A case study of using Project Management Maturity Models to assess Project Management Practices and define future improvements in R&D&I centers

Research, Development, and Innovation (R&D&I) centers play a pivotal role in bridging academia and industry, often operating in high-uncertainty environments with diverse stakeholders. Despite their innovation-driven missions, these R&D&I centers face recurring challenges in project management and execution. Literature suggests that project management maturity is closely linked to project success. This research addresses whether assessing project management maturity can provide actionable insights and guide improvement strategies. A single-case study was conducted at a multidisciplinary R&D&I center based in Portugal. A three-phase use case methodology was applied: (1) selecting a maturity model and diagnostic tools, (2) collecting data through document analysis, a 40-question structured questionnaire (n=17), and semi-structured interviews (n=5), and (3) analyzing results and defining an improvement plan for project management processes. The (PM)² Maturity Model was used to assess five dimensions of project management maturity. Findings placed the center at Maturity Level 3 (Institutionalized Process), with strengths in project awareness and training process, but weaknesses in tool usage, documentation, risk analysis, and governance. Interviews validated these findings and highlighted improvement opportunities. This single-case study supports the use of maturity models as effective roadmaps for enhancing project management in R&D&I environments and offers guidance for implementing structured improvement strategies.