A.3: The Research and Development Pipeline
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Octaveoctave
 February 21 2025
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    Assorted Topics in Research and Development

    A: R&D General Information 

    A.3: The Research and Development Pipeline

    The public is only vaguely aware (if at all) of the segments or components involved in the process of research and development. In broad terms, there are

    two main divisions to the process, with plenty of overlap between the two.

    There is the broad general area of science, where new natural principles are discovered using the scientific method. Once some natural phenomena are understood well enough to have some predictive power, then technologies can be based on them. And so a second major area involving the creation of technologies exploiting these natural phenomena can emerge.

    In addition, there is also the related field of mathematics. Both scientists and engineers use mathematics as an important tool to describe natural principles and to design the technologies based on these principles. However, mathematics is a discipline in its own right as well, not just a language that is handy for describing quantitative things.

    Modern mathematics goes well beyond simple numbers and arithmetic. Symbols which stand for much more advanced concepts are manipulated and combined using logical rules to uncover all manner of beautiful and useful relationships in the quantitative realm. And even these seemingly abstract concepts have been found to be extremely useful in all manner of practical applications, including those in the fields of science and engineering.

    It is probably worthwhile to describe the scientific method itself. Although everyone should be familiar with this, I have found that many are not, or only have a vague understanding of what the scientific method actually is. 

    Sir Francis Bacon (1561-1626) famously wrote an extensive set of precepts or guidelines for supposedly what constitutes the "scientific method" (which I had to memorize in grade school). In spite of that, I later discovered that professional scientists do not really pay attention to those formal "rules" at all.

    The scientific method is really quite simple. It involves a sort of model or theory, which is guessed to somehow represent nature. And predictions from this model are compared with evidence. The evidence comes from laboratory experiments or field observations. If the predictions of the model fail to be sufficiently close to the empirical data, the model is modified or discarded. One can dress this simple comparison up quite a bit, with hypotheses and double and triple blind procedures and statistics and all kinds of other stuff. But the scientific method really is a sort of trial and error process of comparison of model predictions with actual  measurements of some kind.

    That simplicity appears more complicated in actual practice. The tasks involved in following the scientific method have become so complicated and specialized that expert teams typically are involved in a scientific investigation. For example, one can utilize specialists in

    a. laboratory experiments

    b. field data collection

    c. data processing

    d. computer equipment and information technology

    e. equipment design and manufacture

    f. funding acquisition

    g. model development

    h. statistical analyses

    i. theoretical and mathematical tool creation

    and numerous other fields to complete a complicated scientific project. Perhaps a few decades ago, a team of one or two or three people could perform most of these tasks. But as time goes on, and the projects become more elaborate, this becomes steadily less feasible.

    After there are some reasonably well-established natural phenomena revealed by the scientific method, then clever people can sometimes find a way to utilize the principles that govern these natural events. If there is enough predictability discovered, then technologies can on occasion be based on these principles. This is the province of applied science, and its more practical cousin, engineering.

    Obviously, the technology produced by applied science and engineering can also be put to use to further pure science. And so, these pure and applied disciplines depend on each other in a way, and augment each other. Drawing strict boundaries between pure and applied activities is not always easy or obvious. Probably way too much effort is expended on this. It is usually just driven by egos. 

    However, if money or other remuneration is the object, rather than just fame, glory and beauty, the applied disciplines are the object of far more financial investment than pure science or pure mathematics. All of these activities can be stitched together into an R&D pipeline, of sorts. One organization does not have to perform all the roles necessary for moving something from an idea to a finished product. However, it is valuable that those with the necessary skills be able to work together in concert, either in one organization or a group of collaborating entities. 

    In my own experience, a typical procedure in the R&D pipeline is to take some result, and "pitch it over the wall" to the next team of specialists downstream. There is unfortunately often very little communication between these teams. Misunderstandings develop, because of a lack of communication. 

    It is far better for the experts in one area to sit down and coach those in the later stages of the pipeline in the discoveries and ideas. There is less chance for confusion in this case. Later teams can still tailor their solutions, drawing on their own particular expertise and experience. But things work more smoothly if there is more direction communication and involvement.

    #r&d pipeline
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