the usefulness of this work. "...more eclectic, diverse, and dynamic...no magic bullet one-size-fits-all approach. But it is not an open market for innovation either...more well-grounded and core-focused."

You can find more information about this book or purchase it through Amazon.

 

UPCOMING PUBLIC SEMINAR - INNOVATION SUMMIT APR06

GGI will sponsor its second R&D -- Product Development Innovation Summit on April 11-13, 2006 in metro Boston. Please join us for eight comprehensive modules that surround the subject of Innovation in R&D and Product Development.

Please register in the next few days it this was your intention. Registration will close Monday February 13, 2006 at EOB Pacific Time.

The Innovation Modules that will be offered are:


All modules feature some level of case study discussion and examples from a range of industries. There will be three group exercises where attendees will "try out" well regarded innovation methodologies to achieve some level of "hands-on." With all GGI Summits, we will pave the road for you to direct the selection and implementation of tools and processes that will bring leverage to your organization.

Discounts are still available for teams of two or more people attending from the same company.

If RN readers are planning on attending, please register now for the Innovation Summit.

For more details on the Product Development Innovation Summit, please go to GGI's Innovation Summit web site which is also available through our home page. If you are already registered, leisure time activities may be useful for planning time outside the Summit.


THE WISDOM iSTORE FEATURED PRODUCT

Each month, or every other month, GGI's iStore features one item that we discount 40%.

T52 "Structured Innovation: Positioning Innovation Tools & Exercises in Product Development Processes Frameworks" [list price $295.00]
Goldense Group, Inc., Needham, MA, USA

May 19, 2005 [105 pages] $177.00

This presentation describes a range of innovation tools and techniques in the context of the product development process. The first section provides an overview of the evolving nature of structured processes for innovation, which will help you to choose the best tools or technique at the right time in the product development process. The second section provides details on the wide range of tools, techniques, and software available to create innovation. An extensive list of innovation techniques is included, showing the most appropriate time in the product development process to use them. Three innovation techniques, Lateral & Parallel Thinking, TRIZ, and Lead User Identification, are discussed in detail, with information on related software. A full list of software products for innovation is also provided as well as selected software reviews.

GGI's Featured Item changes approximately every other month and is always offered at a 40% discount. For more information, or to order this material, please go to GGI's Featured Item.


THE WISDOM iSTORE NEW LISTINGS

One new item was added to the The Wisdom iStore since we last wrote you. Please click on the item number for a more detailed description and ordering information.

S8 "R&D - Product Development Innovation Summit Coursebook"

1st R&D - Product Development Innovation Summit, Goldense Group, Inc., Needham, Massachusetts, USA, Copyright © 2006 Goldense Group, Inc., ISBN 1-932468-44-7

January 2006 [520 pages]

This coursebook covers the range of topics around the subject of innovation that are of interest to persons responsible for directing and managing innovation at the corporate and business-results levels. This is the material that underlies GGI's 3-Day R&D-Product Development Innovation Summit which was first offered to the public on January 17-19, 2006 in Norwood, Massachusetts, USA. While in MS Powerpoint format, this is a data-intensive document that is consistent with GGI's industry reputation in the quantitative aspects of product development and innovation.

The first section of the R&D Innovation Summit Coursebook contains industry benchmark information about: product selection and intellectual property management and decision processes, pipeline yield rates from ideation to commercialization, relative innovativeness of tools and techniques used by today's product developers, top management short list of practices that fuels R&D productivity, and an inventory of "all" innovation tools in the marketplace today.

The second section contains more in-depth information about four major innovation-enablers: Lead User Analysis, Six Hats, Triz, and Semantic Processing. The second section also contains more in-depth information about: Trade Secrets, Trademarks/Servicemarks, Copyrights, and Patents.
The third section contains information on five subject areas that are part of an overall innovation environment: additional software such as self assessment and DSS and IP management, insourcing and outsourcing innovation, metrics and measures for innovation environments, and reward and recognition processes and mechanisms. The Summary highlights the contributions of five prominent books in the field of innovation that are used by corporations. The brief Conclusion indicates the places in product development processes where the use of innovation tools may have the best impact, along with positioning innovation strategically, and within technical and product management functions.

For more information, or to order, any GGI products please go to The Wisdom iStore. S8 is specifically located at The Wisdom iStore.


BIENNIAL METRICS SURVEY RESULTS

2004 Product Development Metrics Survey - Product Selection, IP Management, and Top Corporate Metrics: The Summary and Highlights Reports for GGI's 2004 Biennial Product Development Metrics Survey are now available for purchase by the public through GGI's Wisdom iStore. These reports are completely based on primary research performed by GGI researchers. The research includes 202 respondent companies. There was a 5% response rate.

