Selecting the Optimal Portfolio in agricultural Research and Development Projects with Grey Multiple-Criteria Decision-Making Approach

Some organizations due to the challenges of the present age and the impact of Research and Development projects on the continuity of them, invest in these projects. The purpose of this study is selecting the optimal portfolio of agricultural Research and Development projects in Fars Agricultural and Natural Resources Research and Education Center. The research is applicable from the purpose aspect and is descriptive-survey method based on essence. By studying the literature and interviewing with experts, project evaluation attributes were identified and 16 projects were evaluated by experts. The attributes weight was calculated by the grey Shannon entropy method that "time risk", "technical backup existence" and "risk execution" are the most important attributes. Then projects were prioritized with the grey theory approach. In order to validate the model results, the projects were evaluated with COPRAS-G method which was seen by comparing results, the rank of projects is not identical in all cases. Therefore, by using the Copeland method, the ranks were combined and the final rank of each project was calculated. According to the results, the total budget was allocated to higher priority projects and the optimal project portfolio was determined. The results of this study can be used to prioritize the projects and to form optimal portfolio in project-oriented organizations such as scientific and research centers.