Support for the Development of Technological Innovations at an R&amp;D Organisation

Beata Poteralska

doi:10.3390/su132212469

Abstract

Effective development of technological innovations requires efficient management at the stages of their generation, realisation, and their implementation. For this aim, concepts such as foresight, technology assessment, and organisational capabilities assessment can be applied; however, so far they have been used mainly individually or sometimes combined but to a very limited extent. Moreover, they are not used comprehensively, but only selectively, e.g., at some stages of the innovation processes. The research problem undertaken in the paper concerns the effectiveness of the integration of these concepts: future research (mainly foresight), technology assessment, and organisational capabilities assessment for the needs of supporting innovation processes. The paper is aimed at presenting an original approach assuming the integration of the aforementioned triad. The proposed approach has been developed individually by the paper’s author on the basis of (1) state of the art analysis comprising both theoretical approaches and practical examples of individual and combined application of the concepts analysed, and (2) the author’s practical experience resulting from research projects conducted collectively. The research result comprises an original matrix approach where the individual concepts of the triad are applied in a way enabling their mutual complementation at all successive stages of the innovation process. The approach proposed comprises modules referring to the succeeding stages of the innovation process, namely generation, realisation and application of technological innovations. The areas of the approach application and possible directions of its further development are presented.

Highlights

Accepted: 8 November 2021The development and implementation of innovative technological solutions is the basis for the growth of any economy
The analysis shows that the joint use of concepts, i.e., foresight, technology assessment, and organisational capabilities assessment in R&D organisations aimed at support for the innovation process, is a subject of few scientific analyses and only a limited number of practical applications
Taking into account the information from these three sources: foresight results, technology assessment and organisational capabilities assessment, allows for selecting which technological innovations are to be developed that are consistent with current research priorities and economy needs, are characterised by innovation potential and that for their development the necessary organisational capabilities are available

Summary

Introduction

Accepted: 8 November 2021The development and implementation of innovative technological solutions is the basis for the growth of any economy. The execution of the processes of creating and applying innovations must take into account the conditions of sustainable development, which include, among others, the issues of effective use of resources, energy savings, technical safety, and environmental protection against the effects of industrial activity. To fulfil these conditions, innovative technological undertakings require effective management at the subsequent stages of the innovation process. Strategies concerning the application of innovations in the management of organisations have been the focus of various management schools, starting with Ansoff [8], who is considered to be the forerunner of the concept of enterprise development strategy.

Results

Discussion

Conclusion