Gestão do Conhecimento
Gestão da Inovação
biblioteca
Collaboration in R&D:
The Emerging Frontiers of Innovation1
The paper examines the growing diversity of sources and the global possibilities for research and
development. It notes a consistent trend towards collaborative and decentralized ventures which
emphasize risk sharing, cost optimization and managing complex business relationships. There are
clear indications that new opportunities in IT influence the changing shape of innovation while they
support knowledge sharing and enable working across timezones. The paper reviews the international
experience of collaborative innovation in corporations, universities and the public sector and
identifies intellectual property markets and open source production as important and developing
models. Findings show that agile management of R&D production requires organizational, technical
and human approaches to sustain knowledge sharing networks. The paper recommends that
companies understand and focus their strategic position within collaborative research networks.
José Cláudio Terra, Dr.
InTRoDuCTIon arise from anywhere in the world and are more likely
to arise from collaboration (internal and external) than
The continuous growth of corporate Research from individual work. It is also increasingly common
and Development (R&D) is a key indicator of for cutting-edge technologies to be developed by
the emergence of a knowledge-based economy. a number of different institutions, combining the
Although expensed for legal accounting reasons, skills of small and large organizations and private
R&D is in fact one of the key investments that and public organizations. Innovation in isolation is
promote future growth for firms and countries. The no longer a viable option. There are a number of
product of R&D is knowledge that turns into new reasons for this trend:
products and services and that are acquired by
researchers, thereby spilling-over to the rest of the • Technological advances have made remote
economy. Companies in the developed world, and collaboration much easier;
more recently in developing countries are increasing • A new generation of researchers has been raised
their investments in R&D at a faster rate than the with internet access and expecting to work and
overall economic growth. For instance, data from the collaborate virtually.
US Department of Commerce shows that corporate • The innovation process increasingly requires
R&D grew from US$ 93.6 billion in 1994, to US$ a combination of different skills, technologies and
164.5 billion in 2000, which means a compounded disciplines;
annual growth of 7.9% over this period. • The erosion of vertically integrated supply-chains
and the rapid emergence of horizontal supply-chains
Despite this surge in corporate R&D, the evidence that include multiple layers of companies working
suggests that new innovations and technologies can on different parts, components, sub-systems and
1
The author acknowledges the strong support and research assistance provided by Dr. Rupert Brown and David Kato.
© TerraForum Consultores 1

Gestão da Inovação Collaboration in R&D: The Emerging Frontiers of Innovation
biblioteca
www.terraforum.com.br
platforms of new product offerings; increased collaboration, we examine a set of
• The growing complexity and uncertainty of specific recent trends that are helping to shape the
innovation leads to risk-sharing among different new collaborative and global environment for R&D,
players; namely:
• The dramatic reduction of product life cycles 1. Decentralization of R&D in large corporations
and increased importance of new products as a 2. Collaboration: academics, universities and
percentage of total revenues; Intellectual Property (IP)
• Offshoring and outsourcing of R&D is now an 3. Government support for collaborative R&D
attractive option with advantages in labor costs; 4. Open source product development
• An increased number of countries are enforcing 5. Emergence of (IP) markets
intellectual property rights and offering tax-breaks
for R&D investments. Thus, new countries are 1. DECEnTRALIZATIon oF R&D In
becoming possible hosts of R&D activity; LARGE CoRPoRATIonS
• In certain types of industries, it is now possible to
increase the speed of research by working around Not too long ago, governments provided most of
the clock through two or three time zones; the funding for R&D in developed countries. This
• The emergence of organizations for hire totally has changed dramatically over the last decade.
dedicated to developing new ideas and inventing The private sector has now become the main
new products2 (skunk works for hire); driver of R&D worldwide. Very large multinationals
• The rapid growth in the number of incubators have rapidly moved away from “Ivory Tower” R&D
of technology-based companies and the lower centers. In order to reduce labor costs and find
capital needs in some fields that provide interesting innovative local solutions, these multinationals have
opportunities for entrepreneurs in knowledge-based shifted to developing centers of competence spread
industries; in many developed countries and increasingly also
• Information and knowledge are spreading globally in developing countries (specially in more traditional
much more rapidly as individuals and organizations industries).
