Excavating the technology landscape: deploying technology intelligence to detect early warning signals

Technology intelligence (TI) is a process by which organisations develop an awareness of technological opportunities and threats external to the firm and the opportunities present within the firm. Many technology-intensive businesses regard TI as an indispensable feature of the strategy formulation process, recognising the challenge to respond decisively to rapid developments of disruptive technologies. There are two primary forms of TI: proactive scanning and reactive searching. The purpose of proactive scanning is to identify external technologies that have the potential to disrupt the nature of current business. It functions as the ~eyes and ears' or the ~early warning system' of the firm. If such a technology is spotted, an organisation may decide to ~neutralise' the threat by one of several means, including acquisition and/or internal R&D. Reactive searching is deployed when there are specific needs within the firm. The firm may define the needs or problems in a solution-neutral way and develop a targeted search process. Both forms of TI require three main ingredients to make them work: people, processes, and infrastructure. Perhaps the most important of the three is people. An effective TI system relies heavily on the voluntary participation of the workforce and their ability to establish and harness informal human networks. Some organisations have even attempted to formalise this aspect of TI by employing technology scouts, whose primary role is to function as field agents, visiting trade exhibitions and consulting suppliers, customers, etc. However, a balanced TI system requires management process that supports the identification of technological needs, and promotes the effective flow and application of information across the organisation. All these require physical infrastructure such as Intranets, databases, and patent search tools. This paper presents a set of approaches associated with setting up a technology intelligence system, covering the three key ingredients of TI described earlier. The paper focus on the learning obtained from existing literature and include some observations from ongoing engagement with industry.