What activity qualifies?

To qualify a business needs to be seeking an advance in technology within its industry, with technological uncertainty evident in how to achieve it. This can be difficult to identify, but the simplest way to look at it is to ask yourself what technology and knowledge would you not want your competitors to know? Some motorsport examples could be:

• Fuel or oil surge issues when converting a road vehicle for racing. New and previously unseen baffle designs resulting from this would qualify.
• Nontrivial and non-routine changes to the suspension components to increase tyre life. For bike racing this could be all new triple clamp designs, or significant changes to the rear linkage geometry.
• Development of electronic control systems. This could be where the original electronics and rider/driver aids must be removed to meet the regulations of the championship and replaced by a spec ECU. New protocols need to be developed to allow the new ECU to send and receive the correct signals to the engine and other systems.
• Where the integration of one component resulted in unexpected problems elsewhere in the vehicle, requiring further development activity in the original or in the ‘new’ area.

What does not qualify?

• Routine testing and integration of parts where the outcome would be expected. For example, changing the exhaust system for a ‘factory’ version where it was already known in the public domain that it would increase the power output.
• Testing a series of off the shelf components to determine which is the best one.
• Fine tuning suspension using known geometry and settings (tweaking)
• Routine engine tuning and refreshes. Fitting a new camshaft and gas flowing the cylinder head would be considered ‘business as usual’ activity.