So thinking about the stages of R&D, the main distinctions are between basic
research, applied research, and product development.
And we'll look at those in turn. So basic research is basically the
developing of scientific knowledge, basic scientific knowledge, that you can apply
to a wide range of potential uses. This would be, for example, research on
radio waves, which has many different applications including, but not
exclusively mobile telephony. When we talk about applied research, it's
about application of this basic scientific knowledge to the solution of a
specific problem. So, in this case, for example, if you
were interested in trying to communicate with others when there's no fixed line
close by, then you're specific problem would be that.
Now, you could develop a new product or a new process to do that.
And in this particular example, we will think about the development of the mobile
phone, of a prototype of the mobile phone, as applied research.