Research and development project selection in the public sector

✍ Scribed by Nicholas S. Vonortas; Henry R. Hertzfeld

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1998
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 80 KB
• Volume: 17
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0276-8739
• DOI: 10.1002/(sici)1520-6688(199823)17:4<621::aid-pam2>3.0.co;2-i

✦ Synopsis

This article argues for an innovative methodology to appraising (ex ante) longer-term strategic research and development (R&D) investments. This methodology reflects the inherent value of such R&D in terms of opening up opportunities (but not obligations) for investment in new technological areas with potentially substantial returns. Although corporate R&D managers and public administrators describe the merits of long-term research on these grounds, only recently has the qualitative argument been replaced by the foundations of a methodology capable of quantifying this inherent value of

R&D. Such a methodology could also facilitate a transition toward the use of more appropriate discount rates other than the unvarying rates of traditional methodologies.