Public Research Institutes as facilitators in the new product development process

"Innovation" is one of the buzzwords in this decade. It can be achieved by the thorough execution of an innovation process, which ensures a continuous flow o fnew and successful products or services. The term "new" implies that these processes are based on some kind of idea or invention, while the term "successful" means that the profits generated by these products exceed their development costs to a certain extend. This New Product Development (NPD) process is subject of our research. We have been looking into ways to improve NPD processes especially for SMEs by co-operation with research institutes.