Management of technology through Vision-Driven R&D

Japanese manufacturing companies have grown based on strong new product development by market-driven R&D. In the early 1990s, they had strengthened their basic research and challenged scientific research, because they needed new innovative technologies for new product development. Some management resources had been invested in basic research and top management had high expectations for their R&D, but unfortunately their expectations could not be met. Now, Japanese companies have to develop a new type of R&D management - "Vision-Driven R&D" which we call "The Third Type of R&D", the first type being "Market-Driven R&D" and the second "Discovery-Driven R&D". "Vision-Driven R&D" is oriented from the "Vision". We have been studying the "Vision-Driven R&D" with various companies' R&D managers and staff. As a result, we offer our concepts about the value of "Vision-Driven R&D", and present a case study of "Vision-driven R&D" from an actual business case.