Assessing the capability of a corporate technology intelligence unit in identifying technology trends:
Institution: | Delft University of Technology |
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Department: | |
Year: | 2015 |
Keywords: | Technology intelligence,; Corporate foresight,; Technology trends,; SKF |
Record ID: | 1261294 |
Full text PDF: | http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:2e5e9dcf-0135-4c1a-a60d-f5779cfc5b87 |
Companies need to constantly adapt to their environment to ensure long term survival and economic success. In such an environment, technology trends can have a significant impact on the business for a technology intensive firm such as SKF. Therefore, these companies should be proactive in identifying and anticipating technology trends early on. This thesis deals with the use of technology intelligence by a business unit to identify technology trends. More specifically, in the context of SKF, this thesis was commissioned by the Renewable Application Development Centre (ReADC) operating within the Renewable Energy Business Unit (ReBU) to investigate the potential contribution of Group Technology Intelligence (GTI) in identifying and anticipating technological trends in the wind industry. The initial assumption of the business unit was that defining a search query to search in patent and publication databases together with GTI will provide valuable insights regarding early signals of technology trends. This search should then be carried out periodically, providing the business unit with regular updates.