Scientific-Technological Management Giorgio Musso Physics Department SoSMCE 2013 Summer School Genoa, Italy

Main topics to be faced by “new scientists” Industrial organization and relationships Industry as an economical/technological process Project management methodologies

3 Seeing e research project from outside …. t Event Projections example Science Technology Economy Finance Organization Social Research Project Evaluation

The Industrial Process Materials/Components Suppliers Banks Capital Human resources Services Products/Services Customers Market Partner State Company Technology

Company’s functional structure Management Marketing Research and Development Design Fabrication Quality Assurance Storage Purchasing Sales Maintenance Human resources Finance Management Control Accounting Legal Public relationships Continuing education Safety

Organization structure Management Business Units Services Planning and COGE R&D Fabbrication

How industry individuates research projects Technology Push process -Starting from an already existent Scientific/Technological know-how or Scientific knowledge some future application is individuate and developed. -Both scientific as well as market knowledge are required at the same time. -It is typical in spin-off cases Market Driven Process -Research objectives derive from market needs analysis. -Application and scientific knowledge are separated. -It is typical in High Tech industry

Research results evaluation in industry There is a great debate on the assessment of research results Often the kind of evaluation depends on the institution objectives The used metrics are generally based on the following criteria ( not independent among them ): –Knowledge return –Role return –Know how return –Economical return

Knowledge return It is typical in Research public institutions, mainly where the research activity is combined with instruction It is used in large international laboratories aimed at scientific objectives It is associated with fundamental research activities It is measured in terms of publications and of citation index This evaluation criteria are in general considered as a significative indexes, but often incomplete for industry.

Role return It represents a form of measure applied in institutions similar to the previous ones, but the emphasis is located on the role recognition acquired by the institution itself. Usually the role has a social meaning: –Instruction –Health care –Cultural heritage –Environment –Promotion of technological development –Promotion of economical development Industry considers this kind of return as a characterizing factor as a first level player in some field

Know-how return Research return is evaluated in terms of applicability of achieved results and of enabling technology acquisitions Usually is based on patent achieving process, where the patents are considered economical assets of their owner It is frequently used by chemical, pharmaceutics, food and mechanical industries It is not so much used in the information technology field, due to the deficiency to protect results mainly in the software development process

Economical return It is typical in High Tech industries. It is based on the criterion of estimating research results exclusively in economical terms (as such cannot be considered a complete estimate) It compares the research costs with the estimate or the evaluation of research-originated revenues Example: Annual revenue originated by research Return= ___________________________ Previous n-years Research costs Impact = Annual revenue originated by research Total annual revenue

Problems in public and industrial research interactions There are deep differences and problems that need to be solved: –Possibility of individuating research themes on the base of external requests –Need to plan and control the development cost and time –Need to reconcile the different result evaluation criteria and different objectives –Need to complete the chain value –…Weakness in the Technology Transfer Process …… –…Need to exchange experience and persons ….

Company’s economical and financial process Company’s cost structure Annual report as a control tools Project organization Cost project control Return on investments (risk assessment, breakeven evaluation, amortization's) Immaterial assets (know-how, Technology, patents) Contract management (partnerships, licenses,royalties) Economical and financial process

Annual report schema ActivitiesPassivities ImmobiliCapitale sociale Beni materiali Beni immaterialiFondi di accantonamento ScorteDebiti Lavori in corso Crediti da clienti Altri crediti Cassa

Economic accounting schema RicaviA Costi direttiB Margine operativo lordoA-B Costi indiretti (R&D, MKT, ecc.)C Costi generaliD Margine operativoA-B-C-D Oneri finanziari e fiscaliE Risultato OperativoA-B-C-D-E

17 Life cycle in the industrial research Long term objectives definition Long term plan definition Research projects definition Research project planning Resources assignment Activity management and control Result evaluation Result transfer Result maintenance

Project Management Project cycle Project organization(responsibility assignment, work groups, project revisions) Project management methodology phases –project planning –project control and revision (feedback) –project reporting Management of geographically distributed projects Project documentation

Project management objectives To improve R&D activities in terms of: –Effectiveness and costs –Development lead time –Development Quality and Reliability To monitoring project physical progress To get a better project planning To improve project documentation To improve the resources planning process To adapt internal process with external needs