RESOURCES

OFFICIAL POLICIES, GUIDELINES, AND REPORTS

Research & Experimental Development (R&D) in STEM and Non-STEM Fields

RAND Europe’s 2023 report on R&D reconsiders non-STEM fields in the UK and internationally in terms of “Social Sciences, Humanities and the Arts for People and the Economy” (SHAPE). The report provides a useful elaboration of the traditional “Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences” (AHSS) framing of non-STEM R&D. We’ve noted some of the report’s key findings, below.

Flanagan, Isabel, Dominic Yiangou, Cecilia Ang, Sarah Parkinson, and Susan Guthrie, Understanding social sciences, humanities and arts for people and the economy (SHAPE) R&D in the UK and internationally. Santa Monica, CA: RAND Corporation, 2023.

KEY FINDINGS:

“Collaboration is key to SHAPE R&D…There are many examples of collaboration between SHAPE subjects, and between SHAPE and STEM subjects, contributing to the UK economy:”

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“R&D spend in the UK is growing, and business R&D makes up a significant proportion of expenditure.”

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“Some other countries use a more inclusive definition of R&D than the UK, often without mentioning SHAPE subjects specifically.”

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“Very few countries produce breakdowns of SHAPE and non-SHAPE R&D, which makes international comparisons difficult.”

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“Business R&D is concentrated in a small number of key sectors, most of which employ large numbers of ‘non-science’ graduates: this has been used as a measure to estimate SHAPE subject graduates based on the available data.”

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“Business R&D activity can be defined in many different ways, but for UK stakeholders STEM activities are front-of mind when defining R&D.”

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“A person-centric approach to R&D, that recognises and measures human capital within the UK’s R&D ecosystem, may be a way of recognising the importance of SHAPE R&D.”

R&D in Global Context. The Frascati Manual is a widely cited publication of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).  Its guidelines on the conduct of R&D are authoritative, influential, and foundational.

  • "R&D comprise creative and systematic work undertaken in order to increase the stock of knowledge – including knowledge of humankind, culture and society – and to devise new applications of available knowledge."

  • "For an activity to be an R&D activity, it must jointly satisfy five core criteria. The activity must be: novel, creative, uncertain, systematic, transferable and/or reproducible."

  • "A breakdown by type of R&D is recommended for use in all four of the sectors used in this manual... business enterprise, higher education, government, and private nonprofit. There are three types of R&D: basic research, applied research, experimental development."

  • "Basic research is experimental or theoretical work undertaken primarily to acquire new knowledge of the underlying foundations of phenomena and observable facts, without any particular application or use in view."

  • "Applied research is original investigation undertaken in order to acquire new knowledge. It is, however, directed primarily towards a specific, practical aim or objective."

  • "Experimental development is systematic work, drawing on knowledge gained from research and practical experience and producing additional knowledge, which is directed to producing new products or processes or to improving existing products or processes."

  • Citation: OECD. Frascati Manual 2015: Guidelines for Collecting and Reporting Data on Research and Experimental Development. The Measurement of Scientific, Technological and Innovation Activities, OECD Publishing, Paris, 2015.

    URL: https://www.oecd.org/en/publications/frascati-manual-2015_9789264239012-en.html

R&D in the United Kingdom. The British Government maintains an ambitious vision for national competitiveness and growth through science, research and innovation, and recently undertook a review of R&D in UK STEM and non-STEM fields.

R&D in the United Arab Emirates. The UAE is a global hub for research and experimental development, digital transformation, smart cities, technology innovation, and public and private sector investment in artificial intelligence.

SAAR as a Concept of Operations. Craighead Kellas developed “strategic and applied research” as a concept of operations, drawing on British, Emirati, and global developments in R&D.

  • Strategic and applied research - SAAR - involves distinct but overlapping approaches, applications, categories, and subject areas:

    • Research as a service (RaaS)

    • Research and experimental development (R&D)

    • R&D involving STEM subjects (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics)

    • R&D involving non-STEM subjects (in the social sciences, humanities, arts and other non-science disciplines).

    • SAAR technical subject areas (anthropology, geography, history, law, political science, psychology)

    • Using R&D and intelligence approaches, and SAAR outcomes

  • “Research as a service” was originally adopted as a term of art in the IT and finance sectors for the technology elements of research processes. We've adapted it to the commercial application of research skills, including through the use of specialised technologies.

  • Research and experimental development - "R & D" - is exploratory research done with a view to innovating or advancing the state of the art in products, processes and ways of thinking. We’ve taken our cues on this explicitly from the OECD’s Frascati Manual and UK government policy and research on the matter.

  • R&D is generally understood in terms of two main categories of research specialism: STEM and non-STEM.

    • STEM stands for four areas of activity: Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics.

    • Non-STEM areas of activity have typically been categorised as “Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences“ R&D (AHSS).

    • A more recent approach is “Social Sciences, Humanities and the Arts for People and the Economy” (SHAPE).

  • CKS work is grounded in the academic training, expertise and experience of its people in anthropology, geography, history, law, political science, and psychology.

    • This is a partial list of the technical subject areas covered by the more comprehensive analytical intent of AHSS / SHAPE categorisation.

    • Our specific focus on these technical subject areas minimises the risk of competency overstatement and service dilution - common feature of service consulting.

    • Our approach ensures a high degree of complementarity and cross-pollination, remaining simultaneously focused on traditional specialisms and open to technical innovations.

  • We operationalise R&D activities and SAAR technical subject areas through what we refer to as the “intelligence base”.

    • We use a reliable and predictable cycle of activities: we plan, we collect evidence, we process and analyse it, and we disseminate results. 

    • As the start point in the cycle, planning is key. It entails a detailed first stage diagnostic of client information requirements and priorities. A second stage matrix builds on this, and sets out collection, processing and production activities.

    We follow the same general steps regardless of the scale or scope of an assignment.

    • The approach is comprehensive and transparent. Investigators routinely ignore or neglect best practice or even basic standards in those stages of the process they’re least interested in or have no specific requirement to observe. This represents missed opportunity and value, and creates correspondingly negative (though often unseen) effects on the rest of the process.

    • The approach is modular, allowing us to take a flexible, adaptable approach - performing one, some or all of these steps, as and when those elements are explicit elements of a client’s requirements.

    • The approach is internally coherent, setting up a logical flow between the practical need to identify and manage client requirements in a clear, jargon-free way, and the more specialised and esoteric applied aspects of subject-specific investigations.

    Read more about the R&D frame, the intelligence base, and SAAR outcomes on our What We Do page.

  • Our approach draws on the R&D frame, the intelligence base, and academic research disciplines:

    • The “R&D frame”: Our understanding and use of R&D sectors, standards, and guidelines is derived from criteria established and published by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the British Academy, RAND Europe, and others. The reference library on the CKS website provides cues and links to these background materials.

    • The “intelligence base”: Discussion of sources and methods is a long-standing preoccupation of intelligence community practitioners and customers. There is also a lively and energetic public domain discussion of these issues among official, commercial, academic, and civil society actors involved in intelligence and research work of various types. Reference materials on are widely and publicly available.

    • SAAR outcomes: Our people have robust track records of technical academic work at the interface of the R&D frame and the intelligence base.

    Read more about the benefits and applications of our approach, and case notes on our work, on this website’s Who We Serve page.