It depends how much funds you have. You could award colleagues who publish in top journals, you could hire somebody who has published in such journals to write papers with your colleagues... also, maybe you could support conference trips more, as then, your colleagues can meet new people with whom they can publish.

The researches which lead to a business plan should be awarded.

The most common faculty complaint that I hear is with regard to time. How can I teach a full load, advise students, sit on university committees, and then have time for research? A carrot that we use is a competitive program for release time -- faculty submit proposals, and if theirs is selected by an internal review committee, they're provided 25% release time to pursue their project.

There are many different factors that increase research productivity and motivate faculty such as leadership, organizational culture, technical skills in developing/writing grant competitive research proposals, time granted from teaching to research, graduate research support, facilities & equipment. Not all can be measured. In addition, researchers are motivated differently. They all desire autonomy and shared governance. Most researchers at my organization are self-driven or curiosity driven. To help them be more productive and possibly motivated you do need to provide release time from teaching, internal startup or matching funds, recognition/awards, and the organizational leadership that communicates with word and deeds that it truly values that research.

I am currently working as an external evaluator for a Primarily Undergraduate Institute (PUI) to build their research productivity. This means faculty have a large teaching load. I have decided to conduct a process evaluation measuring 5 broad areas:

1). Research & Faculty Development (ie. incorporating research into the culture, organization's strategic plan, visible focus or high level of communication of executive level leadership, , professional development opportunities, etc.)

2). Administrative Support & Resources (ie. Faculty led committees to determine research needs, review research related policies and procedures, establishing research policies, internal funding or allocation of resources for research, building collaborations with other research organizations, community engagement, and industry).

3). Providing pre-award administrative services (i.e.  additional research support for identifying external funding sources, developing and templates or peer review of proposals with constructive feedback, assistance in drafting itemized budgets and budget justifications,

4). Providing post-award services - setting up financial accounts, tracking expenditures, invoicing, hiring research staff, compliance support, etc.)

5). Policies & Procedures related to research (i.e.. having a joint committee of researchers, faculty administrators, and staff review all policies for accuracy, relevancy for different disciplines, up to date with mandatory research regulations, review of database systems to track productivity, management of awards, most of all make sure that a bureaucracy is not put in place that is perceived as a barrier, but processes, procedures, and policies that facilitate and support ethical research)

A few examples of possible outcome measures (not motivators):

# of hours released for research endeavors

# of proposals submitted

# of proposals awarded

# of "first time" proposal submitters

# of peer reviewed publications

# of patents

# of clinical trails

# of products licensed

# of students involved in research activities

# of opportunities for professional development

# of industry partnerships and/or other research collaborations