Strategic product- and technology-planning with the innovation-database: A field-proven approach from the market-oriented product idea up to an operational development roadmap

Due to the intense innovation efforts in the German Automobile, Mechanical Engineering and Chemistry Industry, Germany was the world's largest exporter of technologies in 2005. Particularly in these industries, a company's competitiveness is determined by technological know-how and the ability to transform this know-how into product innovations. Technology Planning is a proven concept for using technological know-how which enables companies to pursue a technology push approach. A central database ensures a wide access to the collected information within the company. This paper describes in what way the Innovation Database of the Heinz Nixdorf Institute covers a major part of the strategic management process of a mid-size company. A case study demonstrates how decision makers and product developers use the knowledge of the technology management system within the Innovation Management Process - beginning with a first product idea via different principle solutions and Technology Roadmaps up to an Operational Product Development Roadmap including product ideas, technologies used and time frames for the different stages of a Product Development Process. Due to the fact that future market scenarios are taken into account, our approach integrates the technology push and the market pull.