R&D vs Product Development

Research and development or R&D vs product development. What is the difference between the two terms? Do you want to know? If so, then this article can help you.

R&D vs Product Development

To being, R&D refers to the development of a new product. It is a process of developing new technologies and introducing them to the market.

Product development is the process of taking new technology and making it useful for customers. The process is converting R&D into products that can be sold in the market.

R&D and product development are related to innovation. They all fall into one category of business processes that improve products, services, and business operations so that they can meet the needs of customers.

Innovation is an ongoing effort to improve business operations. It includes two main components: product development and process design. When organizations gain a competitive advantage through innovation, they often prosper and grow rapidly.

Role of R&D and Product Development in Innovation

The role of R&D in innovation is to develop new technologies for improving existing products or creating entirely new products. It involves the following steps:

1. Identify opportunities for improvement of existing products or creating new products using a different approach from that used in current products or services. New technologies may involve changing materials, design processes, production processes, or business models. Then, they may also involve creating entirely new types of products or services. This is to fill unmet needs within an industry or among customers.  

2. Create a plan for implementing the improvement or creating the new product or service using the identified technology(-ies). The plan should include a timeline with specific milestones to ensure the successful completion of the project on time and within budget constraints.

 3. Design and test prototypes based on the plan created in step 2 above. That is until an acceptable prototype emerges that meets the requirements outlined in step 1 above (i.e., is better than existing solutions). 

4. Test prototypes against criteria outlined in step 1 above (i.e., whether they are better than existing solutions). 

5. Develop a plan for manufacturing the product(s) created by applying new design processes, production processes, materials, etc. 

6. Develop plans for marketing and distributing the final product(s) created by these methods to customers who will use them (i.e., existing or new customers). 

7. Test methods for manufacturing the product(s) developed using the method(s) developed in step 6 above until satisfied with those methods.

Why You Need Both

As you can see, companies today are facing the need to develop new products to stay competitive. But to develop new products, they must conduct research and development. This is why the two terms are often used interchangeably. So, they both work under one roof.

These departments are different, but their goals are similar. Both are responsible for developing new products that customers need and want. But each takes a different approach in doing so.

This is why you need both departments in your organization to stay competitive and even to grow rapidly. When you merge them into one department, it may confuse the differences between the two.