Case study: Developing a technology innovation investment portfolio

This paper present the steps taken, philosophy employed, internal collaborative process, pitfalls, and successes of how the Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) developed its 2008 technology portfolio. It describe how critical this collaborative, open process is to managing technologies in a sustaining economy. BPA used an internal collaborative process to pursue, select, and implement its first technology innovation investment portfolio. This paper describe BPA's portfolio decision framework and philosophy as well as its philosophy for constructing and managing this portfolio once it is in place. After identifying what it wanted to focus on, BPA used a public solicitation process to identify potential technology investment opportunities. A description of the selection and evaluation processes will include a list of the evaluation criteria, the weights applied, and the supplemental criteria used (including the technology investment risks) to determine the portfolio selection. BPA used several connective steps to develop the crucial collaborative link between the principal decision-makers and people implementing the portfolio. Sustaining economies will maximize their benefits through this linkage between collaborative and sometimes competing priorities. All influences must consider multiple perspectives and must be able and willing to work with each other.