DEVELOPMENT THROUGH R&D

Abstract

The maim purpose of this article is to discuss and clarify the concept of Development as part of the R&D process. Also, it intends to propose na operational strategy that will allow Embrapa to implement this concept throughout its research agenda and point out the prerequisites for its successful development. According to the authors, the generation phase of the R&D cycle should be understood as na integral part of this process in order to guarantee that the developed technologies will be compatible with users requirements. This will only be possible through a perfect integration of the research activities with demand identification and with the technoloy validation activities. The level of integration of these phases will determine the probability for users to adopt or reject the results of the R&D process. Realizing those responsibles for the generation phase may find themselves far aways from the reality of those that will use the developed technologies, the authors recommend that, in addition to reiforce the R&D concept, an operational strategy should be put in place by Embrapa to make sure that appropriate R&D management tools will be applied in developing projects and programs. The sucess of the discussed model will depend on the level of articulation among the distinct actors of the proposed strategy as well as on the balanced distribution of responsibilities among the different coordination mechanisms as stated in the corporate planning system. The involved cultural, organizational and logistic will also affect the full implementation of the proposed strategy.