Until the early 1980s much of publicly funded research could be described as curiosity-driven knowledge production. A publication would be seen as sufficient return on investment in research. However, the situation has changed significantly in most countries as a result of interacting forces such as economic pressures and public insistence on performance auditing of government expenditure leading to, among others, a shift in orientation from fundamental to strategic research, from output to outcomes, and from knowledge production to innovation. The paper offers a brief overview of national and institutional policies, and a theoretical framework within which implementation of research findings can be located. Against this background the preliminary statistical results of a web-based survey of the implementation of master's and doctoral research are presented. The survey focused on the experience of successful master's and doctoral students at a public and a private university specialising in technology management. The paper concludes with the implications for the management of R&D for innovation.