Those who learned to collaborate and improvise most effectively have prevailed.
— Charles Darwin
Research and development (R&D) is fundamental to a firm’s longevity and success, yet the average business spends less than five-percent of its annual revenue on R&D. The benefits certainly seem to outweigh the risks as companies with upgrades and new products coming out of the development pipeline are better positioned to profit than those companies that don’t. But R&D by itself certainly doesn’t guarantee a good investment, so many savvy businesses form strategic partnerships with organizations that share the same products and/or industry to receive more insight and input, and mitigate the risk.
The Energy Conservatory (TEC) values the importance of its research partners because they allow TEC to stay involved within the industry it services. Researchers within the industry perform cutting-edge work and TEC wants to be part of that through its support partnerships. As a result, TEC research investigators work side-by-side with its research partners, allowing for collaboration on innovations, testing and analysis.
Each time TEC is involved in a research project partnership, it presents the results to selected customers in a simple and concise manner – allowing them to integrate the findings easily into their everyday business for testing and feedback. This provides TEC and its partners valuable input on product performance and R&D efforts.
For example, TEC recently conducted its own research project on measuring airflow through residential registers with a variety of different capture hoods. In addition to presenting that data to vendors at a national conference, TEC took the results to its customers to use to improve their own testing and measuring of residential systems. The result: customer feedback improved the end-product quality.
Many times, TEC has made adjustments and adaptations suggested by customers while conducting research projects. This allowed TEC to provide the software updates made to the original research project available to customers for their use. Sharing its research project data benefits TEC customers by:
- Industry Insight and Access – TEC is heavily involved in the industry, allowing access to key players and the developments, as well as thought-leadership of where the industry is headed for the future. TEC’s partnerships allow for R&D that’s ready to tackle the challenges of the future.
- Understanding Customer’s Needs – Research helps TEC understand its customer needs and partnerships allow for clear communication with customers regarding those needs and the products associated with them.
- A Look into the Future – Customers and partners with TEC can get in front of trends and technology advancements before they become mainstream.
Sharing the Data with Everyone
Energyconservatory.com has a variety of resources that gives users the ability to download manuals and brochures, read various articles, and research projects and case studies. TEC shares this material and information, so users can understand its products and get information such as, different types of measurements needed, what types of codes are coming in the future and where the industry is headed in general.