have ample online access to journal and patent
databases; Data shows that a number of large organizations
• The open-source approach to software are already decentralizing R&D (especially those
development that has migrated to other fields (e.g. small developed countries such as Sweden, the
medicine); Netherlands and Switzerland). Figures show a
• Globalization has increased the need for the ready basis for extending international research
rapid creation, diffusion and adaptation of new participation, partnerships and collaboration3:
innovations. In many industries it is not longer • European firms have the highest proportion of
possible to innovate with a focus in just one market. R&D abroad (about 30 percent) – much in other
Other markets cannot be an afterthought. European countries.
• About 10-12 percent of American R&D and
In this context with many forces pushing towards about 10 percent of Japanese R&D has been
2
Walker Digital, Invent Resources, Generics Group, Sarcos Research, Deka Research and Development are good examples.
Source: Schwartz E. I. (2004). Sparking the Fire of Invention Technology Review, May 2004.
3
Rycroft R. (2002). Technology-Based Globalization Indicators: The Centrality of Innovation Network Data. Elliott School of
International Affairs, George Washington University.
© TerraForum Consultores 

Gestão da Inovação Collaboration in R&D: The Emerging Frontiers of Innovation
biblioteca
www.terraforum.com.br
internationalized. applications10;
• Around 15 percent of patents granted in the U.S. o AstraZeneca, a leading British firm, is
are generated by foreign subsidiaries of multinational rapidly increasing its investments in R&D in India11;
companies (MNCs). o E.piphany (a US$ 100 million California-
• The share of patents generated by foreign MNC based software company) is outsourcing 30% to
subsidiaries in Europe is about 30 percent. 40% of their engineers in China12;
• The most internationalized patenting takes place o Data provided by the Unites States’
in older manufacturing sectors such as food and Department of Commerce shows that between 1991
paper products, while the least internationalization and 2001, U.S. companies participated in more than
is in more complex sectors like semiconductors. 4,600 research and technology alliances involving
• It is expected that in 2004, U.S. patent filings from foreign countries. These alliances were particularly
foreign entities will surpass those from U.S. entities strong in the IT and biotechnology industries,
for the first time4. confirming that the fast-moving industries are those
• In countries such as Canada and the UK, that demand more collaboration and sharing of
foreign-funded R&D accounts for nearly 25% of total risks.
industrial R&D5.
• R&D performed by American companies abroad Two interesting examples of collaboration in product
jumped from US$ 4.6 billion in 1986 to about US$ 20 development highlight the kind of decentralization of
billion in 20006. R&D indicated by the data above:
• Interesting corporate examples include:
o Procter & Gamble that has 40 percent of its The dispute between Brazil’s Embraer and
8,000 research staff are outside North America7; Canada’s Bombardier.
o Nokia that has 18,000 engineers doing
R&D work spread across 69 sites from Boston to Embraer was almost bankrupt in the mid-nineties.
Bangalore8; Yet it made the unlikely comeback to become the
o UTStarcom, which has more than 1,400 third largest commercial aircraft manufacturer in the
engineers in China and 150 engineers in India9; world surpassing Bombardier. How did this happen?
o Alcatel, the French giant, raised its R&D How did a company from a developing country,
investment in Shanghai to $100 million for work competing in a high-tech market beat a once
on third-generation mobile infrastructure and superior, profitable and domineering competitor
3
Rycroft R. (2002). Technology-Based Globalization Indicators: The Centrality of Innovation Network Data. Elliott School of
International Affairs, George Washington University.
4
Schwartz E. I. (2004). Sparking the Fire of Invention Technology Review, May 2004.
5
National Science Board & National Science Foundation(2004). Science and Engineering Indicators 2004.
6
Walsh K. (2003). Foreign High-Tech R&D in China: Risks, rewards, and implications for US-China relations. Henry L. Stimson
Center.
7
Debra Knopman et al (2003) Innovation and Change Management in Public and Private Organizations Rand Organization.
8
Kaihla P. (2002). Nokia’s Hit. Factory Business 2.0, August 2002.
