The Getting of KnowledgeThe Getting of Knowledge- - funding & managing applied R&Dfunding & managing applied R&D

Andrew Campbell 6 December 2006

OutlineOutline• The Getting of Knowledge

– Strategy– Governance– Management– Communication– Legacy– Evaluation

• Take home messages

IntroductionIntroduction• Research investors are ‘keepers of the long

view’

• It is a highly strategic business

• It is big business, involving $$ billions and hundreds of organisations

• But there is little written on how to do it

• This guide is aimed initially within LWA

• But may be of some interest more widely

AcknowledgmentsAcknowledgments

• Investing in R&D is a strategic privilege

• Bobbie Brazil & the LWA Board for the

sabbaticals

• Current and former colleagues

– Especially Nick Schofield for much of the detail

• Current & former directors

• PMC members from LWA and our partners

• R&D Corp partners - especially fellow EDs

Land & Water AustraliaLand & Water Australia

One of 14 Rural R&D Corporations and related One of 14 Rural R&D Corporations and related

companies - Statutory Authority (PIERD Act companies - Statutory Authority (PIERD Act

1989)1989)

research to support sustainable resource research to support sustainable resource

managementmanagement

we buy, broker and manage research, we we buy, broker and manage research, we

don’t do itdon’t do it

managed corporately, independent Board (CAC managed corporately, independent Board (CAC

Act)Act)

$12.8m appropriation; ~$33m R&D spend $12.8m appropriation; ~$33m R&D spend

(2005-6)(2005-6)

>30 co-investing partners>30 co-investing partners

We’re in the knowledge businessWe’re in the knowledge business

R&D R&D ProgramsPrograms

•Industries– Sustainable Irrigation– Grain & Graze

– Managing Climate Variability

– Land, Water & Wool

– Healthy Soils

– SAGE Farmers

•People– Social & Institutional

– Land & Water Resources Audit

– Indigenous

• Landscapes– TRACK (Tropical Rivers) – Environmental Water

Allocation – Riparian Lands – Native Vegetation &

Biodiversity– Agroforestry (through RIRDC)

– Weeds

• Innovation– Innovation Call

– Scholars & Fellows

About Applied About Applied R&DR&D

• ABS categorises research into four types: pure basic; strategic basic; applied; and developmental

• This work focuses on the last three, especially applied

• Applied research “seeks to acquire new knowledge with a specific application in view”

• We know the application context• We know the intended end-users & beneficiaries • We can tease out the nature of the knowledge

need• We can identify prospective adoption pathways

The many hats of a research The many hats of a research funderfunder

• The focus here is not on how to do R&D, but on how to invest in and manage applied R&D

• This draws mainly on LWA experience over 15 years across a wide range of R&D programs– learning from failures as much as successes

• A significant emphasis on collaboration

• There is a rich menu of possible approaches to the business of funding and organising R&D

• Focus on Return on Investment (ROI)

• Balanced portfolio across asset classes

• Balanced portfolio risk

• Posit and target where future returns may be generated – long term perspective

• Regularly review and adjust portfolio

• Funds collaboration and linkages – the arrows, not just the boxes

• Understands who is doing what and has a good understanding of national capacity

• Centre of the nervous system and has the best overview

• Looks for and brokers links across boundaries• Builds and nurtures relationships and

develops networks

• Efficient, accredited systems, and professional contract staff

• Strong service capability (legal, financial, business, communication)

• Process accountability (governance, risk management, reporting, audit)

• Emphasises capability as an investment vehicle for other investors

• Recognises & fosters creativity, develops ideas

• Spontaneous rather than directed

• Treats each innovation as a separate entity

• Flexible financing model – able to move and commit funds quickly

• Opportunistic and entrepreneurial

• Not rigid about process

• Independent, skills-based Board, with strong corporate governance & accountability

