The School of Innovation, Design and Engineering (IDT) at Mälardalen University (MDH), Sweden, has built its research environment in cooperation with European industry. As the number of research project has increased, the challenge to manage the projects is correspondingly increasing. To allow researchers to focus on research, IDT has invested in training for professional project management and designated the department for research coordination (RECO) to be the school´s project management office, providing professional project management to research projects. RECO has launched a number of quality processes to increase the professionalism in applying for and managing research projects, and is now carrying experience between projects and researchers. The combination of excellent research and professional project management is a success factor when handling the large portfolio of complex projects. This poster will present how MDH improve productivity and quality in research management by adding project management competencies to the research environment.