Research

Research and development laboratories have been transformed from independent scientists working on challenging but questionably marketable technologies to organizations that are expected to make direct contributions to company profits. The CTO can play an important role in monitoring and directing these labs. Erickson recommends several principles that a CTO should use for directing R&D. First, R&D personnel should be kept in touch with the company's customers and markets. (31) Few labs can seclude themselves from the market and conduct research for its own sake. Second, the CTO should foster open communications between R&D staff, manufacturing engineers, and the marketing department. Third, the CTO should hold the R&D labs to schedule and budget commitments. If an R&D project is not delivering results, it may need to be terminated and the funds applied more productively elsewhere. Some longstanding projects constantly show great promise and absorb resources, but produce nothing. These projects, though considered "pillars of the lab," must be held accountable and face termination if they do not produce results. (29)

R&D laboratory budgets should be the topic of critical reviews by the executive staff. The CTO should lead initial funding reviews in which R&D projects present the expectations for the project, its applicability to market needs, the position relative to competitors, and a record of past successes. The CTO should also hold in-progress reviews to monitor problems and successes. A CTO can serve as an honest broker in these reviews because he or she comes from outside of the laboratory and is not personally involved in the projects. (60)(77)