Technology intelligence practice in UK technology

Mortara et al. 2009

Technology intelligence practice in UK technology-based companies.

Technology intelligence practice in UK technology-based companies Letizia Mortara*, Clive I.V. Kerr, Robert Phaal and David R. Probert Centre for Technology Management, Institute for Manufacturing, Department of Engineering, University of Cambridge, Mill Lane, Cambridge CB2 1RX, UK *E-mail: [email protected] *Corresponding author

Abstract: Technological information has become an increasingly important advantage for technology-based companies facing shorter technology life cycles and a more globally competitive business environment. Companies have dedicated progressively more resources to the development of Technology Intelligence (TI) systems, realising that these are important assets for business success. Reviewing eight intelligence systems implemented by UK technology-based organisations, this work aims to test the theoretical model developed by Kerr et al. (2006) and to investigate how TI systems are implemented in practice. The characteristics, strengths and weaknesses of each system were reviewed using the theoretical model as an analysis template.

Keywords: TI; technical intelligence; T-Intel; market intelligence; competitive intelligence; intelligence systems; intelligence processes; technology scanning; information sourcing; strategic planning; decision making.

International Journal of Technology Management 48 (1): 115 -135.

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Introduction

Technology intelligence (TI) is a capability used by organisations to support the decision making process via the collection and delivery of information about new technologies. TI is used for the identification of emerging technologies that could be exploited by the organisation as well as to discover those that could threaten its current business. In the face of increased competition in a globalised environment, companies feel greater pressure to improve their TI capability. Also, academic attention has mirrored practitioner interest and has resulted in several works in this area (Lichthentaler, 2002, 2004a, 2004b, 2004c, 2005, 2007; Savioz and Blum, 2004; Savioz and Tschirky, 2004; Gassman and Gaso, 2004, 2005). This research aims to contribute to this emerging field of interest. In particular, it has the multiple purposes of: -

understanding how technology intelligence systems are currently operationalised in industry,

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corroborating the theoretical model of Kerr et al. (2006),

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acquiring knowledge on technology intelligence implementation issues.

To date, literature has not presented many practical examples of intelligence systems in full. Hence, for this study, a sample of selected companies ranging in size, sector and type have been investigated to gain a broad perspective on TI solutions and problems. Results are presented following the template suggested by the intelligence model (Kerr et al., 2006) giving account of how the examples reflect the theory. Two technology intelligence systems are presented in detail in the appendix. The model has also been confronted with some of the intelligence case studies in literature, e.g. Ashton et al.


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1991; Tessun 2001; Savioz and Tschirky 2004; April and Bessa 2006; Rohrbeck, Heuer et al. 2006; Savioz 2006.

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The model (Kerr et al., 2006)

The model encompasses an intelligence framework of factors linked to a process and system architecture. 1. The framework (Fig. 1) describes intelligence in the context of organisations, in the following terms: -

Approaches: the ways to connect the sources of information to the decision makers. Top-down: where the information consumers ‘ask’ the intelligence system to gather information. Bottom-up: where the information gathering system ‘knows’ who would be interested in receiving particular information acquired.

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Intelligence Streams: technology (TI), competitive (CI) and market (MI) intelligence.

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Decision Makers.

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Actions: Reasons for performing intelligence.

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Types of Information acquired and Information Sources.

FIG.1 ABOUT HERE 2. The system (Fig. 2) involves four modes for searching information, two of which (Mine and Trawl) are directed inside the organisation and two (Target and Scan) are used for outsourcing information. The modes can be described as: -

Mine: the searcher is aware where the gathered information is stored.


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Trawl: the searcher is not aware of where the information resides.

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Target: the searcher knows what to look for, outside the company.

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Scan: the searcher has not previously identified which information to acquire.

FIG.2 ABOUT HERE 3. The process (Fig. 3): on one side, decision makers input guidance on how to direct the search, identifying information needs; on the other, information is disseminated back to them by the intelligence cycle. Six phases lead to the capture and delivery of the information. Co-ordination assigns tasks, generates ideas for sources and refines the search goals with the decision makers. Search, Filter and Analyse form a subordinate cycle within the process that is repeated until a satisfactory result is achieved. Then investigators Document their findings and Disseminate their intelligence. FIG.3 ABOUT HERE 3

Methodology

The research employed a ‘case-study’ approach (Yin, 1994) which, due to its strengths in theory-building (Eisenhardt, 1989), was considered the most appropriate to collect initial evidence to support a theoretically developed model. However, the cases are intended to test and illustrate the theoretical model rather than to formally validate it. Semi-structured interviews were held with fourteen technology-based organisations, eight of which were studied in greater detail (Table 1). The companies were selected from UK-based companies to cover a wide range of industrial sectors and company types with the only proviso of a strong interest in keeping abreast with technological developments.


