The purpose of R&D management is to promote innovation as
well as wealth creation. The paper traces the history of R&D managementhow it has changed from the first generation when only innovation was the main objective to the fifth generation where IT plays an important role. It is now necessary to understand the needs of market for conducting worthwhile research. The author shares his experience of R&D management at Tata Steel. The experience shows that by adopting judicious R&D strategy it is possible to face the challenges of reconciling innovation with wealth
creation is possible by a judicious R&D strategy