Indicators of R&D Emergence for Better Informed

Technology & Engineering Management

Indicators of R&D Emergence — for Better Informed Technology & Engineering Management

Technology management undervalues empirical intelligence.  Other domains (e.g., baseball) lean heavily on data-based management.  In times of constant change, can we pursue technological innovation m

ore effectively by analyzing big data more aggressively?  Yes.

I introduce our efforts to measure R&D emergence – i.e., to identify cutting edge topics within a target domain and the key players pursuing those topics.  Such “intel” can inform R&D management, Intellectual Property strategy, and Open Innovation processes.

Alan Porter is Professor Emeritus of Industrial & Systems Engineering, and of Public Policy, at Georgia Tech, where he is Co-director of the Program in Science, Technology & Innovation Policy (STIP).  He is also Director of R&D for Search Technology, Inc., Norcross, GA (producers of VantagePoint and Thomson Data Analyzer software).  He is author or co-author of some 240 articles and books, including Tech Mining (Wiley, 2005) and Forecasting and Management of Technology (Wiley, 2011).  He co-founded the International Association for Impact Assessment and later served as president.

Research interests key on “forecasting innovation pathways” for newly emerging technologies.  This entails text mining of science, technology & innovation information resources to generate Competitive Technical Intelligence.  He currently serves as principal investigator on a U.S. National Science Foundation program to develop “Indicators of Technological Emergence.”

Publications are available at: http://www.researchgate.net/profile/Alan_Porter4.

He can be reached at:  Alan.porter@isye.gatech.edu.