There are many who confuse Technological Watch with the report on the State of the Art prior to their innovation projects. The State of the Art provides the starting point for Technology Watch.
Any idea for a technological innovation project must be accompanied by a report on the State-of-the-Art (SOTA or SoA). The report on the State of the Art or "prior art" is an analysis of the latest advances in knowledge and technology related to the objectives of the project, the tools to be used, and the technological platforms on which the project will be based.
A good analysis of the State of the Art is what gives confidence that the technological innovation proposal is based on the latest advances, that the proponents have adequately prepared the starting point, and that the resources to be invested will not be wasted inventing the wheel or any other advance that is already published and/or on the market. This document is always attached to the research and technological innovation project for its evaluation and possible approval.
To develop it, we must involve experts in the knowledge domain, and carry out an exhaustive investigation of patents, publications, and technology or products on the market. As a result, we will know where the limits of current knowledge and technology are, but we will also have identified who are the relevant agents (researchers, manufacturers ...) and what are the sources of information.
Either for a research or technological innovation project; Whether it is an internal project within the organization, or as a research project proposal for an R&D financing program, the State-of-the-Art report must always be present.
But I am sorry to tell you, the State-of-the-Art report is not Technology Watch. That analysis is a "still photo" of the situation on the day the report was finalized. It will be obsolete, for sure. Maybe next month. Maybe in the following week. The world turns very fast.
Just as falling asleep during the watch and opening your eyes for a second is not surveillance, compiling a State-of-the-Art document and leaving it obsolete is not Technology Watch. Technology Watch is a systematic and continuous process over time.
However, the State-of-the-Art document is very valuable when planning Technology Watch: it gives us information on what concepts to include in our thesaurus, who to watch, and what sources we should monitor. With that good start, and continually feeding back these elements, we can deploy a good Technological Watch task.
From my experience of more than 30 years evaluating R&D projects, a good State of the Art report is necessary, but not sufficient for a good technological innovation proposal: every research and technological innovation project must include a Technological Intelligence task throughout the entire project schedule, to update the technology map and make the appropriate decisions. But we will talk about this in another post.
Credits: Photo by heylagostechie on Unsplash
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