The Use of Fuzzy Logic and Expert Judgment in the R&D Project Portfolio Selection Process

New technologies emerge every day in response to a variety of needs. In research and development (R&D) project portfolio selection, the agencies responsible for budget allocation must make the crucial decision of which projects to fund. A quantitative, objective decision-making process necessarily avoids internal strife amongst decision-makers, and contributes to a more unbiased process. This paper proposes a new decision aid that integrates fuzzy logic and expert judgment into non-crisp decision making criteria for the R&D project portfolio selection process thereby reducing the number of solutions under consideration. Managers´ preferences and knowledge are incorporated into the process using a fuzzy rule based aggregation procedure. This technique provides an alternative to clustering in choosing amongst non-dominated solutions. The methodology is illustrated through a case study, determining funding levels for R&D projects for the particular example of the nuclear emergency safety team (NEST).