In a research project on the development of process technology in process industry, success factors have been developed and ranked by R&D managers in various sectors of the European process industry. The results are presented in two parts, of which this is Part 1. As an introduction to this part, a new classification system for success factors in R&D is developed and the final discussion in Part 2 presents a model for company implementation. The empirical results stress the importance of good technology transfer in the process development process. The results can also be seen as a shopping list and a starting point for in-company development of success factors and performance indicators for process development.