9
Ramo, A. (2003). The China Syndrome. CFO Magazin, October 2003.
10
Ramo, A. (2003). The China Syndrome. CFO Magazin, October 2003.
11
Ramo, A. (2003). The China Syndrome. CFO Magazin, October 2003.
12
Ramo, A. (2003). The China Syndrome. CFO Magazin, October 2003.
© TerraForum Consultores 

Gestão da Inovação Collaboration in R&D: The Emerging Frontiers of Innovation
biblioteca
www.terraforum.com.br
in less than a decade? Many factors include to who participate in this program are paid to earn a
this success, but one is probably at the forefront: Master’s degree. The result is the churning out of
Embraer’s relative lack of funding and technical a new generation of scientists and engineers every
resources led the company to embrace a much year that are already helping Embraer to develop
more collaborative product development process new generation of planes.
than Bombardier. Embraer developed partnerships
with American, French, German and Brazilian Océ’s R&D Networks
universities and with small and large organizations
from South America, USA, Japan and Europe. From the Netherlands, comes the interesting case
These included: Piper Aircraft Company, United of Océ. Océ is a leading Dutch company with
Technologies, Northrop, McDonnell Douglas, Parker
s
18,000 employees (with 1,500 in R&D) that is a
Hannifin (USA); Aermacchi, Microtecnica, Latecoere key competitor to Canon and Xerox in the high-end
(Italy), Kawasaki (Japan); Liebherr (Germany); copier market. According to Professor Roel Rutten,
Gamesa Group (Spain); Sonaca (Belgium) and who did a comprehensive study of the innovation
Enaer (Chile). The company headquarters came to process at Océ, the company made the major
resemble a United Nations camp with suppliers and change from having a closed R&D environment to
partners from different continents, speaking different creating an open innovation concept13:
languages, engaged in rapid product development
projects through risk-sharing contracts. Indeed, “In the early 1990s, the main purpose of the fence
Embraer became very similar to some of the finest around the site of Océ R&D in Venlo, the Netherlands,
Japanese auto-maker producers that through the was to prevent knowledge from leaking out. Today,
tradition of keiretsu, engage suppliers, partners and some 250 people from universities, engineering
clients in very open, trusting and shared destiny bureaus, software developers, and suppliers work
commitments. side by side with Océ engineers inside that fence14".
He goes on to say: “The fundamental R&D is often
Most recently, Embraer has shown how innovation, done on a global scale, using the knowledge and
talent and collaboration have no limits. In great need expertise of leading institutes and universities.
of young talents to build and work on new products Whether these institutes are located in Japan, the
and realizing that there was enough of a supply of United States, or the Netherlands is irrelevant.
qualified aeronautics engineers in Brazil, the company What matters is that Océ acquires the knowledge
set up a very innovative in-house Master’s program it needs”15.
in Aeronautics to attract the best to work for them.
In order to establish the program, it carefully studied . CoLLABoRATIon: ACADEMICS,
every engineering and related discipline programs unIVERSITIES AnD IP
in Brazilian universities. Then, it convinced different
universities and departments to team up together The academic community has traditionally
with Embraer’s own PhDs in order to develop a collaborated across institutions, geography
unique program to attend to the company’s most and languages. It has been known as the most
pressing needs. The young scientists and engineers cosmopolitan of all working categories employed by
13
Rutten R. (2003) Knowledge and Innovation in Regional Industry: an entrepreneurial coalition Routledge.
14
Ibid, page 24.
15
Ibid, page 26.
© TerraForum Consultores 

Gestão da Inovação Collaboration in R&D: The Emerging Frontiers of Innovation
biblioteca
www.terraforum.com.br
industry. However, this open approach has achieved their equity four ways: 30% to the investors, 20%
unprecedented levels in recent years. The National to the management, 25% to the university and 25%
Science Foundation data, for instance, shows that to the academics who did the original research. The
collaborative efforts are responsible for an increasing department that fostered the research sees a direct
number of patents and publications and that these payback, too, by receiving 15% of the university’s
relationships are also constructed and operate profit when it sells its stake.
across borders. Scientists from developed and
developing countries are also rapidly increasingly As industry-academia evolves, we are witnessing
the number of co-authorships with colleagues from the emergence of hybrid organizations. These are
other institutions, countries and regions16. being formed when there is a need for a number of
types of institutions to mobilize a research project.
