Cumulative Belief Degrees Approach for R&D Project Selection

Research and Development (R&D) entails the generation of innovative knowledge and its practical application to address challenges. In Turkey, the advancement of R&D initiatives is fostered through the establishment of technoparks and R&D centers. Within these R&D centers, a wide array of project proposals is solicited, tailored to the specific domains of the companies involved. Project selection is carried out by assessing project proposals based on several criteria. This study aims to evaluate project proposals submitted to an R&D center and develop a decision-making framework to identify projects worthy of pursuit. A new set of criteria is proposed for this purpose. In the methodology, the Fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process (FAHP) is employed to determine the importance of the criteria, while the cumulative degrees approach is used to consolidate information from diverse sources. Additionally, a mathematical model is devised to facilitate the final project selection, taking into account constraints such as budget limitations and human resource availability.