Ultimately the difference between quality and R&D comes down to who each group answers to. Quality is responsible to the FDA, whereas R&D is responsible to the business. R&D strives to find innovation and solutions for products, services, and devices. Quality strives to ensure that all endeavors meet with FDA regulations. Ultimately, both groups are interested in keeping the company or business doing well and progressing, but they approach it from different perspectives. My previous job was doing R&D for a small medical device company, but worked directly with the Quality manager. It often resulted in difficulty when trying to solve problems, because my solution from an R&D perspective may not meet the quality requirements. While this was very frustrating, it was important in making sure the “solution” was correct.