Another important development in terms of R&D A recent example is a post 9/11 military project:
collaboration involving academics is the recent The Institute for Soldier Nanotechnologies at MIT.
emergence of IP licensing companies. These It involves 8 academic departments, 6 international
companies are helping to unlock much of the companies, 5 small enterprise partners, 3 army
value tied up in intellectual property and to ensure research institutions and open participation from the
that universities miss fewer opportunities for the public through an annual Soldier Design Competition.
commercial application of outputs. This trend has led Outputs range from armor to waterproofing to an
to much greater collaboration between R&D labs and artificial liver20.
industry. The results are already striking: American
universities received $1.1 billion in IP license The above example, although definitely an exception,
income during 200017. In 1980, only approximately points to the frontiers of collaboration in R&D. Most
20 universities had technology licensing and transfer firms, however, that engage in R&D need to start,
offices. By 1990, this number has reached 200 and if they have not yet, looking into and mapping
currently almost all research universities in the U.S. what is happening in the best universities in their
have one18. The same kind of change (although knowledge areas. Opportunities for collaboration
not with the same intensity) is occurring in other and outsourcing are abundant in many fields.
countries, including developing ones such as Brazil.
. GoVERnMEnT SuPPoRT FoR
An interesting example of innovative industry- CoLLABoRATIVE R&D
academia partnership comes from Britain. IP2IPO,
a British venture-capital firm is making a US$36m Firms can also expand their networks of R&D
investment in Oxford University’s chemistry collaboration through monitoring (and influencing)
department19. The department produces 80 PhDs government’s role in fostering R&D collaboration.
each year and US$18m in research income, with Almost all governments from developed nations
a growing stream of spin-outs. The university owns have been increasing their support for collaborative,
the IP, not the researchers, and spin-outs now split pre-commercial R&D collaboration. The U.S., for
16
National Science Board & National Science Foundation(2004). Science and Engineering Indicators 2004.
17
The Economist (2003). Reinventing Europe. Economist Technology Quarterly, September 4th 2003.
18
Colyvas, J. et al (2002). How Do University Inventions Get Into Practice? Management Science, Jan 2002, 61-73.
19
The Economist (2003). Reinventing Europe. Economist Technology Quarterly, September 4th 2003.
20
MIT’s Institute for Soldier Nanotechnologies (ISN) http://web.mit.edu/isn/
© TerraForum Consultores 

Gestão da Inovação Collaboration in R&D: The Emerging Frontiers of Innovation
biblioteca
www.terraforum.com.br
instance, has had major federal legislation since commercial innovations. The institutes receive
the 80’s that provides support for collaborative 50% of their funding from the government, 25%
R&D. It includes the Stevenson-Wydler Technology from universities and 25% from industry. They were
Innovation Act (1980); the Bay-Dole University created by tapping the universities for ideas and
and Small Business Patent Act (1980); the Small then defining a series of technology areas for each
Business Innovation Development Act (1982); the of the institutes to focus on. The industrial partners
National Cooperative Research Act (1984) and the then chose which areas to back.”
Omnibus Trade and Competitiveness Act (1988).
These Acts have all been amended recently either to . oPEn SouRCE PRoDuCT
relax restrictions on collaboration or to stimulate the DEVELoPMEnT
transfer of knowledge from universities and federal
labs. Open source is an undeniable new phenomenon
that is shaking up traditional notions of collaboration
Japan and the European Union have even stronger for R&D and product development. Open source
incentives for collaborative R&D. At the end of the means that the content, substance or code of any
eighties, 80% of the Japanese government budget application is open to anyone to view, improve,
for R&D was already allocated to projects that extend, customize or share within the author’s rules.