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The interviews were conducted at the companies’ premises, using the model developed by Kerr et al. (2006) as a guide. The main areas covered were: - Comments on the framework, system and process model. - Interviewees’ activity within the corporate TI activity. - Comments on the TI system in place: challenges and strengths. After the analysis, the interviewees were asked to check the case report for any inconsistencies. TABLE 1 ABOUT HERE 4

Framework factors analysis – Fig. 1

Table 2 reports data according to the framework of factors in Fig.1. Some factors, namely Decision makers and Actions, were specifically investigated for the TI stream while the others are generic to the overall intelligence system. TABLE 2 ABOUT HERE 4.1

System approaches

Firstly, it was observed whether the systems worked Top-Down (following the TI users’ requests) or Bottom-Up (feeding information to users without a specific request). In most cases (2,3,5,6,7,8) both approaches were observed and Table 2 reports just the dominant one. The strongest form of top-down approach was found for Target activities, where intelligence followed a list of pre-identified technologies. This approach dominated in small groups and where decision makers knew to whom to address the information requests. As Scan looks for non pre-identified technological information, its dominant approach was Bottom-Up. For Scan, the search inputs were


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limited to broad directives. For example, in Imaging (7) a European TI outpost received strategic roadmaps from each business unit as general guidance for the intelligence activity. According to Imaging’s scouts, having generic direction from the top encouraged them to investigate every potentially important field without being constrained by pre-determined boundaries. As a side effect, the intelligence operatives found it difficult to identify and interest decision makers and to tailor the information to their needs. This was especially true for very large global organisations with many decision makers (6,7) (Savioz, 2006). To overcome this problem, companies acted in two concurrent ways: -

Decision makers promoted their interests and suggested a preferred communication channel, for example by using internal personal webpages in which these details were reported (7). For instance, Air Products (Brenner, 2005) developed an in-house knowledge experience database to target decision makers with intelligence alerts.

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Intelligence agents improved their understanding of how the organisation worked and the needs of potential users. For example, in Telco-service (6) a scout hunting for start-ups with interesting technologies reported that a great part of his time was spent in talking, listening and networking internally with decision makers and other scouts.

4.2

Intelligence streams

Every company studied gathered information on technology, products and markets with technology (TI), competitive (CI) and market (MI) intelligence. - With regard to TI, information was fed into innovation processes (1,2,3,4,6,7,8).


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- Every organisation had MI activities, typically within marketing departments. - CI was mostly considered as part of MI (3,5,6,7) or TI (1,2,3,4,6,7,8). In the case of Print 2 (3) and Telco-service (6), CI was part of both MI and TI. In Tech-consult (2), a non-profit organisation, competitors were mostly considered partners, collaborators or even members. However, the technology know-how that could be applied to support industrial needs was regarded as ‘product’. As such, CI and TI merged completely. Other examples can be found in literature where CI, MI and TI are performed concurrently. This is the case of the Early Warning System at Daimler–Benz Aerospace (Tessun, 2001) where CI and MI merge, and also for the Competitive-Technology Intelligence of an Exploration and Production Business of a Multinational Energy Company (April and Bessa, 2006). However, the TI and MI streams of intelligence were typically run separately and had little opportunity to share findings. Poor communication between MI and TI was a problem shared by all the cases observed. Sometimes TI staff received periodical reports from marketing intelligence but had no direct contact with anyone who produced them (1,4,7). The marketing and technical people interviewed pointed at a lack of common language which inhibited information sharing. In all cases, the streams of intelligence converged at the decision makers who disseminated them (e.g. in the form of strategic roadmaps (3)). An exception was Tech-consult (2) where the industrial support groups exchanged technical information with market connotations directly with technology intelligence operatives.


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4.3


Decision makers

TI outputs were used for strategic, tactical and operational decisions by all the companies with the exception of Food & Drink (5) whose strategy was primarily based on MI. However, while intelligence operatives usually participated in tactical and operational decisions, strategic planners generally did not require involvement of the intelligence operatives in the decisions. The strategic planners in Mech (4) used TI outputs transformed by the business units into product-focused information. An interesting observation was that, in half of the cases (1, 6, 8, 5), decision makers were also directly involved with TI, typically in co-ordination roles (e.g. CTOs (1)). This provided a clear direction to the intelligence activity which easily targeted the decision maker’s needs. On the other hand, the influence of one decision maker imposes a personal footprint and could be a limiting factor to the initiative of individuals and their analysis. 4.4

Actions

TI systems aimed to encompass all the four Actions listed by the framework (Fig.1): identification of opportunities, awareness of threats, profiling of trends and assessment of the state of the art. A special case was Food & Drink (5), which did not specifically concentrate on threats coming from technology, nor on technological trends. This was because Food & Drink operated a traditional business whose prosperity was seen to depend more on commercial factors than on the advent of new technologies. 4.5

Types of information and information sources


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The lowest framework level in Fig.1 relates to the sources of information and the types of information gathered. ‘White’ intelligence is publicly available information whereas ‘black’ information is obtained through unethical or illegal means, e.g. industrial espionage (Rouach & Santi, 2001). ‘Grey’ (Prior, 2004) intelligence is private information usually obtained through informal discussions. Information is also a mix of explicit and tacit knowledge obtained first or second hand, sourced through internal and external means. Table 3 summarises the sources of information used in the cases observed and reports its attributes, distinguishing between: -

published information, mostly gathered through service subscription;

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non published information gathered through external social networks.

