In order to ensure competitiveness, improve capacity and production quality, every company must be able to innovate. For this, "Research and Development" is essential, whatever the size of the company. It is necessary to know how to make room for creativity at the heart of its activity. The means to be implemented are not necessarily excessive. In most cases, freeing up time for a group of employees with innovative capabilities is enough and can therefore lead to new offers of services, products, etc...
David BARRAT, Director of the Production expertise pole at ITS Group, IT Services company specialized in accelerating the digital transformation of its customers, gives us his advice to make R&D a strategic growth axis.
How do you determine the choice of work devoted to R&D?
First of all, the orientation of R&D work must primarily follow the company's strategy. Indeed, this takes into account market needs and the economic context in order to establish the framework for potential new offers. They require value, synonymous with innovation. One of the most effective methods of detecting innovative subjects within a company is to entrust this work to the managerial teams in charge of the engineering department. These subjects are then subjected to a study to judge their relevance in order to decide whether or not to launch them.
What is the borderline between R&D and services?
The boundary should be as fine as possible. R&D and services are closely linked. It is a virtuous circle. For example, teams of engineers may be led to develop innovative tools from a customer context. During the following services, they are then reused, adding value, then continuously improved in the context of R&D work, to be reused again by customers...
How to exploit its work to the whole of the company's activities?
Once the results of the research work are conclusive and validated, it is then necessary to generate exchanges with the different actors of the company (commercial and technical). In this way, other uses for these innovations can be detected and applied to other perimeters more extensive than the initial work.
How to justify the profitability of the research or the return on investment of the work carried out?
Firstly, part of the costs incurred in the context of innovative projects can be recovered in the form of tax credits for research (CIR) or innovation (CII, reserved for SMEs). Secondly, grants and/or repayable advances can be received to enable efficient management of the cost of an R&D project. Beyond the financial aspect, demonstrating innovation gives the opportunity to position oneself on the fringe of existing techniques and thus allows one to be rewarded with prizes and awards, to be more competitive and to win new markets in France but also internationally. Indeed, developing new concepts, products and services brings significant added value in a context where today competition is very strong whatever the field of expertise.
What are the obstacles encountered around R&D?
R&D work is characterised by scientific reasoning and an experimental approach. The result of an R&D project can therefore, by definition, be the abandonment of the work due to a lack of conceivable solutions to the initial problem. Unfortunately, other causes can be sources of failure:
- Exceeding the load (initially misestimated)
- Unavailability of the research team (abandonment of a research project following the departure of a collaborator)
- Delayed (results lagging behind the competition)
What advice would you give to any company that would like to start R&D?
Whatever the size of your company, it is essential to set up a real R&D strategy. Innovation is essential for the life and growth of a company. It is a differentiating element that allows to highlight its activity and its production. Listening to the ecosystem, questioning its activity or its products, allows us to define the projects that will lead to R&D, the very ones that will then bring more legitimacy and recognition on the market. In addition to the offers that are promoted, innovation also has an effect on the attractiveness of the company. The presentation of the company's R&D projects has a positive impact on the recruitment of talent. These same projects are also a source of motivation for employees and make it possible to retain the best.
