R2O | Research to Operations

While the R2O process is a “soft” cycle that is dependent on a number of players and factors, there are some “hard” metrics that can provide a clear picture as to whether the implemented R2O structure is efficient and effective. To be clear, R2O cannot be “forced”, and subjective feedback is an important part of the cycle that can control the total time duration that a transition takes. Therefore, the best way to determine whether there is R2O skill within a community or organization is to consider a set of recent transitions together, instead of focusing on one transition and classifying it as a success or failure. Metrics to consider are: Percent of ready research byproducts in the science portfolio successfully transitioned, or the success rate to date It is important to make sure the investment in research is converted to value for operations. If there are a number of ready research byproducts that are stalled, waiting for transition, and this percentage is low, it is worthwhile to...

In a previous post , there was a discussion about how the United States federal government is instrumental in establishing and funding opportunities for R2O as a result of its position in the weather community. In this post, the conversation turns to whether it is possible to create a harmonious platform that enhances R2O and a partnership between the government, private sector, and academia. For this, we first examine the leading priorities of these three players and discern where there is alignment, and then discuss what needs to be done to better foster enterprise-wide collaboration. Because of the inherently diverse priorities among the three sectors, tensions can arise that can thwart opportunities that may be beneficial to the community as a whole. The priority of the government is to save lives and property. This is done through better warnings and forecasts, and elected officials fund government agencies to ensure this public interest is satisfied. The challenge that arises is ...

Those in the weather and space communities are becoming increasingly familiar with R2O as both an acronym and a concept. But, looking at other scientific fields, there is little if any evidence that transition projects are tagged as R2O or an analogous iterative methodology for cross-engaging a community. This is somewhat interesting, considering that scaling research results to practitioners is not unique to the earth sciences. For example, the medical field routinely must innovate to improve care for patients. Software engineers must also grow from a conceptual foundation to the user level. Most businesses develop new products or services that go through a series of phases before they are ready to market. What makes meteorology unique in this pursuit of R2O finesse? First, the meteorological and space weather field is somewhat different because of substantial United States federal government investment. The government is the only entity funding the construction and launch of geostati...