While published information is explicit, white and first hand, it was possible to gain all types of information through contacts. No one admitted using ‘black’ sources of information. The most popular sources of published information were internet websites, patent databases and field-specific publications. Patents were appreciated because of information about applications in comparison with technology in academic papers often far from direct implementation. An additional advantage of patent reviews was that queries can be directed in order to understand competitors activities, giving insight into technological trends in the field. Internet search engines are used to identify new sources of information related to current interests. On the other hand, internet searches need carefully chosen keywords and on-line sources can be unreliable. Only two organisations (1,6) used external intelligence services, mostly because of the low budget


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attributed to intelligence and because they felt that the reports wouldn’t be tailored to the company’s needs. Journals and magazines were sometimes provided in common areas (5). However, the subscription to external systems and tools could be poorly exploited by those performing intelligence as part of other duties (5). According to the interviewees, TI should rely heavily on published information and no one during the interviews seemed concerned that published information, especially patents and academic articles, is typically a year or more old, due to the time required for publication (Lichtenthaler 2006). TABLE 3 ABOUT HERE Choo’s (2002) review of scanning behaviour of managers suggests that ‘human sources’ (i.e. non published) are very valuable, to the extent that organisations such as Novartis (Savioz, 2006) base a large part of their TI system on people’s networks. The sources of non-published information (informal sources (Reger, 2001)) ranged from commercial events such as trade fairs to collaborations with universities. The most popular choices were links with people and organisations that had a high degree of technological knowledge or who were ‘experts’ in the same field as the company. Collaborations with universities were mostly used to research ‘blue sky’ technology/applications, while supplier and trade fair information related mostly to applications and products. Table 4 lists the preferred external sources reached through networking, for Target and Scan from the case studies. To access the sources of non published information, companies relied on external social networks, whose importance has been widely endorsed by past research: networks of external relationships can provide an important


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source of competitive advantage (Gulati et al. 2000), especially since knowledge has been recognised as an important resource (Barney, 2001). Examples of the networking activities and sources which can be used are reported by Ransley (1996) in his benchmarking study of External Technology Watch activities in Chevron and other chemical companies. TABLE 4 ABOUT HERE Sources for Target: Overall, companies made direct connection with specific primary sources, selecting a specific academic department, a conference or a trade exhibition where they could find information relative to their target objectives. The preferred sources were trade shows, exhibitions and contact with suppliers and customers. However, while companies sent representatives to most of the trade shows in their own field, they developed relationships with academic departments in relation to just one or two projects. Only the more research-intensive companies attended academic conferences. Sources for Scan: For secondary sources, network connections were the preferred mechanism, such as venture capitalists and development agencies, linked to several primary sources. Secondary sources could both direct interesting information towards the company and disseminate the company’s requirements. The most popular scanning sources were government organisations such as regional development agencies, through which companies learned about funding opportunities. Friends and acquaintances were the sources that provide the most serendipitous findings. The link with this type of source was obviously not formalised. Start-ups and venture capitalists (VC) were used as sources by the few companies with an ‘open innovation’ (Chesbrough, 2003)


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philosophy, which had teams and processes dedicated to identify and invest in businesses with interesting technology. Linking with all sources of information required energy and resources not available to all the companies. The largest organisations whose activity was significantly influenced by technology, or that had suffered from not detecting in time the signals of important technological changes, were the ones that linked with the most comprehensive set of sources (2,6,7). 5

System modes analysis – Fig. 2

Various solutions were adopted for the four modes. A more in-depth analysis of these solutions, leading to the creation of a ‘system elements toolbox’, will be presented in a forthcoming paper (Mortara et al., 2008). Two case studies are reported (Tech-consult in Fig. 4 and Telco-service in Fig. 5) in their entirety to illustrate how differently companies can operationalise the four modes of searching. These two companies indicated the greatest need to keep abreast with technological developments in the sample but even if their TI systems were complex and large resources were deployed, some weaknesses could be identified. For the former, a technology consultancy, TI is the main product; Telco-service requires a high innovation pace to keep and expand its market share and depends on technology which evolves quickly. Also, case studies from the literature have been compared against each mode (See table 5). FIG. 4 ABOUT HERE

FIG. 5 ABOUT HERE


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TABLE 5 ABOUT HERE 5.1

Mine and Trawl

Knowledge management issues and approaches applied to Mine and Trawl for the storage and retrieval of information acquired by intelligence. Companies Trawled to reach internal knowledge not explicitly stored and inaccessible with the Mine mode. All the interviewees seemed aware of the importance of having efficient information management systems but admitted that their systems had to be improved. Only Techconsult (2) appointed a knowledge management team to maximise its potential. Methods employed to Mine varied from improvised and unstructured, such as personal/local folders roughly classified (5,8), to systems supported by data management tools and techniques. Examples of the most sophisticated infrastructure were libraries (2,3,4,6,7) and software databases (1,3). Tech-consult (2) maintained a database covering core technological literature (e.g. books, journals, proceedings, theses, standards or patents) published world-wide. Staff abstracted and tagged the new literature with keywords and performed searches on behalf of enquirers. Telco-service (6) used its internal website to archive and share information where people can create personalised self-updating web pages to monitor the news captured by intelligence. Trawling was done, for example, by sending e-mails throughout the company asking ‘who knows?’ (3) or asking intermediaries (1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8) how to reach others who might know. Trawling was easier for the smaller organisations where ‘corridor conversations’ were a common means for information exchange (1,2,3,5,8) or where communication among staff was strongly encouraged by the culture (2).