• Leadership and influence, top-down agenda setting

• Strategic alliances and partnerships• Commercial focus• Efficiency and performance orientation• Hierarchical, rationalist, managerial in structure

and process

• Works very hard to understand client needs, culture and values

• Works within clients’ operating systems to meet their needs

– understands their systems and leverage points

• Action learning and participative processes

– involves clients in designing R&D

• Shares knowledge and develops priorities jointly

• Uses and builds on existing delivery pathways for adoption

• Respects and incorporates non-scientific knowledge

• Clear destination and purpose• Strong real-time intelligence

gathering, constant external scanning• Accepts that there are many alterative

futures• Highly responsive to new opportunities• Continually refines course

- as opposed to rigid five year plans• Focus on monitoring and evaluation in an

adaptive sense, rather than after the fact

• Knowledge is the base capital

– drives economic growth, jobs and behaviour

• Explicit about epistemologies – how we know what we know

• Pays attention to knowledge assets- even ‘old’ projects & programs

• Recognises all forms of knowledge and respects different knowledge domains

• Articulates links between data, information and knowledge

• Recognises complexity and uncertainty

• Analyses knowledge systems and applies knowledge management concepts & tools

• Negotiates research focus between researchers and end-users – translates knowledge needs into researchable questions

• Synthesises research outputs across projects & programs to meet defined end-user needs

• Able to understand and be understood by both scientists and end users

• Combines technical literacy and know-how with client empathy and credibility

• Analyses and understands delivery pathways and how to plug into them

• Analyses knowledge gaps and needs, stays in close touch with end-users

Strategy - Strategy - corporatecorporate

• “doing the right things right…”• So how do you work out those right things?• Strategy starts with purpose – the business

niche• Maintaining strategic capacity

– scanning, analysis, evaluation, reporting

• Strategic navigation vs 5 year plans • A portfolio approach

– Avoids having all eggs in one basket– Spreads risk– Enables a mix of ‘hats’ or approaches according to specific

contexts

EvaluationEvaluation• It must be:

– hard-wired in from the start– adequately resourced– instilled into the culture of the organisation

• Done well, it can improve program management within the life of a program

• At a portfolio level it generates valuable intelligence, especially through time

• LWA has evaluated 30% of total portfolio back to 1990 with consistent methodology and transparent, conservative assumptions (see Chudleigh, Simpson & Schofield 2005)

• Benefit:cost ratio 4.8 (and rising); IRR 24%

Strategy Strategy – – program and project program and project

levellevel• Scoping the research questions is critical

• Understand the nature of the knowledge need

• Understand where knowledge sits c.f. other factors– market or policy failure, values, institutions etc

– knowledge may not be the constraint…

• Understand the type of knowledge required

• Understand the adoption context of the intended end-users before considering research methodology

• Be very clear (SMART) about program objectives

• $$ invested at this end have a short payback period

Strategy Strategy – – program and project program and project

levellevel• Science is just one knowledge domain• Others may be equally relevant to the particular

mix of knowledge required– E.g. farmers’ local knowledge, Indigenous

knowledge, strategic or organisational knowledge• Think about the mix and embed it in program

designSome initiatives targeting other knowledge

domains:– Community Fellowships– Recording Traditional Knowledge (Victor Steffensen,

Balkanu)– Knowledge for Regional NRM– SAGE Farmers

ManagementManagement

•Procurement•Project Management

–(not discussed today)

•Knowledge and Adoption•Legacy•Evaluation

• Core business for research investors

• Fundamental to overall performance, efficiency and risk at the organisational level

• Reputation and credibility are on the line in every procurement process

• Research procurement is not the same as letting a tender for cleaners, IT, or printing

• We are concerned with building the knowledge base, R&D capacity, and coordinating research effort (objects of the PIERD Act)

ProcurementProcurement

Procurement Procurement pathwayspathways

Alternatives• Open Call• Select Tender• Commissioned• Joint Venture

Discriminating criteria• Clarity of R&D question, scope, opportunity

– Degree of integration, collaboration, capacity-building required

• Knowledge about available providers• Desired level of contestability & transparency• Cost-effectiveness (including leverage potential)

Process Open Call Select Tender Commission Joint Venture

Transparency

High Low Low Low

Contestability

High Medium Low Low

Advantages Most open & transparent. Easiest to ensure competitive neutrality, can turn up new ideas/talent & communicate priorities

Faster & more efficient than open call. Fewer disappointed parties. Can be highly contestable. Can build integration into tender.

