Industrial R&D Program Evaluation Techniques

U.S. industry's interest in and implementation of research and development (R&D) program evaluation techniques has been evolving throughout the twentieth century. Due in large part to the amount of funds corporations are now investing in R&D programs, evaluation techniques continue to become increasingly important. In this article, the history of R&D and its evaluation within the 3M Company will be used as an example of this progression. The article discusses how U.S. industrial R&D has moved from individual or few-person efforts earlier this century to today's high-investment, large-scale team approaches. A review of the most frequently used U.S. industrial R&D program evaluation methods is included. Among these are scoring methods, cost/benefit analysis, and risk analysis. The largest part of the article is a description of the 3M technical audit process. In addition to discussing the procedural and scoring elements of the technical audit, emphasis is placed on how 3M attains a variety of benefits from the process. The article concludes with a summary of other activities that take place in 3M's Technology Analysis Department. These projects involve measuring R&D productivity and assessing the technological health (present and future) of 3M.