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Problems in the information management were generally greater for larger and more complex organisations. Typical difficulties observed were: -

Data were often kept locally, rarely accessible to other intelligence groups (1,2,3,4,5,6,7).

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Temporary systems, initially created to store material, were obsolete or improvised and roughly structured, and it was difficult to re-organise and expand them later. In Tech-consult (2) a great deal of information was stored in paper reports, designed during the early years of activity; they were evaluating several potential solutions to allow easy access to this source of accumulated knowledge.

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People mostly considered Documenting in its ‘hardest’ form (e.g. writing structured reports) and complained that there is often not enough time for this task. A viable solution, adopted by Food & Drink (5), was to minimise the documentation to abstracts, reporting the information source and who found it. However, people’s minds are often the most ‘updated’ and ‘richest’ repositories so that in Imaging’s (7) technology outpost, scouts exchange the latest news at weekly meetings.

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Sometimes information was kept in transient repositories as for Telco-service (6), where newsletters were collected on the internal web-page. Finding old information was impossible as these were overwritten with new ones.

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Locating information could absorb a lot of resources: a decision maker in Telcoservice (6) admitted that it could take a very long time to get a sense of how


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much the company knew. Often, the more organised the Mine the easier the Trawl. 5.2

Target and Scan

Target was organised around the main technology groups, where the distribution of tasks followed a hierarchy mirroring the organisational structure. Target activities were co-ordinated by people with proven technical expertise and with an understanding of the corporate technology policy. They interfaced with MI and CI and with the decision makers identifying new technologies to investigate. For example, the technology group in Print1 (1) targeted four key technology sectors. Weekly group meetings headed by the technology director provided the opportunity to delegate to individual team members two to three technological topics to investigate. Tools for the identification of new key technologies ranged from technology roadmaps (Phaal et al., 2004) (1,2,3,4,7), to house-of-quality type of matrices (2) (Bossert, 1991) and lists of technologies important for the company’s future (watch-lists (1,2,4,6,7,8)). Gatekeepers (Allen, 1977) maintained the links between the company and the external sources of information through their personal contacts. An analysis of the gatekeeper’s behaviour (McDonald and Williams, 1994) shows the possible different natures of the gatekeepers, from technology consultants to sales agents. In the cases observed, they were usually recognised, internally and externally, as experts in their technological field. Target was generally the mode in which companies felt strongest. The few weaknesses observed were: -

All relied heavily on the competence of their experts and on their social networks. Sometimes (2,3,7) no back-up plan was made to ensure continuity in


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case of an expert leaving. This problem also applied to the scan mode. Knowledge retention practice like the one at Pfizer (Newman, 2002) could minimise the losses. -

Often, different technology groups performed Target independently, leading to wasted resources. An extreme example was Print 2 (3) where two experts, based in different continents, ran parallel streams on intelligence investigating the future of the same core technologies. The only contact between the two was the business unit director, who independently consulted them on decisions. To overcome this type of problem, Mech (4) encouraged the creation of links among the intelligence operatives during training sessions, via the development of a common language.

Scan activities were generally less organised and structured. Some companies (1,4,8) had no dedicated activity looking for unidentified technologies. It was a common remark among the interviewees that Scan for the unknown, making sure that the system was covering all the ground and capable of detecting any new lead, was the most difficult task. Even when formally implemented, Scan was mostly a solitary activity. Operatives were typically generalists or ‘accomplished novices’ (Bransford et al., 2000) with knowledge of a wide range of topics, carrying out ‘active scanning’ (Lichtenthaler, 2004c). These scouts (2,3,6,7) were appointed to search for weak signals, for example by participating at events and fairs where start-ups presented technologies in different fields (6) and by disseminating the company’s need to secondary sources (e.g. venture capitalists).


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Roadmaps (3,4,7), house-of-quality-type matrices (2) and organisational diagrams (6) were used to identify potential information recipients. Technology listening posts (Gassman and Gaso, 2004; 2005) (6,7) are the scouts’ and recruiters’ operational bases and are set up in geographic areas typified by centres of excellence in scientific research and industry and/or innovation clusters (Porter, 1990). In Imaging’s technology outpost (7), the scouts have developed a country-based approach to Scan assessing technologies and potential partners in each region of their competence. Companies set up attraction mechanisms to ‘bring in’ information, promoting their willingness to hearing from outside about new technologies and ideas. Examples of such attraction tools are website callings for inputs and collaborations (7), corporate venture capital (CVC) activity (6,7) (Ernst et al. (2005) and surveys (2). 5.3

Modes flow – Fig. 6

Fig. 6 shows the succession of the search modes through generic ‘top-down’ and ‘bottom-up’ processes connecting the decision makers with the sources of information. Although each of the modes is necessary, the balance between them varied depending on the company’s specific needs. In sectors where technology was changing rapidly, like Telco-service (6), Scan was operated to a great extent. As mentioned, the more effective the Mine system, the less Trawling occurred. Target, Trawl and Scan all feed into the Mine mode. The first step is to locate information inside the organisation. When it is unclear where it is, the Trawl mode is applied to the repositories and eventually redirects the search outside via the Target mode. In the case of the ‘bottom-up’ approach, no input is given to the search.


