Figure 7

Planning and evaluating technology-based R&D: role of KT from beginning to end. Figure 7 presents an overview of planning and evaluating a technology-based research and development (R&D) program, explicitly summarizing the role of knowledge translation (KT) in increasing the likelihood of getting the intended beneficial impacts from its project outputs. It integrates the concepts presented earlier in Figures 5 and 6. It is structured around six columns sequentially connected by arrows suggesting progressive motion. Columns 1 and 2 refer to project activities and project output; the interactions between the column contents and the evaluation activities around the columns were detailed in Figure 5; it showed how knowledge translation (KT) is embedded in those interactions that result in outputs from research (R), development (D) and production (P) processes. Columns 3, 4, 5 and 6 were the primary focus in Figure 6 which presented a detailed view of the KT connections through the progression of outputs (column 2) into long-term impact (column 6), taking two alternate effect paths that cut across short term (column 3), midterm (columns 4 and 5) outcomes. It showed the difference in speed between the two paths in getting impact from an R output: one where knowledge users (KUs) just become aware of the output in the short term and one where they further proceed to take the knowledge to action (KtA) and begin the next process in the technological innovation. Figure 7 captures the above concepts to show the role of KT in effective planning of technology based R&D programs for impacts. The reader is directed to Figures 5 and 6 for details.