AbstractA study sponsored by the State Committee for Science and Technical Progress of Bulgaria aimed at providing a theoretically sound and easy to apply method for the needs of R&D management on government, organization and team levels, to be used in assessing and managing both present and future R&D potential.The method draws inferences about R&D potential from the accumulated experience and performance of the researchers, analysed along research topics. A specific ‘man‐topic unit of analysis helps identify individual researchers, teams and projects’ profiles and also helps translate the specific characteristics of R&D work and the requirements for R&D internal effectiveness into the language of R&D manag