involved the collaboration of industry consortia, Yochai Benkler, law professor at Yale University
research associations, universities and research gives open source a precise technical definition of
centers managed by groups of firms. Promotion “non-proprietary peer-production of information-
of cooperation in community research has been embedding goods”22. It also implies a research
a longstanding goal of European research policy. and development process that is collaborative and
Among recent examples coming from Europe, the most likely virtual. Open source software is having a
case of the Netherlands is worth citing21: serious impact on the US$90 billion software market
and boasts more and more widely recognizable
“The government there has formulated a €200m brands, for example: Linux (34% of web servers),
plan, known as the Netherlands Genomics Initiative Apache (67% of web servers23), OpenOffice, ITRON
(NGI), to undertake genomics research and extract Kernel24, Mozilla and MySQL.
value from it. Industry and the universities have
been asked to propose research projects that can A very interesting article entitled “An open-source
contribute to the global genomics effort. The request shot in the arm?” in The Economist25 magazine
has led to tenders for ten projects worth €50m a year argues that open source research can also have an
over a five-year period. The NGI approach is similar impact in other fields and disciplines, for instance
to one taken in the formation of the Netherlands’ in biomedical research and on generic drugs.
Technological TOP Institutes, which undertake Open source research can be used to exploit non-
pre-competitive research that is meant to lead to patentable compounds, drugs whose patents have
21
The Economist (2003). Reinventing Europe. Economist Technology Quarterly, September 4th 2003.
22
The Economist (2004).An open-source shot in the arm? Economist Technology Quarterly, June 10th 2004.
23
Netcraft (2004) Web Server Survey 2004. Netcraft.com.
24
3 billion installations, 1984-2003. Source: Krikke J. (2003). The most popular operating system in the world. Linux Insider,
October 2003.
25
The Economist (2004).An open-source shot in the arm? Economist Technology Quarterly, June 10th 2004.
© TerraForum Consultores 

Gestão da Inovação Collaboration in R&D: The Emerging Frontiers of Innovation
biblioteca
www.terraforum.com.br
expired and in developing treatments for diseases • A large user-base specifies requirements,
that afflict small numbers of people, such as participates in design reviews, beta testing and
Parkinson’s Disease, or are found mainly in poor implementation of new systems.
countries, such as malaria. In these last cases, there • Source code and other artifacts are available to
is not a large enough market of paying customers customers – for them to identify issues earlier in the
to encourage large commercial organizations to project lifecycle and to create a greater sense of
develop commercial solutions. Some open source ownership.
biomedical research projects have stated that • More than 50% of open source developers
should they find and patent a new treatment, it will be participate in two or more projects and another 10%
licensed cheaply to pharmaceutical firms to ensure a participate in 10 or more.
supply of drugs at low cost. • Archiving of as much of the development process
as possible to protect a team’s knowledge base, in
The same article provides a concrete example the event of participant drop-out and sickness27.
similar to the open source research approach.
It describes how Dr. Peter Lansbury, of Harvard With the exception of pro-bono, government-
Medical School, is examining the therapeutic effect sponsored or pure academic research, it is hard to
of a thousand approved drugs on which the patent imagine large, for-profit organizations engaging in
has expired in most cases. His laboratory, which has open source product development. However, paying
approximately 25 researchers and an annual budget attention to this emerging model of knowledge
of $2.5m, focuses its work on neurodegenerative creation is a must for all firms. It is a process that,
diseases, such as Parkinson’s and Huntington’s, to in some cases, can involve thousands of people
which the major commercial drug companies devote across the world and generally includes young
few resources because of the small potential market. professionals motivated to be recognized as experts
Dr Lansbury refers to his work as “not-for-profit drug or, more often, because they want develop a feeling
discovery”. He sees direct parallels with the open- of belonging to a knowledge community.
source approach in that (1) his group places much
of its data in the public domain, and (2) its goal is to The next section, deals with the emergence of
involve other scientists around the world. Intellectual Property markets, a “cousin” of the open
source concept.
George Dafermos has examined the management
of open source production. He has found virtual . EMERGEnCE oF InTELLECTuAL
networked organizations where geographically PRoPERTY (IP) MARKETS
dispersed knowledge workers virtually collaborated
on projects with barely any central planning and The advent of virtual auctions, online showrooms and
co-ordination26. A number of elements of these secure transactions and communications has allowed
networked projects were reported: the design of online spaces where IP and ideas can
• They rely heavily on web tools as modes of be showcased and purchased. These market spaces
communication, with automated communications are entering a consolidation phase and three models
archives, mailing lists & wikis. of market spaces have taken hold:
26
Dafermos, G.N. (2001) Management and Virtual Decentralised Networks: The Linux Project. First Monday, v.6 n.11.
