Business Model in Research-Development Activity

More and more premises suggest that maintaining positive trends in Polish economy won’t be possible without changing the philosophy of activity which many companies follow. Taking into consideration the growing demands of clients and the market, globalization, which is strengthening competition, as well as the growing complexity of tools and production-service methods, it is not enough to continue building market position based on limitation of costs and lower product prices. Rising to the growing challenges, in particular, the challenges ahead of production-service units, will require a broad application of the achievements of science and technology to the processes of development. Even the biggest companies more and more often take advantage of the help of various partners, who support them in the process of introducing new solutions raising the efficiency of activities.

The partners and allies of business practice in the processes of modernization of the economy are scientificresearch institutions, such as scientific institutes, research-development units and universities. A market on which companies can look for the solutions they need and scientific-research institutions can look for inspiration, partners and capital is being formed. The market provides conditions for operation, development and implementation of developed solutions. Taking into consideration the complexity of market, technical, legal, financial, or intellectual property protection issues, research-development units are more and more frequently unable to function efficiently without a clear and unequivocal definition of goals, methods and conditions of activity. Their market offer has to take into consideration not just scientificresearch, or methodological aspects. Taking into consideration continuously growing demands of the clients and pressure of the competition, scientific-research institutions have to pay attention also to market, information, personnel, or financial aspects typical of strictly commercial ventures. What may support a comprehensive preparation and implementation of scientific-research activities under market conditions are tools successfully used in trade and economy, such as business models. These issues are the basis of deliberations contained in this work.

In order to make it easier for scientific-research institutions to work out models of conduct arranging activity and facilitating efficient functioning on the market, below attention is paid to the consideration of such issues as:

• the notion of business model in the economy and its components,

• characteristic features of research-development activity (R&D),

• the concept of components of business models in research-development activity,

• the essence of business model in research-development activity,

• benefits and conditions of using business models in research-development activity.

The paper ends with a summary - formulation of final conclusions.