The research process from an engineering perspective

This paper provides a perspective on the research process from an engineering point of view, with a particular focus on boiler and combustion research at the Sugar Research Institute_ The evolution of the research program has been documented to record how a successful large-scale program of activity has to achieve a high degree of integration to maintain responsiveness and relevancy to its client base, but also to achieve the degree of lateral thinking and planning that is necessary to sustain innovation. The evolutionary process can sometimes appear to be slow and tedious, but momentum is ultimately increased if the foundations of the research program are sound and visionary. It has been argued that the development of a focussed yet far-reaching vision for progress is crucial for a research program to succeed in delivering equipment and process outcomes that are commercially sustainable. The presence of vision is a necessary component not only of the researcher body, but far more importantly, of the client base for which the research is undertaken. In a commercial research environment, it has been shown that economic justification of all components of the research program needs to be undertaken at regular intervals to ensure that relevancy is maintained, and financial and intellectual resources are not squandered. The paper concludes with the recognition that computational modelling, being CFO in the case of boiler and combustion research, has emerged as the key foundation and facilitation medium that sustains the research and development effort.