| 摘要 |
The present invention facilitates obtaining one or more proposals for research and development (R & D), on behalf of an R & D buyer. A clear under understanding of the type of the R & D's buyer's project needs and the associated area of technology may be elicited in support of the creation of a request for proposal announcement, the creation of criteria (e.g. keywords) for searching one or more supplier database to identify one or more potential R & D suppliers, and the creation of criteria for evaluating each identified potential R & D supplier. Evaluation criteria may include frequency of search criteria in association with a potential supplier, type of R & D needed, specialization the associated area of technology, buyer's approval, supplier's knowledge of competition in the associated area of technology, type of supplier, and length of time that a supplier has been supplying R & D in the associated area of technology. The one or more supplier database include information about researchers, and research support organization worldwide. Different supplier database may house this information for different general areas of R & D, or for particular areas of technology. The searcher may select specific supplier databases related to the area of technology associated with the buyer's needs. The supplier database(s) may be indexed by every world that is not an article or preposition, to allow fast, yet comprehensive searching for suppliers when utilizing particular search criteria. Once the search of supplier database(s) locates potential R & D suppliers, the potential R & D suppliers may be ordered by frequency of occurences of the search criteria. Evaluation criteria are applied to each potential R & D supplier to identify which ones are qualified R & D suppliers. Bids for proposal are only solicited from qualified R & D suppliers. Each qualified R & D supplier may be provided with a request for proposal announcement. Each qualified R & D supplier may have to execute a nondisclosure agreement, prior to receiving threquest for proposal announcement. The request for proposal announcement may be anonymous, at buyer's request. Optionally a review panel can be assembled to provide assistance in evaluating and qualifying potential R & D suppliers, as well as in evaluating proposals submitted by qualified R & D suppliers. Qualified R & D suppliers may be further evaluated in accordance with obtaining the best mix of complementary R & D suppliers that meet the buyer's R & D needs. Further, feedback may be provided to R & D suppliers so that they have an opportunity to modify and resubmit proposals. |