27
Barret L. and Schwaber C. E.(2004). Firms can improve success rate by learning from open source software development.
Computer Weekly, June 2004.
© TerraForum Consultores 

Gestão da Inovação Collaboration in R&D: The Emerging Frontiers of Innovation
biblioteca
www.terraforum.com.br
(1) All-in-one service. Generally includes a chemists in the states of the former Soviet Union,
contacts database, a matching service for seekers in India and in China. InnoCentive is an attempt to
and providers, submission of RFQs and project and explore how to access those communities via a Web
payment process. NineSigma and CanBioTech are site that posts specific problems in chemistry and a
good examples; financial bounty for the first viable solution”.
(2) Shop window or auction. This model openly MAnAGInG R&D CoLLABoRATIon
displays technology wants and needs according
to the areas where expertise is sought. The range As highlighted by the data, ideas and cases above,
of sites varies from highly speculative, such as small and large organizations alike are looking into
NewIdeaTrade.com, to more specific such as Yet2. new ways to collaborate in R&D collaboration. Even
com, an Internet ‘dating service’ for IP users and those that understand the need for collaboration
providers. Finally, there are sites with an extremely and open concepts of innovation, also understand
tight industry focus like PharmaLicensing.Com. or that effective collaboration is not a given. As Robert
“2Rentacoder”, which currently has over 80,000 Rycroft puts it29: “Discovering, transforming, and
registered programmers in its database and offers applying relevant tacit and explicit knowledge can
an environment similar to E-bay, but exclusively for be an intimidating technological and organizational
software development contract work. challenge. Yet once learning processes are
established that make repeated innovation possible,
(3) Reward or challenge. These are usually a network may have a sustainable competitive
biotechnology and pure science sites that offer a advantage. The dynamic capabilities that result from
bounty for those who solve a problem or challenge rapid learning are difficult for competitors to replicate,
posted on the site in exchange for the intellectual precisely because they are constantly evolving,
property rights of the innovation. Innocentive emerging [and developed through cumulative
[www.Innocentive.com] is a market leader and experiences30]. Thus, the overall advantages of
is underwritten by Eli Lilly and with the strong innovation networks seem to be substantial.”
participation of Procter and Gamble plus Dow and
BASF. Research indicates that successful interactive
learning triggers further cooperation. Firms that
Some of the ideas that initially pushed Eli Lilly (a succeed at networking may become not only
US$ 11 billion company, with an annual US$ 2 billion more adept at learning about the technological
R&D budget) to invest in Innocentive were nicely dimensions of collaboration, but also more skilled in
summarized by its CIO W. Roy Dunbar28: “We’re very organizational dynamics that foster open, committed
clever within Lilly in Indianapolis headquarters, but and yet flexible relationships with different players31.
we also recognize there are a lot of other clever folk
in other places. There are communities of world-class Collaboration is also a matter of being tuned into the
28
Dunbar W. R. Thinking out loud. CIO Insight, October 2, 2002.
29
Rycroft R. (2003). Self-Organizing Innovation Networks: Implications for Globalization. Elliott School of International Affairs,
George Washington University.
30
Added by the author
31
Rycroft R. (2003). Self-Organizing Innovation Networks: Implications for Globalization. Elliott School of International Affairs,
George Washington University.
© TerraForum Consultores 

Gestão da Inovação Collaboration in R&D: The Emerging Frontiers of Innovation
biblioteca
www.terraforum.com.br
environment and constantly monitoring it in order of pitfalls in terms of IP ownership, confidentiality
to rapidly spot potential emerging technologies conditions and non-competition issues. All these
coming from the same industry, adjacent industries, issues need careful management. Nevertheless,
universities, research institutes, etc. Organizations without the strong will of leaders that understand the
engaged in paths of increased collaboration imperative of collaboration and develop a common
need an even sharper understanding of their own and exciting vision, people can become completely
competencies, skills and expertise as a way of both “caught up” in endless disputes around legal details
protecting these assets and finding complementary and end up losing sight of the big picture and the
partners. It is important to stress that managing need for forging ahead.
collaboration is not just a matter of wanting it.
