Planning and Implementation of New National RD Organizations

摘要

Development of a new national research organization requires a strategic and carefully phased approach that builds the research organization appropriately over time in alignment with its mission and in the context of its national innovation ecosystem. The design and implementation of a new research organization ideally follows a structured iterative planning process, involving an overall research strategy, research agenda, facility design requirements, operational and organizational design, partner engagement framework, and financial plan. The long-term planning should be balanced with near-term implementation, such as staff recruitment and development, key partner selection, and strategic research projects. Simultaneous implementation and planning helps achieve momentum and build support, while at the same time efficiently planning the organization, its actions, and its resource use over the long-term. This process is being used for development of the Research Development and Innovation (RDI) sector within the King Abdullah City for Atomic and Renewable Energy (K.A.CARE). K.A.CARE is a new government organization in Saudi Arabia, created by Royal Order in 2010. K.A.CARE's mandate is sustainable development of an energy mix of renewable and atomic energy for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and to contribute to economic development and job creation, while maintaining the highest levels of safety, security and transparency. Early in its formation, K.A.CARE included a mission-driven applied research component in its organization to enable energy technology deployment and localization through development of intellectual property, high-tech job creation, and optimizing sustainable power and water desalination for local conditions. The K.A.CARE mission-driven research capacity is being implemented with long-term national objectives and in the context of very limited national innovation ecosystem. This paper presents a generalized approach to new national research organization design and implementation, with results of the K.A.CARE initiative as an illustrative case study applicable to other organizations.