Different skills, competencies, and people are required at each stage, phase or sprint of research or product/service development no matter what size company. Motivation of these people is also different.
Research, Fuzzy Front End and Ideation Stages: Idea Generation through Technical/Marketing Applications Analysis
| Technical & Engineering Skills | Market & Sales Skills | Organizational Skills | Competencies Required | Roles Involved |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Idea (Basic Research); Concept Definition (Applied Research); Proof of Concept | Research Literature; Needs Analysis; I.D. internal factors; I.D. competing R&D | Basic Research funding; Intellectual Property Survey; Commercialization Planning; Define intellectual property strategy; I.D. potential partners; Prepare for Gate I review | Scientific/technical; Proposal writing; Team building; Core competencies | Principal Investigator; Research team; Intellectual Property staff; Technical Transfer staff |
| Technical / Engineering / Marketing Applications Analysis | Commercial needs analysis | Research funding; Explore intellectual property options; Identify liability issues; Refine list of potential partners Prioritize deployment applications; Prepare for Gate 2 Review | Applications engineering; Industry knowledge | Applied research team |
Feasibility through Development Stages: Product Definition to Product Prototype
| Technical & Engineering Skills | Market & Sales Skills | Organizational Skills | Competencies Required | Roles Involved |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Product Definition (Exploratory Development) | Preliminary Market definition | Decide to develop; Find funding; I.D. product champion; Define IP strategy; Patent disclosures; licensing strategy; product development team in place | Intuition to technical; Technical to engineering | Project Team |
| Working Model (Advanced Development) | Market analysis | Find developmental funding; File patents; Complete commercialization plan | Engineering; Partnership development | Project Team; Entrepreneur or corporate product champion; Engineers; Production; Safety |
| Engineering Prototype Testing, Refining (Engineering Development) | Complete industry analysis; Formal market analysis and market plan | Funding for advanced development; Establish IP protection; Formal business planning; Prepare for Gate 3 review | Engineering; Legal; Market Analysis; Partnership development | Project Champion; Engineers; Patent Attorney; Industry partners; Market analyst; Planners |
Scale-Up: Prototype to Production
| Technical & Engineering Skills | Market & Sales Skills | Organizational Skills | Competencies Required | Roles Involved |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Production Prototype: Scale-up, test, refine, production engineering, product safety engineering | Full Market Analysis and Plan: Niches, barriers, pricing, competition, cost data, distribution, alternative product application; Risk analysis; Sales projections | Find start-up capital; complete business plan; form business; meet state and federal regulations; purchase insurance; price production facility; Prepare for Gate 4 review | Engineering, production, product safety, entrepreneurial, financing, marketing, cost analysis, legal, management | Inventor, entrepreneur, investors, engineers, production, safety, patent attorneys, corporate attorneys, accountants, consultants, marketing, business management, financial, insurance brokers, trade union officers |
| Limited Production, Qualification Testing, Running Changes | Contact customers; commence distribution, seek product endorsements, follow-up sales, advertise, publish in technical journals | Find growth capital; start-up business; build plant; buy equipment; hire foreman and labor; arrange product service, purchasing, transportation, record keeping; Prepare for Gate 5 Review | All of above plus specialty engineering, systems engineering, sales analysis, supervisory | All of above plus foreman, labor, sales people, specialty engineers, systems engineers |
Commercial: Full Production
| Technical & Engineering Skills | Market & Sales Skills | Organizational Skills | Competencies Required | Roles Involved |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full production Start-up | All of the above plus expand distribution; analyze competitor response | All of the above plus monitor costs,; finance cash-flow deficit; refine production system | All of the above plus delegation, marketing forecasting; strategic planning; long-term financial | All of the above plus expanding management, sales and labor forces |