Impact on R & D


Access the World's Information

Most Welsh SME's can benefit by using the Internet and WWW to undertake Research & Development (R & D) activities. This might be by researching new markets and products, or by collaborative development activities. Through the Internet it is now possible to access information (data enriched by context) from all over the world, with unprecedented ease and speed. As a communications channel, the Internet has also made it possible to seamlessly collaborate and share knowledge (the amalgamation of know-how and know-why), computational resources, and data (unqualified facts), with research groups across the globe.

Many academic and industry journals are now published on-line at Web sites, with powerful search, indexing, and cross-referencing systems, that link Abstracts and Articles with multiple Web sites. Research content is either freely accessible, or on a pay-to-view basis. Some sites offer older research, abstracts, reviews, or content listings, free of charge, but the latest complete article or report can only be viewed or downloaded by subscribers, or by making an on-line payment.

Research and Development (R & D) activities are also supported by other Web sites such as:

• Forums to discuss specific research areas;

• Web sites, which have large volumes of content, giving Web site links to other information resources, suppliers and research contacts.

• Conference promotion and management, including: calls for papers, registration, paper submission, and proceedings publication. Although the traditional physical gathering of delegates is still the norm, virtual conferences through the Internet with live reading of papers and discussion, is being used.

• Collaboration as a central resource for internal publishing and sharing of data, information, and knowledge, amongst research groups.

• eMarketplaces for the buying and selling of licences for patents, trademarks, and copyrights.

• Knowledge Dissemination covering all areas of applying the knowledge gained through R&D, such as:

• Virtual learning environments for teaching;

• Expert systems or rule-based applications that help visitors to resolve issues or problems on-line;

• Encyclopaedia or Dictionary-type information resources.