Technology development roadmaps : a bibliometric analysis of scientific literature

Purpose: The purpose of this article was to identify research sub-areas and to investigate methodological deficiencies in technology development roadmaps. Design/Methodology/Approach: For achieving the objective of this study, a critical analysis of literature and bibliometric analysis was carried out, through the analysis of 2610 relevant Scopus-indexed documents. The time frame of the analyzed period covered the years 1984-2019. On these grounds, a bibliometric map was developed using the VOS mapping technique – visualization of similarities. Findings: The analysis of interrelated key terms made it possible to identify clusters as research sub-areas related to the subject of technology roadmaps. The names of clusters were proposed, which made it possible to identify research sub-areas and main research issues, in which the authors of the publications used technology development roadmaps. The main areas in which technology development roadmaps are used include among others: estimating the potential environmental impact of technology change and anticipating its effects, determining the future of technological progress in companies, at various levels of government agencies and other organizations or designing directions of technology development in the context of sustainable development. Practical implications: This issue is important not only in the theoretical aspect, but also to increase the awareness of companies to help further improve strategic management related to technology management. Originality/Value: It was proposed to develop a methodology for the designing of technology development roadmaps, which will allow for a comprehensive look at the analyzed problem and will enable to determine the directions of technology development in a comprehensive way.peer-reviewe

Roadmapping for Intellectual Property Strategy Formulation: a Conceptual Framework and a Practical Process

In the worldwide knowledge-based economy, intellectual property (IP) is recognised as a key business asset. In the digital economy, whether for large corporates, SMEs or start-ups, it is not uncommon that innovative technologies, devices (products) and services are built from a complex set of IP. As organisations increasingly employ open innovation processes, IP is likely to not only result from internal R&D, but also from external sources, such as R&D partners, complementors and even competitors. Building and maintaining IP-based competitive advantage then rests on the effective acquisition (internal and external), exploitation and enforcement of IP. When having to manage complex IP portfolios and actor relations, an IP strategy is useful to provide guidance to decision makers. While business executives often express the need for better IP management tools and IP strategy formulation approaches, the corresponding literature is surprisingly scarce. In this thesis, a roadmapping-based approach is proposed for IP strategy formulation. While roadmapping is a widely adopted approach for strategy formulation at all firm levels, it has hardly been discussed in the IP management literature. Therefore, based on the strategic roadmapping approach, the IP roadmapping framework and the practical process model were developed for especially IP strategy formulation. The proposed IP strategy formulation approach integrates different strategy levels, provides clear visibility and facilitates communication and consensus among stakeholders in order to increase the prospects for better decision-making. The IP strategy formulation process is business centric, starting with an identification of business strategy objectives that can be supported by the means of IP, for instance, the creating of entry barriers and minimisation of the threats from substitutes. Throughout the process, these IP objectives are gradually translated into specific IP actions. The roadmapping approach then allows to align the timing and sequencing of these IP actions in support of the organisation’s business objectives. The sequence of the IP actions can then be synthesised into a coherent IP strategy. The roadmapping-based IP strategy formulation approach was developed using a procedural action research approach. The prototype has been developed based on literature review and 20 interviews in total with IP or roadmapping experts, and then the approach has been tested and refined through three action research cycles based on 12 interviews with 17 IP practitioners and roadmapping experts, and 14 roadmapping workshops involving IP managers, innovation experts and business executives of large international companies, SMEs and start-ups. Accordingly, this research contributes to both practice and theory. It not only provides a novel roadmapping approach which enables and facilitates structured conversations among executives, innovation, technology and IP experts, who often find it difficult to engage in conversations about IP decision making, but also contributes to the IP management literature in which there is a paucity of studies on IP strategy formulation in practice. It also contributes to the roadmapping literature proposing a novel use case for this widely adopted strategy formulation approach. Additionally, this research also contributes to the strategic management literature with elaborations on the concepts of IP strategy and strategic alignment. The next stage for this research will be disseminating the tool widely and evaluating its commercialisation value for different purposes. This is going to be completed through close collaboration with IfM ECS and one independent technical consulting firm specialising in matters relating to IP. In addition, to help equip entrepreneurs with the tools they need for IP strategy formulation, the materials developed through this research will be made available online for downloading. The hope is that the materials can enable companies to conduct IP strategy formulation exercises by themselves, but also that this openly accessible material will be picked up by entrepreneurship teaching programmes. By spreading good practice on IP strategy formulation, it is expected that the toolkit can help companies to overcome some of the obstacles and maximise value from their IP

The 3rd International Seville Conference on Future-Oriented Technology Analysis (FTA). Impacts and Implications for Policy and Decision Making

Following the success of 2004 and 2006 events, the International Seville Conference on Future-Oriented Technology Analysis (FTA) has become a major occasion for FTA experts, practitioners and decision-makers to bring their ideas and knowledge together in a highly interactive environment. Building upon this experience, JRC-IPTS organises the 2008 FTA Conference with specific focus on the ¿impacts and implications of FTA for policy and decision making¿. As with previous FTA events, the 2008 Conference places emphasis on diversity of views by attracting participants from a wide geographical base. Academics, practitioners as well as public and private sector decision makers from Europe, North America, Asia, Latin America, Africa and Australasia are invited to broaden the network and to increase understanding of advances in the field of FTA. During the conference posters and papers will be presented within 5 different themes. This book of abstracts gives an overview of all paper abstracts and poster's brief that will be presented during, and will be used as a conference guide by participants of the conference.JRC.J.3-Knowledge for Growt