Resources and time need to be managed effectively Trust and risk management are two sides of the
through a range of methodologies (product life same coin in the R&D collaborative space. Trust is
cycle methodology) and software. As competition an important currency in today’s fast moving markets.
continuously heats up, the winners are likely to R&D projects, however, are risky by nature and
be those that manage these collaborating skills collaborating with third parties may increase the risk.
effectively and strategically. In this context, knowledge Thus, sorting out who and what to trust is a skill that
management has made important in-roads into R&D people working in complex R&D projects will need to
management. In fact, no other business function is master in order to make fairly rapid decisions about
more knowledge-intensive and more likely to benefit entering and leaving partnerships and new markets.
from typical KM approaches such as Communities
of Practice, After-action Review, Lessons Learned, According to a number of studies, only a few
Knowledge Portals, Yellow Pages and advanced organizations have managed a complete transition to
collaboration & communications tools. an open innovation and flexible R&D infrastructure.
Those that have built up experience in this area
Sustaining adequate learning and knowledge have been labeled “complexity masters”32, i.e.
sharing requires, however, purposeful, continual organizations that can maintain multiplex knowledge
attention. The governance of collaboration must interfaces and connections between innovation and
be one based on reciprocity and shared-destiny, R&D; sourcing, manufacturing, and delivery; and
instead of directives. Organizations that choose the marketing, sales, and after-sales service33. Crossing
path of collaboration with third parties need strong the frontiers of innovation requires a commitment to
skills in terms of holding open communication and a comprehensive effort to open and improve these
handling conflict as overtly as possible. In many channels so that ideas can flow from anywhere. With
fast-moving industries, companies will need to move data showing that by 2010, products representing
ahead without all the legal formal apparatus to which more than 70 percent of today’s sales will be
they were accustomed in the past. More and more, defunct34, companies that do not understand this
important alliances are established based on broad new paradigm will likely fade away.
principles decided by senior leaders. This does not
mean that legal and formal planning is not required. As a final word on managing R&D collaboration, it
Collaborative R&D is increasingly complex and full cannot be stressed enough how important it is to
32
Deloitte (2004). Mastering Innovation: Exploiting Ideas for Profitable Growth. Deloitte Global Benchmark Study p.1
33
Deloitte (2004). Mastering Innovation: Exploiting Ideas for Profitable Growth. Deloitte Global Benchmark Study p.10
34
Deloitte (2004). Mastering Innovation: Exploiting Ideas for Profitable Growth. Deloitte Global Benchmark Study p.3
© TerraForum Consultores 

Gestão da Inovação Collaboration in R&D: The Emerging Frontiers of Innovation
biblioteca
www.terraforum.com.br
understand one’s own place in these networks. Some ***
companies are great at integrating technologies,
others at developing innovative components José Cláudio C. Terra é presidente da TerraForum
or providing superior process or manufacturing Consultores. Atua como consultor e palestrante
capabilities. Usually, only a few companies are able no Canadá, nos Estados Unidos, em Portugal,
to drive the innovation process in complex supply- na França e no Brasil. Também é professor de
chains by closely monitoring and delivering the vários programas de pós-graduação e MBA e
needs of final clients. Many companies participate autor de vários livros sobre o tema. Seu email é
in many different networks as they broaden their jcterra@terraforum.com.br
competencies into different markets. Most, however,
are better-off developing a strong focused position in
a vibrant network or integrated supply-chain.
LooKInG AHEAD
As humanity’s problems, challenges and goals
become increasingly more complex (e.g. dealing
with global warming, deciphering the Human
Genome, exploring space), the need for collective
intelligence and global R&D can only increase in
importance. Scientists have been known to be
moved more by opportunities to make an impact
than by financial rewards. Current advances made
available by globalization and the internet are
allowing unprecedented collaboration opportunities
for the scientific community, from universities
and government agencies to small and large
corporations. Whether we will continue to make
steady progress towards increased collaboration
across organizational boundaries, locations, regions,
languages and cultures will depend heavily on an
increased ability to manage complexity, ambiguity,
risk and shared ownership; the fostering of more
trusting relationships; and developing an appropriate
communications infrastructure that helps to connect
the brain dots scattered around the globe.
