Successful international collaborative R&D

The enormous costs involved in constructing prototype broadcast and multimedia systems, and the variety of specialisations which must come together in order to design them, have encouraged the formation of strategic research collaborations between organisations. Such collaborations are promoted through many national and international support frameworks which aim to stimulate innovation, education, technical standards, new markets and the acceptance of new technology by society. These frameworks encourage synergy and communications between projects, and usually award and administer the expenditure of research grants. The author believes, however, that insufficient attention within collaborative projects is paid to planning and management, with the result that a large proportion do not achieve their potential. Managers who are very competent at leading in-company projects often fail to recognise that collaborative ventures require additional skills such as: the choosing of partner companies, the division of effort, cross-cultural awareness, IPR strategies, company vs project allegiances and promoting healthy competition. This paper looks at some of the literature and studies which have been conducted in this area