McKinsey & Company, Texas Instruments, Rockwell, Kimberly Clark, JDS Uniphase, Shure, Curtiss Wright Flight Systems and Datacard are representative of companies that purchase market research from GGI.

The 2004 Survey focused on the following 5 areas of product selection and IP management:

  • Product Selection Process
  • Product Selection Tools
  • IP Management Process
  • IP Management Tools
  • Top Corporate Metrics Used in Industry RD&E


We have already shared many results with GGI RapidNews readers since we began this line of business in 1998. 2004 Survey results ran in six RN issues, RN V5I11 - RN V6I5, which may be found in the RN archives, along with results from prior years.

Some additional complimentary information about the survey is available:


The 2 commercial versions of the survey results that we currently offer for public purchase are:

1. 2004 SURVEY HIGHLIGHTS: A text-only report (75 pages), including the full text of all the results and analysis of the survey population analyzed as a whole, and

2. 2004 SURVEY SUMMARY: A report of composite results, where the survey respondents are analyzed as a whole (149 pages, includes a full set of graphed answers for every survey question).

Individual sections of the research reports, as well as logical combinations of sections are also available. All reports are available in printed or electronic versions.

These reports are available in the Market Research section of GGI's Wisdom iStore.

 

2002, 2000, 1998 Product Development Metrics Survey: The Summary and Highlights Reports for GGI's prior Biennial Product Development Metrics Surveys are also available for purchase by the public through GGI's Wisdom iStore. These reports are completely based on primary research performed by GGI researchers. Information about the purpose and focus of prior surveys may be found in our biennial survey archives.


GATEWAYS TO KNOWLEDGE

GTK-Gateways To Knowledge is a DIRECTORY OF THOUSANDS OF LINKS to providers of engineering, purchasing, and manufacturing technologies and services. If you hit the right subjects, it is more useful than a search engine! The "main entrance" to GTK can be found at:

http://www.goldensegroupinc.com/gateway/index.shtml

For those of you that do not want to risk going through the main entrance above, some of the Gateways that we believe you will find useful or entertaining are highlighted below.

CALENDAR OF INDUSTRY EVENTS

GGI's Calendar of Industry Events contains an up-to-date listing of links to Conferences, Seminars, Distance Learning Centers, Colleges & Universities, Executive Education, and Corporate-Sponsored Universities. The calendar has just been updated with more conferences and seminars throughout 2005. The categories we follow are:

The categories of conferences, seminars, and distance learning are further organized into the following subject areas:

  • Strategic, Knowledge & General Management
  • Marketing & Sales - Mechanical, Electro-Mechanical, Electrical, & Electronic
  • Marketing & Sales - Pharmaceutical, Biotechnology, & Life Sciences
  • Product Development - Mechanical, Electro-Mechanical, Electrical, & Electronic
  • Product Development - Pharmaceutical, Biotechnology, & Life Sciences
  • Manufacturing & Automation - Mechanical, Electro-Mechanical, Electrical, & Electronic
  • Manufacturing & Automation - Pharmaceutical, Biotechnology, & Life Sciences
  • Software, Internet & IT
  • Project Management
  • Metrics

If you are looking for a conference or other learning opportunity, check out the Calendar. This free service for our readers is front and center on GGI's Home Page. Or, go directly to the Calendar of Industry Events MEGA Gateway.


TELEVISION EVENTS

Alexander Haig's World Business Review: Brad Goldense has made several appearances on Alexander Haig's World Business Review in the past year. Streaming video is available for all shows, which aired on August 4, September 29 and December 15, 2002 and on May 20, 2003. See below for details.

May 20, 2003 Broadcast of September 29th In-Studio with Alexander Haig (22.5 minutes): Streaming video for this segment is available on GGI's web site.

December 15, 2002 In-Studio with Alexander Haig (7.5 minutes) on CNBC paid programming: Streaming video for this segment is available on GGI's web site.

September 29, 2002 In-Studio with Alexander Haig (22.5 minutes): Streaming video for this segment (as well as the entire 30-minute show) is available on GGI's web site.

August 4, 2002 On-Location at GGI (3.5 minutes): This On-Location field report is available in streaming video on GGI's web site.

The web page includes links to download a streaming video player, if you do not currently have one installed on your computer.

For more information on any of Brad's appearances on television, go to:

http://www.goldensegroupinc.com/ggi-goldense-product-development-tv-television-broadcast.shtml

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GGI RapidNews is an e-mail publication from Goldense Group, Inc (GGI). Its subject matter includes survey findings, company news, book and article reviews, key industry conferences and R&D information of interest to clients and associates. Please send communications to rn(at)goldensegroupinc.com. Thank you.