Abstract
R&D evaluation has many temporal dimensions. As levels of support, management, and R&D needs change, the characteristics of most R&D programs evolve. The external context of R&D programs typically changes as the economy cycles and new technological, socio-economic, and environmental problems are identified. There are also temporal dimensions to program impacts. For instance, benefits from applied R&D projects typically accrue over the short term as R&D is translated into commercial products or applied to solve the identified problems. Other benefits, however, are long-term in nature, and are realized only after an extended development period during which planned and/or unanticipated benefits may spin off. These temporal aspects complicate the measurement of the R&D impacts and necessitate periodic monitoring, sometimes covering an extended time period, to identify the full range of R&D impacts.
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Brown, M.A., Wilson, C.R. (1993). The Temporal Dimension of R&D Evaluation: Incorporating Spin-Off Benefits. In: Bozeman, B., Melkers, J. (eds) Evaluating R&D Impacts: Methods and Practice. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4757-5182-6_13
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4757-5182-6_13
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