Practical application of a parallel research-business innovation process to accelerate the deployment of research results

Both society and customers pose many new challenges for public research and technology organisations. Making the right long-term technological choices, generating and maintaining an appropriate research portfolio, speeding-up innovation processes and integrating customer and market needs into science-based research are among the major expectations. We describe how a multidisciplinary research organisation has implemented new processes and practises to rise to these challenges. The paper points out the benefits of using a parallel research approach to the business innovation process, where the different phases - the development of new technology, applications and business models - are carried out interactively and concurrently. Furthermore, we show how foresighting acitivities, research portfolio management and use of business plans for long-term research programmes contribute to the parallel research process.