The five core criteria that define R&D activities - Examples

To understand the aim of a project, it is essential to identify its R&D content and the institutional context in which R&D is performed. Some examples follow.

In the field of medicine, a routine autopsy to determine the causes of death is the practice of medical care and is not R&D; a special investigation of particular mortality to establish the side effects of certain cancer treatments is R&D (in fact, novelty and uncertainty about the final results of the study, as well as the transferability of the results for broader use, apply here).

Similarly, routine tests such as blood and bacteriological tests carried out for medical checks are not R&D, whereas a special programme of blood tests for patients taking a new drug is R&D.

Keeping daily records of temperatures or of atmospheric pressure is not R&D, but a standard procedure. The investigation of new methods of measuring temperature is R&D, as is the study and development of new models for weather prediction.

R&D activities in the mechanical engineering industry often have a close connection with design. In small and medium-size enterprises (SMEs) in this industry, there is usually no special R&D department, and R&D performance is often included under the general heading “design and drawing”. If calculations, designs, working drawings and operating instructions are needed for setting up and operating pilot plants or prototypes, they should be included in R&D. If they are carried out for the preparation, execution and maintenance of production standardisation (e.g. jigs, machine tools) or to promote the sale of products (e.g. offers, leaflets, catalogues of spare parts), they should be excluded from R&D. In this example, several R&D features can be identified: novelty in exploring the potential of new devices – by running prototypes; uncertainty, as prototype testing could yield unexpected results; creativity – emerging in the design of new devices to be produced; transferability – by producing technical documentation to translate the results of testing in information to be used at the product development stage; and a systematic approach, as far as a detailed

organisation of the project can be identified behind the afore-mentioned technical activities.