Abstract
Morphology analysis (MA)-based roadmapping has been considered an effective means to support the process of technology innovation in a business environment. However, previous research on MA-based roadmaps has commonly focused on the process of developing existing technology roadmaps (TRMs), while the paths of layer expansion for seeking new opportunities is rarely a focus. Thus, the aim of this research is to develop MA-based TRMs by utilizing MA to describe the characteristics of the technology and product layers in the TRMs and apply the improved theory of inventive problem solving (TRIZ) inventive principles to establish innovation paths for new opportunities with the aid of text mining tools. This study suggests using a morphological matrix to construct existing TRMs by calculating the correlations among different technology and product nodes and two sparse generative topographic mapping (SGTM)-based maps to discover new technology and product opportunities by identifying technology and product development trends and innovation elements in sparse areas, which is the objective of simplifying TRIZ application. To illustrate the performance of the proposed approach, a case study is conducted using patents and product manuals for underwater vehicles, which are becoming popular high-tech and secure tools to explore sub-sea resources. This approach contributes by suggesting a semi-autonomous and systematic procedure to extend the existing MA-based TRM and simplifying TRIZ application according to the occurrence frequency of the keywords.
Highlights
The industrial environment is currently experiencing its fourth revolution, which means as the individual needs of customers vary rapidly, product manufacturing and market strategic planning need to be adjusted in time according to changes in the situation [1]
The objectives of this paper are (a) to provide a comprehensive platform based on technology roadmaps (TRMs) to integrate other techniques (TRIZ, mapping and computerized tools) in order to leverage the strengths of each part according to the modified form, (b) to explore a simplified pattern in TRIZ application according to keywords occurrence frequency and (c) to illustrate and discuss the application of the Morphology analysis (MA)-based TRM methodology that proposed by the analysis of the development trends of underwater vehicles, aiming to seek new technologies and products in a visual way
To construct a layer expansion path, we proposed a method to develop the concept of MA-based TRMs by applying the 40 TRIZ principles with an improved principle and text mining tools, which are considered as effective tools for technology and product planning and for seeking potential valuable opportunities, by analyzing the morphology of patents and product manuals in the targeted field
Summary
The industrial environment is currently experiencing its fourth revolution, which means as the individual needs of customers vary rapidly, product manufacturing and market strategic planning need to be adjusted in time according to changes in the situation [1]. To have a better position in the competitive market or have consumer preference, companies continually develop innovative technology and look for better products to launch for consumers [2]. Technology roadmap (TRM) is a useful technique to support and plan technology management and to link technology and product developments to business goals and market opportunities, which are tactics often employed by large companies [3]. TRM, having been put forth by large firms to continuously generate new technology and products. Since TRMs first appeared at Motorola in the 1980s, they have been used as a tool in strategic integrated product and technology planning for R&D and they have been developed to a wider use in most industries [15].
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