Management methodology for product-oriented R&D projects: a proposal

The Research and Development (R&D) activities carried out at public research instItutes have a strongly rooted academic-like management which focuses on knowledge improvement. On the other hand, the need for technological competitiveness and contribution in the national effort towards innovation has lead Brazilian organiza- tions to search for more concrete results: products. This fact accounts for huge gaps in management-related processes and a constant need for managerial improvements in order to generate and perfect tools suitable to a new reality. This article proposes a R&D project management methodology focused on research projects that aim at new technological products taking into consideration the multidisciplinary and interdisci- plinary aspects and the uncertainty inherent to this process. It presents the case of the Pharmaceutical Technology Institute, a unit of the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation, and proposes an original model for similar institutes.