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Information is acquired, filtered and analysed against the requirements of the potential stakeholders. If the information appears relevant to someone in the business, it is reported according to the recipient’s requirements, highlighting the reasons for the perceived significance. If the Scan information is judged interesting, a further Target step in the process takes place. At this point the bottom-up and the top-down approaches merge. FIG. 4 ABOUT HERE 6

Process phases analysis – Fig. 3

There were no significant objections to the process cycle (Fig. 3), indicating that in general the phases appropriately described the activities, although the degree of precision and completeness for each phase varied from case to case. The most common comments on the process were: -

The process was applicable to TI activities at different levels. At a high level, a TI system or part of it can be co-ordinated like in Telco-service (6) where the chief technology office distributed tasks and allocated resources to the different activities with the intent of gathering technological updates. At a lower level, for example, Tech-consult’s (2) patent office co-ordinated the patent and licensing activities between two sites.

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The phases were rarely organised as formally as the process seems to suggest, although activities were performed and recognised by each of the interviewees.

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Searching and Filtering could be conducted concurrently rather than sequentially (1,2).


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Different criteria were used for Filtering and Analysing a certain technology if

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identified through Scan or Target. For Scan, a typical Filter criterion was a general ‘is this technology interesting?’ and for the Analysis ‘does this technology match the company’s needs? Can this technology represent a new market opportunity?’. For Target, the criteria became more specific and progressively more quantitative with: ‘how does this technology differ from what is known?’ for Filtering, and ‘what is the value of this technology?’ for Analysing. Analysis was considered the most challenging phase which needs specific tools

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and techniques. Examples can be found in the study by Lichthenthaler (2005) and in the practice at Air Products (Brenner, 2005). -

People found it difficult to write formal documentation and preferred to disseminate their knowledge verbally, for example in weekly meetings (7). The most successful forms of ‘hard’ documentation were newsletters (5,6,7) and abstracts (2).

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Concluding remarks

All the factors listed by the model (Kerr et al., 2006) were considered while analysing the intelligence systems of eight technology-based UK companies. The firms performed intelligence in line with the model, although specific approaches varied and not all aspects were implemented by all companies. Hence, although developed theoretically, the model is compatible with current practice and represents a theoretical archetype of how technology intelligence works. It is a tool that can help companies to review their current intelligence capabilities. However,


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aware of the limits associated with the case study methodology and of the limited number of case studies, the authors do not consider the results as an exhaustive validation of the model and future research in this direction is needed. The most common challenges observed for TI systems were: -

Aligning market, technology and competitive intelligences and foster communication between them.

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Managing the interface between decision makers and intelligence to enable the efficient dissemination of information requirements and intelligence.

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Setting up Scanning for non pre-identified technologies.

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Organising an efficient knowledge management system to minimise Trawling for internal information.

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Formalising the intelligence activities without reducing their flexibility and capability.

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Evaluating the efficiency of TI systems. If intelligence is evaluated by the number of successful innovation projects a long time is required to understand its performance. Secondly, the success of innovation activities depends on many other factors beyond the quality of intelligence.

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Ensuring all the ground was covered, tapping into relevant sources without resulting in information overload and without investing excessive resources.

Future research will investigate this latest challenge by looking into how best to deploy social networks resources to maximise intelligence outreach.


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In conclusion, this study firstly corroborated the theoretically developed conceptual model with practical examples. Secondly, it provided practitioners with real examples of TI systems and their challenges. 8

Acknowledgements

The authors wish to thank the companies for their collaboration. The study was funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) under the Innovative Manufacturing Research Centre (IMRC) grant. Total words: 4499 9

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Strategy, Innovation and Competences for business value’. New York, Palgrave Macmillan: 220-254. Savioz, P. and Blum, M. (2002) Strategic forecast tool for SMEs: how the opportunity landscape interacts with business strategy to anticipate technological trends. Technovation, Vol. 22, pp. 91-100. Tessun, F. (2001). Scenario Analysis and Early Warning Systems at Daimler-Benz Aerospace. Competitive Intelligence Review 8(4): 30-40. Yin, R. K. (1994). Case Study Research: Design and Methods, Sage.