The most efficient. Good for protecting IP. Easy to plan & budget. Integration & collaboration can be built into tender specs.

Potentially max leverage in $$ and influence. Can build R&D capacity. Can evolve R&D priorities as you go. Protect IP. Can be efficient (but not axiomatic).

Disadvantages

Most work, depending on systems. Many disappointed parties, my deter best researchers. Not conducive for integration.

More risk of process being questioned. Assumes complete knowledge of provider market. Quality of tender specs crucial.

Least transparent. Riskiest against comp neutrality. More difficult to prove relative value for money. Hostage to one provider.

Hostage to one provider. Not very transparent or contestable. Partnerships can be lots of work.

Pros and Cons of different procurement options

• Efficiency in investment

• Reduces duplication

• Enables coordinated approach to cross cutting issues

• 3 levels – communication, coordination, co-investment

• Be very clear why you are collaborating

• Must invest in relationships

• Attribution can be hard

CollaborationCollaboration

GovernanceGovernance• Crucial to get governance frameworks right at corporate,

program and project levels

• PIERD/CAC Acts excellent at the corporate level

• At the program level, governance is trickier, especially for collaborative investments

• We use 3 key instruments– Program Management Agreement (between co-investors)

– Program Management Committee (comprising reps of funders plus end-users and/or technical expertise) pursuant to S89 of PIERD Act

– Project-level research contract

• Contracts are more about clarity and shared understanding, not as a basis for litigation

Factors influencing practice change in Factors influencing practice change in NRMNRM

Information and the Practice Change Information and the Practice Change CycleCycle

CommunicationCommunication (knowledge & adoption)(knowledge & adoption)

• Make it real• Resource it• Instil it in the culture of the

organisation• Plan K&A from the start. It will:

– influence the research methodology– encourage involvement of stakeholders in

design and management of the research– target research questions to user needs– assist implementation, and– improve the adoptability of research results

Managing Managing the knowledge the knowledge

legacylegacy• The legacy must be planned and budgeted for

– How will research results be managed over the adoption timeframe?

– How will people access info after the program has finished?

– Project level results may be less useful than synthesis products or activities across projects or even across programs - targeted at user needs, in their context at the appropriate scale

– Consider a harvest year – Engaging with intended users or stakeholders, even just

market testing products, can help ensure that outcomes are used and embedded

Research directory•Programs•Projects•Specialist contacts for advice

Publications•Reference books•Journal articles•Research reports•Pamphlets•Magazines•Conference proceedings

Spatial datasets

Research report

Conferenceproceedings

Journal articles

Magazines

Anecdotal evidence

Reference books (Guidelines and

manuals etc)

Decision support tools•Models•Decision frameworks•Spreadsheets

Knowledge assets of Knowledge assets of interestinterest

Current research projects

Specialist advice

Models

Decision frameworks

Spreadsheets

Knowledge needs

Current research programs

Funding opportunities

NRM Toolbar NRM Toolbar interfaceinterface

NRM searchGoogle AustraliaOrganisation assetsAdvanced

[Searches on selection]

Square icon indicates which search engine is selected [Click to see current

alerts plus access alert settings]

[Click name to see librarian services]

Includes form for requesting information from the librarian

[Click to logout or login as someone else]

[Click name to open My library]

Click dropdown to view list of folders (Playlists) that stays open to allow drag and drop from search results

R&D Directory

This Worked Here!

Knowledge needs

Events and funding

Decision tools

Knowledge market

reportAdd/Delete databases

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In summaryIn summary

• Research investors are ‘keepers of the long view’

• Applied research is targeted investment

• Understanding the knowledge need is crucial

• The R&D (scientific inquiry) process itself must be nested within an appropriate framework of governance, management, adoption and legacy effort

• Knowledge and Adoption; and Evaluation processes must be hard-wired into program design from the outset

• Smart research investment demands skilled all-rounders

• I’ve been lucky to have worked with some of the best!

for more info:for more info:www.lwa.gov.auwww.lwa.gov.auwww.aanro.netwww.aanro.netCanprint 1800 776616Canprint 1800 776616