Medical Device Research and Development Staffing and Spend

STUDY OVERVIEW

A medical device company’s R&D group is the guiding force behind product innovation.

But with clinical testing taking up so many R&D resources, it isn’t always easy to ascertain if an organization’s spending and staffing for research and other functions within R&D is at the levels needed to remain competitive in the marketplace.

Research and consulting leader Best Practices, LLC conducted an important new benchmarking study for R&D leaders seeking reliable industry metrics on current staffing and spend levels for R&D in the medical device sector. Medical device leaders will be able to use the research results to see how their R&D staffing and spend levels compare with industry averages.



KEY TOPICS

• R&D Staff and Spend Benchmarks
• R&D Functions and Roles
• R&D Regional Presence and Program Management
• R&D Success Factors and Pitfalls

• What were your 2014 medical device revenues and corresponding R&D spend?
• What was the total number of FTEs dedicated to your R&D organization in 2014?
• Estimate what percentage these functions represent of your company's total R&D headcount in 2014
• Estimate what percentage each role represents of your company's R&D total headcount
• Estimate the percentage of overall R&D FTEs that support each listed region
  
  

• On average, technical and inspector/technician roles represent 70% of the R&D headcount for all participants while management roles – both executive level and project manager level - make up almost 20% of R&D staff.
  
• Benchmark class participants gravitated to a decentralized approach to R&D program management (50%) while 33% of the participating companies use a centralized approach. The “other” answer where a company was centralized in the U.S. but with resources in other geographies fits more in the centralized category.

Best Practices, LLC engaged six medical device R&D leaders from six leading medical device companies through a benchmarking survey instrument.

If you purchase Best Practice Database document(s), you will have 30 days from the date of purchase to apply some or all of the cost of the document(s) toward the cost of a Full Access Individual, Pharma, Group or University Membership. Write us at DatabaseTeam@bestpracticesllc.com or call David Guinn at 919-767-9179 if you have any questions.