Scientific Competitive Intelligence in R&D Decision Making

Scientific competitive intelligence (CI) resides in the domain of technical or technology competitive intelligence. In the pharmaceutical industry, scientific CI is the process of monitoring competitors' research and product pipelines as well as science and technology trends. It differs from traditional business intelligence in the type of data analyzed and the expertise of the analysts. Clients for scientific CI span a broad cut across the company. Included are upper management, strategic development groups, commercial and marketing groups, and research and development (R&D).

The impact that scientific CI can have on R&D decision making and planning processes is multifactorial and involves many groups throughout a typical R&D organization. These groups include discovery scientists, discovery research management, development scientists, development management, regulatory, and others. The role and impact of scientific CI on these groups within a pharmaceutical company varies with the need of each group and works best when mutual benefits are shared and strong relationships are created.