The PDMA Handbook of New Product Development

Appendix A. ABOUT THE PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT & MANAGEMENT ASSOCIATION (PDMA)

The PDMA is a nonprofit professional organization dedicated to serving people with an interest in new products. Professionals, executive managers, and academics in the field recognize the PDMA as the global leader in communicating knowledge and tools for the benefit of people and organizations that develop new products and services. Founded in 1976, the PDMA membership is over 2000 product development professionals and academics from all sectors of the economy in over 20 countries worldwide.

PDMA's mission is to improve the effectiveness of people engaged in developing and managing new products—both new manufactured goods and new services. This mission includes facilitating the generation of new information, helping convert this information into knowledge that is in a usable format, and making this new knowledge broadly available to those who might benefit from it. A basic tenet of the Association is that enhanced product innovation represents a desirable and necessary economic goal for firms that wish to achieve and retain a profitable competitive advantage in the long term.

The development of new products and services involves an integrated set of unique activities. The PDMA is the only organization that solely focuses on addressing this challenge by providing:

• National conferences

• Regional and local conferences and meetings

• Publications

• Awards for achievements in new product development

• Sponsored research ...