Introduction

Technology scouting One of the most significant obstacles to innovation is often the limited regional mindset of companies. However, to remain competitive, it is essential to have reliable information about new technologies early. Technological exploration is one of the key tools in this.

What Is Technology Scouting?

Technology screening is part of trend research that deals with the regular and systematic observation of technological developments and the early detection of new technologies.

In contrast to Technology Watching, where the focus is on monitoring existing technologies (for example, the maturity of 3D printing), Technology Scouting can hears such as the proactive search for new technologies (for example, in advance).

Therefore, technology scouting is a starting point for a long-term alignment between innovative external technologies and the internal requirements of an existing organization for strategic purposes. Technological roadmaps can support this partnership. The roadmap systematically addresses the needs of strategic technology management and controls operational research and development on a voluntary basis.

Driving Factor For Technology Scouting

Today, many technology-intensive companies are again very interested in systematic technology exploration. This is due precisely to the following determining factors:

Globalization:

The globalization of technological development makes it necessary to observe technological trends on a global scale.

Adjusted R&D Budgets:

In many industries, the pressure on R&D to be effective is growing. There fore this aims to intensify competition and the simultaneous increase in R&D costs: And also the concentration on internal resources is no longer sufficient; Companies have to be open to ideas and technologies from outside to sustain themselves.

Short Cycles:

By reducing product lifetimes and development cycles, companies significantly increase their research and development expenditures. On the other hand, the competitive advantages of innovative technologies are short-lived.

Research Activity:

Long-term research activities are being reduced in many companies. This limits the ability to identify and evaluate critical technological trends, particularly in basic research.

External technological sources:

The increasing use of external technology sources requires many companies to monitor potential technology sources constantly.

Flow Of Information:

Increasing workload and an almost unmanageable amount of information make identifying and tracking relevant trends and technological developments challenging.

Diversification:

The increasing technological diversification means that individual companies must master more and more technologies.

Complexity:

The increasing complexity of technological development manifests itself in a growing overlap of supposedly separate technology fields and makes it challenging to keep pace with individual trends. In many cases, the focus is on the integration of technologies. Therefore, the decisive success factor is no longer technological competence but selecting the “best” technologies.

Open Innovation:

Tech scouting is an integral part of the open innovation approach. Therefore, open innovation increases the importance of technological research.

Scouting Technology Improves The Ability To Innovate

There fore technology scouting anticipates technological changes and new markets, minimizes innovation risks, and relieves the R&D department.

1. Increased Innovation

Technology Scouting supports effective and efficient innovation management, especially when evaluating innovation research, generating ideas, and managing projects. The integration of foreign ideas and technologies significantly improves a company’s ability to innovate, regardless of its size and research and development facilities. For example, Cisco had fewer internal resources meaningfully but compensated for this disadvantage with technological exploration compared to Lucent. The company was constantly looking for new and promising companies in the world.

2. Reduce The Risk Of Disruptive Technologies

Disruptive technologies can replace existing products and technologies where possible or withdraw them entirely from the market. And also one of the biggest fears of competitiveness in many industries is the inability to recognize long-term technology trends or disorderly technologies too late or not at all. Sometimes, they happen outside your industry and, therefore, the corporate sensor. One example is Chartbuster, which has long been a leader in distributing movies and videos. With Netflix’s video streaming concept, Blockbuster lost so many customers in just three years that it had to file for bankruptcy in 2010. The pursuit of technology prevents technology trends or potentially disruptive technologies, as in the case of blockbusters, from being overlooked.

3. Registration Of The Internal R&D Department

Internal knowledge and internal resources are generally no longer sufficient to meet today’s competitive demands. In many cases, the sizes of R&D sections are too weak to guarantee the degree of innovation required for a new product, given the shorter technology and innovation cycles. And also technological exploration can relieve the internal R&D department, and the skills thus freed can focus on the core skills of the R&D department and increase their efficiency.

4. Identification And Development Of Emerging Economies

Business growth is a critical factor for the long-term success of a business. Technology Scouting helps a company identify emerging markets and their technologies. In addition, it reduces uncertainties about the technologies required in the new market. Unsuitable investments can be avoided due to a company’s technological competence.