Knowledge and Management Models for Sustainable Growth

In the last years sustainability has become a topic of global concern and a key issue in the strategic agenda of both business organizations and public authorities and organisations. Significant changes in business landscape, the emergence of new technology, including social media, the pressure of new social concerns, have called into question established conceptualizations of competitiveness, wealth creation and growth. New and unaddressed set of issues regarding how private and public organisations manage and invest their resources to create sustainable value have brought to light. In particular the increasing focus on environmental and social themes has suggested new dimensions to be taken into account in the value creation dynamics, both at organisations and communities level. For companies the need of integrating corporate social and environmental responsibility issues into strategy and daily business operations, pose profound challenges, which, in turn, involve numerous processes and complex decisions influenced by many stakeholders. Facing these challenges calls for the creation, use and exploitation of new knowledge as well as the development of proper management models, approaches and tools aimed to contribute to the development and realization of environmentally and socially sustainable business strategies and practices

Smart Energy Management for Smart Grids

This book is a contribution from the authors, to share solutions for a better and sustainable power grid. Renewable energy, smart grid security and smart energy management are the main topics discussed in this book

Augmentation of Chinese community relationships (Guanxi) in learning organisations - case study of a private Kunshan (Shanghai) company

The Kunshan factory enjoyed remarkable success over the past 24 months. The quick response, superior teamwork and scouting capability for opportunity and risk on the part of all staff outperformed that of their counterparts in multinational companies. Family ties, community affection, social ‘face’ and personal recommendations co-ordinated company members well. Chinese community relationships had a consolidating and stabilising function in the factory, enabling a convergent corporate movement. This phenomenal practice is explored here to understand quantitatively the roles of Chinese community relationships (guanxi) and learning organisation practice towards corporate performance. In this research, the bricolage method was adopted to cater for the diverse and vibrant nature in the research context. Ethically, this insider research had to ensure that all factory members received fair treatment in the course of the research. Their comments and reflections on learning organisations and Chinese community relationships had to be objectively recorded for examination. An assurance was made that there would be no impact on their job security and access to company caution money remained unchanged during the research, so that they remained in control. Guanxi encourages participation in community activity, at the same time advocating action learning. In research methods, repeated actions, a form of action research, are performed in cycles with input from stakeholders to develop a directed course of further actions. Soft Systems Method, and associated structural tools such as rich pictures and CATWOE, help factory members to dissect the business challenge. Qualitative interviewing was carried out among key managers to devise a master plan for divestment. All employees were recompensed for the disruption caused. New corporate spin-offs were established through the exchange of favours and scouting for opportunities. Later, a focus group was undertaken to evaluate progress in the business units and to examine the contribution of learning organisations and Chinese community relationships. Seven relational outcomes are identified in this research in this Kunshan factory. They are: 1) 360-degree dialogue; 2) group-level exchange of favours; 3) action learning; 4) acculturation; 5) community-prompted foresight capability; 6) personal recommendation; and 7) outside-in mentality. Collectivism on the part of the Chinese community’s participants equalises individual interests through acculturation to establish a common societal and business goal. Sharing a vision and a goal is a pragmatic means of attaining organisational integration and operational excellence. Self-organised vision and mission are attained swiftly through these seven factors to save the effort of initial ice-breaking and team-building activity. A Chinese social system is regarded as a high-context social system – it depends less on precise wording than collective understanding. The Chinese term ‘guanxi’ is used interchangeably in this thesis with ‘Chinese community relationships’ to describe the subtle and delicate interpersonal social interactions perpetuated among ethnic Chinese people in mainland China and overseas in settlements such as Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan and elsewhere. Guanxi comprises two aspects. One is a social construct of Chinese society and the other is the value generated by guanxi in action. In combination these position Chinese community relationships as a mediator of organisational transformation such as the implementation of a learning organisation and improved business performance. Historically, guanxi is perceived as having three characteristics: affection (ganqing, in Chinese), reciprocity (renqing) and credit (xinyong). The learning organisation paradigm describes a continuous process of corporate transformation through collective staff learning, aiming to anticipate and cope with the disruptive commercial challenges of today’s business world. When employees are committed to their organisation, it favours business sustainability. Operational and business risks are mitigated through shared vision and mentality. The attributes of individualism and collectivism substantially influence the implementation of a learning organisation. This research uncovers the mediating effect of Chinese community relationships on learning organisation effectiveness for fast business performance through acculturation and personal recommendation. It reveals the social systems in a Chinese community to empower learning organisation practice. The integrational capability of the seven relational outcomes augments guanxi’s mediating effect in empowering learning organisation practice so as to raise corporate performance substantially

The Elements of Big Data Value

This open access book presents the foundations of the Big Data research and innovation ecosystem and the associated enablers that facilitate delivering value from data for business and society. It provides insights into the key elements for research and innovation, technical architectures, business models, skills, and best practices to support the creation of data-driven solutions and organizations. The book is a compilation of selected high-quality chapters covering best practices, technologies, experiences, and practical recommendations on research and innovation for big data. The contributions are grouped into four parts: · Part I: Ecosystem Elements of Big Data Value focuses on establishing the big data value ecosystem using a holistic approach to make it attractive and valuable to all stakeholders. · Part II: Research and Innovation Elements of Big Data Value details the key technical and capability challenges to be addressed for delivering big data value. · Part III: Business, Policy, and Societal Elements of Big Data Value investigates the need to make more efficient use of big data and understanding that data is an asset that has significant potential for the economy and society. · Part IV: Emerging Elements of Big Data Value explores the critical elements to maximizing the future potential of big data value. Overall, readers are provided with insights which can support them in creating data-driven solutions, organizations, and productive data ecosystems. The material represents the results of a collective effort undertaken by the European data community as part of the Big Data Value Public-Private Partnership (PPP) between the European Commission and the Big Data Value Association (BDVA) to boost data-driven digital transformation