R&D Governance and Knowledge Management (3ws Online Pty Ltd 2011).
Overview:
Effective self-assessment and compliance in the R&D Tax Incentive are intimately linked to the R&D management, governance and knowledge management in eligible firms. This understanding, together with the role that AusIndustry’s education and guidance can play in championing best practice so as to ensure sustainable R&D investment, resulted in a number of AusIndustry initiatives to inform its guidance strategy. One such activity was to commission a study by 3ws Online Pty Ltd that sought to benchmark some representative firms against best practice in R&D and knowledge management.
This report provides commentary and analysis about best practice management of R&D in companies accessing tax incentives. For the report, best practice management of R&D includes the use of methods for tracking resource, risks, success, setbacks, inputs, outputs and key requirements. The implementation of these methods can improve the quality of results from R&D by tracking and recording the knowledge and lessons learned through R&D and integrating them into the operations of a firm.
The report offers a 12-point best practice plan for R&D governance and knowledge management that may assist companies in capturing the benefits of R&D. The framework considers strategy, management and work practices in the domains of: people; process and content; and technology. These domains are summarised in the table below.
| PEOPLE |
|
| 1.Guiding principles |
Governance that recognises the value of R&D and guide knowledge management practices and work practice transformation and IT |
| 2.Information management practices |
Knowledge capture in documents to retain and reuse content/information from R&D |
| 3.Management of core competencies |
Capability and competence of staff to confront day-to-day R&D process requirements and new operating environments |
| 4.Training and benchmarking |
Training of staff to achieve productivity for R&D, knowledge management practices and new operations |
| 5.Learning from network(s) of experts |
Learning by documenting R&D lessons in ways that others can access |
| PROCESS AND CONTENT |
|
| 6.Collaborative teams |
Collaborative R&D and operational workgroups that are formally chartered, directed and well defined |
| 7.Engaged and aligned workforce |
Work practices that define the way researchers team up to achieve and use R&D results |
| 8.Performance targets |
Workflows that define experimentation, R&D knowledge management and compliance and new operating processes |
| 9.Standardisation |
Compliance processes that establish valid R&D knowledge and know-how and explicitly defined operating processes |
| TECHNOLOGY |
|
| 10.Work environment |
R&D facilities are fit-for-purpose for R&D experimentation and the people who work in them |
| 11.Visual dashboards |
IT platforms and web repositories enable user friendly, effective reporting, communication and search |
| 12.Information technology systems and tools |
Systems and tools for collaborating, reviewing, revising, approving and reporting R&D results |
The case studies in the report serve to highlight the distinct challenges faced by firms progressing R&D portfolios of differing scale and complexity. The report also provides a strong focus on project and records management at the firm level.