Field 06
Research & development
Part of our work is examining new digital approaches, developing concepts and assessing technical options early.
Not every project is presented publicly in detail. Some developments are deliberately in a confidential concept or assessment phase.
Our ambition is not to rebuild existing solutions but to develop our own approaches for future digital systems.
Focus areas
- Digital system concepts
- Prototypes
- Market and technology monitoring
- Internal development projects
- Technical feasibility assessment
- Long-term innovation planning
Typical starting situations
- An approach sounds workable, and nobody can say whether it is.
- A technology is so new that reliable evidence from practical use is not yet available.
- An investment rests on an assumption nobody has tested so far.
- An undertaking needs a defensible answer before a budget is set for it.
How we work
It starts with a question that can be answered. That is the real first step: "does this work?" becomes a question with a criterion, a setup and a stopping condition — otherwise an investigation runs until the budget ends.
We use the smallest experimental setup that can answer the question. A prototype here serves as an instrument for investigation rather than an early product version: it tests a specific point and may be discarded afterwards. We document what it reveals, including — and especially — a negative result.
What can come out of it
Possible results
- A clearly defined technical question
- The investigation itself
- Assessment of feasibility
- Prototype or experimental setup where it answers the question
- Documented findings
- A basis for deciding on the next step
Not every engagement covers all of these. What is produced depends on the undertaking and is agreed beforehand.
What matters here
An investigation needs a limit. Without a stopping condition a review turns into a project, and in the end nobody answers the question it started from.
A negative result is a result. It usually saves more than a successful implementation earns — provided it is recorded in a way someone can follow later. Some investigations stay confidential; what is described publicly is decided case by case.
Where this ends
This field tests whether something holds. If it is already settled that it should hold and only the design is missing, concept development is the field; if it is about building, software development.
And if the question is which of several technologies suits a particular company, it is a decision question and belongs in technology and business consulting.
Service enquiry
What are you working on?
Briefly describe your “Research & development” case — the situation and the goal are enough to start. You get an assessment, not a price estimate; nothing about it is binding.
Do you have a project that has no shape yet?
Describe where it is stuck. We come back with an assessment — including when another field, or another provider, is the better fit.