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Decision makers Actions Identify opportunities Be aware of threats Assess the state of the art Profile trends

Top-down

Bottom-up

Intelligence Streams Market – Competitive – Technology Sources of information

Fig. 1: The intelligence framework, adapted from Kerr et al. (2006) Trawl

Scan

Finding information which is in-house, but not formalised

Learning about any technological development which could have an impact on the future

Mine

Target

Extracting intelligence from an internal repository

Monitoring the development of new technologies identified as relevant for the future

Inside

Outside

Fig. 2: The system modes, adapted from Kerr et al. (2006) Intelligence Process

Search Refine

Input:

Decision making

Filter

Coordinate

Iterate

Intelligence Needs Feedback

Act

Document Disseminate

Feedback

Decision Gate

Analyse

Output: Intelligence information for decision makers

Fig. 3: Intelligence process, adapted from Kerr et al. (2006)


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BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE TECHNOLOGY INTELLIGENCE - SCAN Industrial support 1

Government agencies Regional development agencies European organisations Industrial partners International contacts….

Experienced multi-interest technologist

Industrial support 2 Industrial support 3

External Networks

Internal networks Industrial support 4 Industrial support 5

Infrastructures

…

TECHNOLOGY INTELLIGENCE - TARGET

Library

®

Technology Group 4

Technology Group 2

Technology Group 5

Technology Group 6

Technology Group 7

Patent office

Universities Industrial partners Research centres Technical conferences….

Technology Group manager External Networks

INDUSTRIAL NEEDS

Technology Group 3 TECHNOLOGY

Database

Technology Group 1

♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦

♦ ♦

Technology manager Team members

Tech-consult The overall aim of Tech-consult’s intelligence system is to support its members’ present and future needs. The technology groups’ managers are the decision makers. Every one is an intelligence representative. Trawl Everyone is encouraged to build personal networks Scan A scout with 25 years of experience in the company, to obtain information. Tech-consult encourage informal connects people both internally and externally to the ‘parent-child’ relationships, whereby experienced company, through a tight social network. The technology employees introduce the younger generation to their groups organise forums twice a year to which personal networks. The library staff is often in the position representatives from academic, industrial and government to find others with similar needs. An expertise guide lists organisations are invited. The meetings provide an opportunity for discussion about the needs of the industry core staff knowledge. in future years. A questionnaire is sent to the attendees in advance to select the most important technology areas for discussion. Mine Organisational knowledge is mainly held by Target Each technology group search for information individuals or in technology groups’ intranet archives. A through field-specific sources and personal contacts. central library performs searches on behalf of enquirers Local roadmaps provide guidance on future technological and acquires new material. The past projects archive needs. Technology managers are the TI coordinators and contains formal hardcopy reports, which are difficult to identify new technologies important for the future of their search and update. An attempt to transform the archive area, delegating to individual members the task of investigating each topic. Annually, a matrix is produced, in into an electronic system is ongoing. collaboration with the industrial support teams (MI, BI) to match current or desired technology expertise with industrial needs. Tech-consult aims to licence technologies, and with this perspective the patent office is kept aware of internal research areas and looks for relevant information which can threaten patent filing.

Fig. 4: Tech-consult intelligence system


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Mortara et al. 2009


Venture-leaders projects Search of information to support the development of innovative projects

Engagement with start-ups Worldwide activities of scouts looking for new technologies

External Networks

Innovation activities Organised across market and technology

Ventures

Analysts Periodic top level information collection of technology trends with a marketing perspective

Research Centres CVC Technology Analysts Generation of a watch-list for the short term future.

INFRASTRUCTURE

Library & Patent office

Tech. Office website Research & Venturing Labs Each research centre collects info in its own field

Decision maker

Centres of Excellence listening posts Scouts in contact with academia and research centres worldwide

Independent search Technologists as part of their day by day activity

Telco-service In the technology office there are nine research centres specialising in different but overlapping technology areas and also five ‘ventures’ focused on specific business areas. Cutting across technology boundaries, they pull the expertise of the research centre laboratories together. TI is prevalently bottom-up and involves continuous parallel streams of activities. Most of the decision makers do not have the background to understand highly technical information, so they prefer to receive it in the form of a ‘pre-digested’ abstract that highlights the commercial potential of technologies. Innovation activities merge TI and MI. Trawl Decision makers consult trusted internal people and Scan Scouts based in several outposts worldwide search through these personal networks reach other for technologies held by start-ups to fuel innovation in the knowledgeable individuals. If the personal network of short to medium term future, participating at venture contacts cannot provide sufficient information, people capitalists events and publicising the company needs to refer to the heads of the research groups and the organisations that work with small companies. Start-ups go through a qualification process of several progressive ventures. deepening stages in which their technologies are compared with Telco’s internal needs. Corporate venture capital (CVC) provides funds for interesting technology businesses and facilitates the flowing of information. Mine People prefer to directly exchange information and Target Each research centre performs intelligence in its to be involved in discussions rather than to fill in specific technological field. Contacts and collaborations documents. Employees collect and store information on with universities and attendance at scientific conferences their own devices. A formal system for codifying internal are sources of information for long term innovation. knowledge is frequently discussed but at present no Product fairs, commercial conferences, communication coherent solution has been chosen. Archival is supported with customers and suppliers and collaboration with by a customisable intranet, search engine where analysts partners provide insight on competitors and sector publish newsletters and technology watch lists. A digital technological evolution. Telco-service also purchases library provides access to technical and marketing external intelligence reports such as foresight studies. A literature, patent search tools and patent analysts, press dedicated group of specialised analysts collects and releases and academic sources of information. A start-up digests information on technologies across the telecommunication industry with very short-term future selection record is kept in a dedicated database. focus and generates a watch list.