© TerraForum Consultores 10

Gestão da Inovação Collaboration in R&D: The Emerging Frontiers of Innovation
biblioteca
www.terraforum.com.br
REFEREnCES Ramo, A. (2003). The China Syndrome. CFO
Magazin, October 2003.
Barret L. and Schwaber C. E.(2004). Firms can
improve success rate by learning from open source Rutten R. (2003) Knowledge and Innovation in
software development. Computer Weekly, June Regional Industry: an entrepreneurial coalition
2004. Routledge.
Colyvas, J. et al (2002). How Do University Inventions Rycroft R. (2002). Technology-Based Globalization
Get Into Practice? Management Science, Jan 2002, Indicators: The Centrality of Innovation Network
61-73. Data. Elliott School of International Affairs, George
Washington University.
Dafermos, G.N. (2001) Management and Virtual
Decentralised Networks: The Linux Project. First Rycroft R. (2003). Self-Organizing Innovation
Monday, v.6 n.11. Networks: Implications for Globalization. Elliott
School of International Affairs, George Washington
Debra Knopman et al (2003) Innovation and Change University.
Management in Public and Private Organizations
Rand Organization. Schwartz E. I. (2004). Sparking the Fire of Invention.
Technology Review, May 2004.
Deloitte (2004). Mastering Innovation: Exploiting
Ideas for Profitable Growth. Deloitte Global The Economist (2003). Reinventing Europe.
Benchmark Study Economist Technology Quarterly, September 4th
2003.
Dunbar W. R. Thinking out loud. CIO Insight,
October 2, 2002. The Economist (2004).An open-source shot in the
arm? Economist Technology Quarterly, June 10th
Evan I. S. (2004) Sparking the Fire of Invention. 2004.
Technology Review, May 2004.
Walsh K. (2003). Foreign High-Tech R&D in China:
Kaihla P. (2002). Nokia’s Hit. Factory Business 2.0, Risks, rewards, and implications for US-China
August 2002. relations. Henry L. Stimson Center.
Krikke J. (2003). The most popular operating system
in the world. Linux Insider, October 2003.
National Science Board & National Science
Foundation(2004). Science and Engineering
Indicators 2004.
Netcraft (2004) Web Server Survey 2004. Netcraft.
com.
© TerraForum Consultores 11

Gestão da Inovação Collaboration in R&D: The Emerging Frontiers of Innovation
biblioteca
www.terraforum.com.br
A EMPRESA
ARTIGoS RELACIonADoS A TerraForum Consultores é uma empresa
de consultoria e treinamento em Gestão do
Conhecimento (GC) e Tecnologia da Informação. Os
Cooperação e Compartilhamento: Construção de Riqueza? clientes da empresa são, em sua maioria, grandes
Conhecimento e Colaboração e médias organizações dos setores público, privado
Poder e Compartilhamento de Conhecimento e terceiro setor. A empresa atua em todo o Brasil
Obstáculos ao Compartilhamento do Conhecimento e também no exterior, tendo escritórios em São
Análise de Redes Sociais Paulo, Brasília e Ottawa no Canadá. É dirigida pelo
Dr. José Cláudio Terra, pioneiro e maior referência
em Gestão do Conhecimento no país. Além disso,
conta com uma equipe especializada e internacional
de consultores.
PuBLICAÇÕES TERRAFoRuM
Winning at Collaboration Commerce
Gestão do Conhecimento e E-learning na Prática
Portais Corporativos, a Revolução na Gestão do
Conhecimento
Gestão do Conhecimento - O Grande Desafio
Empresarial
Gestão do Conhecimento em Pequenas e Médias
Empresas
Realizing the Promise of Corporate Portals:
Leveraging Knowledge for Business Success
Gestão de Empresas na Era do Conhecimento
© TerraForum Consultores 1