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Forecasting industry R&D opportunities
Judy Mercure
CEO, Calibre Communications, Avalon NSW
Abstract
This article describes a research activity, Project Cassandra, that provided a research organization and its clients with marketing insights that is helping them identify emerging research and technological opportunities for new product and service development by food-related industries. It uses the methodologies of forecasting and consumer attitude research to demonstrate how potentially lucrative industry research opportunities may be identified. Involvement of end users in discussions of innovations they want can also help research-and technology-based organizations (RTO) staff anticipate possible consumer rejection of new technologies and avoid expensive market failures. Other benefits of the process described in this article include closer involvement by RTOs in the strategic planning of client companies, which may lead to more business, and insights which may help RTOs avoid negative perceptions of their activities among the general public.
Keywords
strategic planning, forecasting R&D, new product development, focus groups, consumer attitude research, food-related innovation, Project Cassandra
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