Knowledge-Salvage Practices for Dormant R&D Projects

Most successful firms have an abundance of new and old knowledge in their research and development laboratories, and only a fraction is being put into use in new product development. This knowledge is left over from projects that have been killed at different development stages and may actually carry considerable value. In this article, we propose a knowledge bank as a possible solution to preserve and possibly grow this knowledge. It is a self-sustaining institute with minimal or no ongoing effort from the donor company, yet manages the knowledge in a way that protects proprietary interests and actively fosters communication and interchange among sponsoring companies wherever possible. The framework of this structure, as well as how it works, is described here. Specifically, a system dynamics modeling of the knowledge bank is developed, and a simulation study is conducted using VENSIM (R). The results confirm the viability of creating such a system in a consortium of organizations.