Ingeniero mecatrónico

Technological Forecasting & Social Change 72 (2005) 1070 – 1081

QTIP: Quick technology intelligence processes
Alan L. Porter *,1
R&D, Search Technology, Inc., 4960 Peachtree Industrial Blvd., Suite 230, Norcross, GA, 30071, USA Received 13 May 2004; received in revised form 11 October 2004; accepted 18 October 2004

Abstract Empirical technology analyses need not take months; they can bedone in minutes. One can thereby take advantage of wide availability of rich science and technology publication and patent abstract databases to better inform technology management. To do so requires developing templates of innovation indicators to answer standard questions. Then, one can automate routines to generate composite information representations (bonepagersQ) that address the issues athand, the way that the target users want. D 2005 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Technical intelligence; Bibliometrics; Technology foresight; Technology management; Rapid technology analyses; Tech mining; Text mining; Knowledge discovery in databases

1. Introduction How long does it take to provide a particular Future-oriented Technology Analysis (FTA)? We traditionally perceivedthe answer calibrated in months, particularly for empirical technology analyses. This mindset contributes to many technology management or policy decisions relying primarily upon intuitive sources of knowledge. That need no longer be the case. This paper makes the case for quick text mining profiles of emerging technologies.

* Tel.: +1 770 441 1457. E-mail address: aporter@searchtech.com 1 He isalso Professor Emeritus, Georgia Tech, and co-directs the Technology Policy & Assessment Center there [//tpac.gatech.edu]. 0040-1625/$ - see front matter D 2005 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.techfore.2004.10.007

A.L. Porter / Technological Forecasting & Social Change 72 (2005) 1070–1081

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I describe what we call btech miningQ-deriving technology intelligenceespecially from R&D information resources [1,2]. The phenomenon of interest is speed, but with provision of information that truly facilitates technology management. The time to conduct certain technology analyses can be reduced from months to minutes by taking advantage of four factors enabling QTIP—Quick Technology Intelligence Processes: 1) 2) 3) 4) instant database access, analytical software,automated routines, and decision process standardization.

The first QTIP factor concerns information availability. A defining characteristic of the bInformation EconomyQ is enhanced access to information. Of particular note to FTA, the great science and technology (S&T) databases cover a significant portion of the world’s research output. These databases can be searched from one’s computer, enablingretrieval of electronic records in seconds. Many organizations have unlimited use licenses to particular databases that allow for thousands of records to be located and downloaded on a given topic at no additional costs. Various databases compile information on journal and conference papers, patents, R&D projects, and so forth. In addition, many researchers share information via the Internet(e.g., physicists increasingly post their papers at arXiv.org). Other databases cover policy, popular press, and business activities. These can be exploited to help understand contextual factors affecting particular technological innovations. All told, this wealth of information enables potent technological intelligence analyses. The second QTIP factor consists of expedited analyses using one form ofbtech miningQ software. This paper employs VantagePoint, but the specifics are less important than the principles. Namely, many aspects of data cleaning, statistical analyses, trend analyses, and information visualization can be done quite briskly. The third contributing factor, automated routines, makes a huge difference. As a loose analogy, consider the change from the hand-made automobile to...