Fig. 5: Telco-service intelligence system


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Mortara et al. 2009


Information needed Check in-house No

EXTERNAL SOURCES

TRAWL

Do I know where?

yes

MINE

TARGET yes SCAN

Interesting? no

Stop

Fig. 6: The modes succession. Continuous line = Top-down approach. Dashed line = Bottom-up approach


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Name

Sector

1: Print 1

Manufacturing, Printing, UK

2: Tech-consult

3: Print 2

4: Mech

Technology Consultancy, UK

Manufacturing, Printing, UK Manufacturing, Mechanical engineering, UK

5: Food & Drink

Manufacturing, Food, UK

6: Telco-service

Telecommunication Services, UK

7: Imaging

Manufacturing, Imaging, US and UK

8: Telco-manuf

Manufacturing, Telecommunication, UK

Description & general information Approximately two decades old, medium size manufacturing company which sells high performance, inkjet equipment and inks to original equipment manufacturers in industrial printing markets. The company holds over 700 patents and patent applications. Based in the UK, it has recently acquired manufacturing facilities in Europe and in the US. There has been a ‘step change’ from the original ‘technology licensing’ business model to the ‘production’ model. Technology consulting. Through industrial membership, it allows external organisations to access full consultancy, R&D services and facilities. The range of technologies is wide and covered by seven main ‘Technology Groups’, each specialised in different applications. The know-how in the technologies supports several industrial sectors, which are managed by ‘Industrial Support Groups’. Innovations are sought both to generate new technologies to create new intellectual properties, to exploit and to cover effectively the needs of the members in the medium and long term (5-20 years). World-leader in printing technologies and solutions with approximately 1700 employees. It manages subsidiaries and distributors worldwide. The business, originally developed around a key technology, has grown through the acquisition of another printing technology and now the company’s business revolves around these two key technologies, managed by two directors. Multinational company which supplies parts to the world's major producers of automotive vehicles, aircraft and aero engines. It operates in more than 30 countries and employs about 39,000 people across its subsidiaries and 4,000 people in its joint ventures. The company has recently embarked on the implementation of a technology intelligence system, starting from one of the two business units. Part of a US-based multinational company producing alcoholic drinks, owing multiple successful brands. It doesn’t substantially interact with the US headquarters, except from receiving the strategic targets. The innovation process and the company strategy are strongly market oriented and technical innovation is principally directed to solve market or production problems. Three technology groups, working loosely together, take care of aspects related to production and packaging of drinks. Each technology group is headed by a director who co-ordinates a group of specialised technologists. Based in the UK. Four lines of business are supported by a technology office for research and innovation. Within the technology office, nine research centres share expertise in several technological areas and hold resources for innovation. Across those the ventures, headed by the ‘venture leaders’, manage the research budget. Every year, part of the research budget is set aside and attributed to the strategic research which deals with long term issues. The technology office is located across the globe with sites in the US, UK and Asia (India, Malaysia, Japan and Korea). Multinational organisation with headquarters in the US and subsidiaries worldwide. The digital revolution has been a great challenge for Imaging which flourished developing traditional imaging products for more than 100 years. The company has adapted its business model to the new market needs and now revolves around four main businesses covering both traditional and digital technologies. As a result of this history, particular attention has been given to building and improving the intelligence system. Designs, develops and commercialises mobiles technology digital radios for the security, military and utilities sectors. In the UK headquarters product design and development take place, while the digital radios are manufactured by others in Europe. The company employs approximately 100 engineers dedicated to the development of new products, and about 50 for marketing, sales and administration services with a relatively flat organisational structure, where most of the technologists work in parallel in different technical areas. The products are based on a standard technology which has now reached a mature stage. The major future developments foreseen involve its installation and maintenance across the world. Technology drives innovation.

Table 1: Summary of the case studies.


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Mortara et al. 2009


Framework factors Decision makers

Are decision makers part of the technology intelligence?

Top down (1,2,3,4)

Actions

Intelligence streams

Merge of technology and market intelligences

Cases Strategic planning

(1,2,3,6,7,8)

Tactical decisions

(1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8)

Operational decisions

(1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8)

Yes

(1,5,6,8)

No

(2,3,4,7)

Identification of opportunities

(1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8)

Awareness of threats

(1,2,3,4,6,7,8)

Profile trends

(1,2,3,4,6,7,8)

Assess state of the art

(1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8)

Market

(1,3,4,5,6,7,8)

Competitive

(1)

Competitive (with technology)

(2,3,4,6,7,8)

Competitive (with market)

(3, 5, 6)

Technology

(1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8)

With decision makers

(1,3,4,5,7,8)

Before the decision makers

(2,6)

Bottom up (5,6,7,8)

Table 2: Analysis of the cases according to the framework of factors

Published information Sources of Type information

Cases

Internet/websites

E-P/S-W/G

(1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8)

Patents

E-P-W

(1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8)

Field publications

E-P/S-W

(1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8)

Non field publications External intelligence reports Governmental foresight studies

E-P/S-W

(2,3,5,6,7)

E-S-W/G

(1,6)

E-P/S-W

(6)

Non published information - networking Sources of Type Cases information University contacts/projects Product fairs Commercial conferences Suppliers Technical/profession al bodies Acquaintances, friends and relatives Co-operations Government agencies Customers Consultants Scientific conferences Communities practice VCs funds Start-up fairs

of

E/T-P/S-W/G

(1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8)

E/T-P/S-W/G

(1,3,4,5,6,7,8)

E/T-P/S-W/G

(1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8)

E/T-P/S-W/G

(1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8)

E/T-P/S-W/G

(1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8)

E/T-P/S-W/G

(1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8)

E/T-P/S-W/G

(1,2,4,5,6,7,8)

E/T-P/S-W/G

(2,3,4,5,6,7,8)

E/T-P/S-W/G

(2,4,6,7,8)

E/T-P/S-W/G

(1,2,6,7,8)

E/T-P/S-W/G

(2,6,7)

E/T-P/S-W/G

(1,2,6)

E/T-P/S-W/G

(3,6,7)

E/T-P/S-W/G

(6,7)

Table 3: List of preferred external sources of information used, with a reference to the case studies. Keys: E = explicit; T = tacit; P = primary; S = secondary; W = white; G = gray.

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Mortara et al. 2009


External social networks Preferred for Target

Cases

Preferred for Scan

Cases

Tradeshows and exhibitions

(1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8)

Friends and acquaintances

(1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8)

Suppliers/Collaborators

(1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8)

Government organisations

(1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8)

(1,2,3,4,5,6,7)

Futures studies

(2,6,7)

(1,2,3,4,5,6,7)

Formal networks

(2,6,7)

Research centres

(1,2,3,4,5,6,7)

Innovative Clusters

(6,7)

Customers

(1,2,3,4,6,7,8)

Start-up fairs

(6,7)

Technical scientific conferences

(1,2,4,6,7,8)

Venture Capitalists

(6,7)

Technical workshops Academic specialised departments

technical

Table 4: Sources of information preferred for target and scan.

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Mortara et al. 2009


Mine Zepotens Savioz & Tschirky, 2004 Savioz, 2006 Straumann Savioz & Tschirky, 2004 Savioz, 2006

Trawl

Target

Scan

Each of the technology consultants in the company is a ‘human repository’

Weekly meetings to exchange latest updates

Finding solutions to their own problems

Finding problems to apply their technology and finding new technologies

Lotus Notes collects outputs from screening processes and gatekeepers of the opportunity landscape. Technology management group organise knowledge management

Technology Management group co-ordination role facilitates information trawling

Screening group - looking expressly to create new products following the prompts of the strategy. External experts network inputs new ideas

20 internal gatekeepers track the opportunity landscape: knowledge base for future trends. External experts network inputs new ideas Circle members group and international listening posts keep observing for new interesting technologies

Daimler - Benz Savioz & Tschircky, 2004 Licthenthaler, 2004 Savioz, 2006

Central database collects direct inputs from all the TI activities

Internal gatekeepers network, and Technology Monitoring function

International listening posts monitor 'hot' technologies and markets. Network of internal gatekeepers analyses technology trends. Connections with a circle of 150 experts worldwide provide information on technologies beyond the interest of internal gatekeepers

Exploration & Production Multinational Energy company April and Bessa, 2006

Easy Intranet worldwide access; Competitive and technical Intelligence Global Network space. Knowledge base (Benchmarking, Trends, links, 3rd party research, partners, news, success stories, competitor files, business plans, events calendar)

Intranet. Culture of collaborating among experts. Communities of Practice. Staff can pose intelligence questions, which are answered by a member of the global community

Experts, Key Intelligence Topics, Frameworks to integrate competitor and technical information

Experts, Frameworks to integrate competitor and technical information

IRM library stores information accumulated

Audit (survey and interviews) of information use and needs of DOE program managers. IRM enables information flow among staff members

Office of Technical Assistance monitors existing status of energy conservation-related technology development in foreign countries

Office of Technical Assistance looks for evolving trends of energy conservation-related technology in foreign countries. No evidence of scanning in other sectors

General annual meeting of technology gatekeepers plus telephonic and virtual meetings

Technology Group has small budget to assess intelligence generated by technology scouts. Scientific Services provide database researches to internal clients. Secondment scheme of junior scientists from universities in the business units. Each core technology group has a systematised network of gatekeepers. TI units for each therapeutic area which participate in decision making for that area and determine intelligence needs

A virtual network of 150 voluntary gatekeepers identifies technological discontinuities. Units for: 1) scanning for new application technologies. 2) Monitoring start-ups not yet involved in partnership 3) Setup of strategic cooperations

International Research Monitoring Program Ashton,et al. 1991

Novartis Savioz, 2006

Table

5:

Future Watch tool. Lotus Notes

Examples

from

literature

of

how

companies

32

carry

out

the


modes

for

searching

information

Mortara et al. 2009


33
