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The successful placing of long‐range technology planning decisions in the context of overall corporate strategic planning requires a mechanism for synthesizing R&D strategy and business strategy. This article argues that formalized technology forecasting has an important operational role to play in achieving the synthesis. Descriptive guidelines for an integrative framework are developed on the basis of a literature review and the author′s technology forecasting work which has been conducted to help devise long‐term research strategy in the offshore industry. Several factors are discussed which are considered to have an important integrative role. Technology forecasting is discussed with respect to these factors and the influence they have on the planning process.

Develops an original 12‐step management of technology protocol and applies it to 51 applications which range from Du Pont’s failure in Nylon to the Single Online Trade Exchange for Auto Parts procurement by GM, Ford, Daimler‐Chrysler and Renault‐Nissan. Provides many case studies with regards to the adoption of technology and describes seven chief technology officer characteristics. Discusses common errors when companies invest in technology and considers the probabilities of success. Provides 175 questions and answers to reinforce the concepts introduced. States that this substantial journal is aimed primarily at the present and potential chief technology officer to assist their survival and success in national and international markets.

Asserts that innovation, which plays a key role in product and process improvement in many companies, is the very lifeblood of high technology firms. Considers that because technological change is a function of the economic growth model then technological substitution must be a sub‐function of this model. The ability to forecast technological substitution in the long‐term macro view enables strategic planners to develop trends for their specific technological application. Begins with a brief statement of the problem, followed by a discussion of the theoretical framework, review of related literature, methodology, findings, discussion of findings and their implications and, finally, recommendations to practitioners.

Information and communication technology (ICT) is increasingly being used in the home environment, making it a very important and interesting research topic for communication scientists. Future developments will influence the way and the extent to which ICT will be used in the home environment and therefore the way people look for information, communicate, make use of entertainment services and carry out transactions. However, it is still very difficult to make meaningful and accurate forecasts with regard to the possible future use and acceptance of ICT in people’s homes. Important reasons are, for example, that more and more market parties are involved in the development of innovative ICT products and services. This makes developments more complex and the outcomes more uncertain. Furthermore, consumers play an important role in the development of new ICT‐based information, communication, transaction and entertainment services. Since a precise prediction of the possible use of ICT in domestic environments in 2010 is hard to make, other methods of futures research must be used. Combining technological forecasting with scenario thinking is such a research method, whereon, technological forecasting shows the major trends in the specific technology domain, while scenarios cover the possible future worlds. By giving end‐users a central place in these scenarios, the diversity of the use and acceptance of innovative products and services is captured. Thus, the addition of scenarios to the technology trends gives insight into the possibilities (and impossibilities) of new ICT‐technologies and the way they may be used in the home environment.

The rapid technological change of recent years has played a major role in changing the structure of established industries as well as creating new industries. It has elevated the management of technology into the arena of strategic issues. This paper reviews the work of authors who argue that technology management must be given a strategic role in the firm. It does not take issue with the general tenor of their views; but, it counsels caution on the grounds that a focus on technology supply may lead to a product orientation which subverts the influence of customer considerations in strategy making. The author argues for an approach to the strategic management of technology that integrates the technology supply and technology demand perspectives. Descriptive guidelines are developed for an integrative framework by means of which technology strategy can be formulated.

This paper aims to describe how the technology forecast process occurs at a technology-based company named Daiken, a Brazilian electronics industry, located in the state of Parana. The study helps to clarify the context that tech-companies in Brazil face when trying to forecast new technologies.

The paper opted for a case study, in a qualitative and descriptive approach. Primary data were collected through a semi-structured interview and non-participant observation. Secondary data were generated through documentary research.

Outcomes indicate that, for the studied case, technology forecast practices are adopted in an informal and unsystematic way, best aligned to the nature of competitive intelligence.

Because of the chosen research approach, the results may lack generalizability. Therefore, researchers are encouraged to test the propositions further.

The paper includes implications for the adjustment of technology forecast tools to the reality seen in emergent nations like Brazil.

This paper fulfills an identified need to study how to conduct the technology forecast processes in small and mid-tech-companies in Brazil.

Technology forecasting (TF) and assessment (TA), all in all, apply to any intentional and deliberate endeavours to forecast and view the potential heading, rate, attributes and impacts of technological change, especially for development, advancement, selection and utilisation of resources, which ultimately helps in the benchmarking. A vast variety of methods are available for TF and TA. Till now, practically, no exertion has been made to choose proper, satisfactory innovation methods or technology. The paper aims to discuss this issue.

In this paper, there is an endeavour to summarise the vast field of TF and TA, through its evolution, functions, applications and techniques. This paper provides the in-depth review of the utilisation of TF and TA methodologies and its improvement, which helps the users in selecting the appropriate method of TF and TA for a specific situation.

This study concludes that the quest for a single strategy for doing forecast and assessment is a misconception. This neglects to perceive that forecast and assessment oblige a suitable blend of strategies and methods drawn from a variety of fields. Researchers and practitioners must be innovative, imperative and specialised in choosing TF and TA methodologies, and cannot be programmed.

The technology seems to be the most significant driver of the present day global developments. Some technologies have far-reaching implications, and the authors need to understand these issues regarding its’ forecasting and its assessment.

The decision of proper worthy procedure amid a circumstance may have an impact on the exactness and reliability of the forecast and assessment. Significant observations regarding learning, action/s, actor/s and expected outcomes are discussed.

In recent years patents have become a very popular data source for forecasting technological changes. However, since a vast amount of patents are “worthless” (Moore, 2005), there is a need to identify the promising ones. For this purpose, previous approaches have mainly used bibliographic data, thus neglecting the benefits of textual data, such as instant accessibility at patent disclosure. To leverage these benefits, this study aims to develop an approach that uses textual patent data for predicting promising patents.

For the identification of promising patents, the authors propose a novel approach which combines link prediction with textual patent data. Thereby the authors are able to predict the emergence of hitherto unmentioned bigrams. By mapping these future bigrams to recent patents, the authors are able to distinguish between promising and nonpromising patents. To validate this approach, the authors apply the methodology to the case example of camera technology.

The authors identify stochastic gradient descent as a suitable algorithm with both a receiver operating characteristic area under curve score and a positive predictive value of 78%, which outperforms chance by a factor of two. In addition, the authors present promising camera patents for diverse application fields, such as cameras for surgical systems, cameras for rearview vision systems in vehicles or light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation detection and ranging cameras for three-dimensional imaging.

This study contributes in at least three directions to scholarship. First, the authors introduce a novel approach by combining link prediction with textual patent analysis and, in this way, leverage the benefits of both worlds. Second, the authors add to all theories that regard novel technologies as a recombination of existing technologies in presenting word combinations from textual data as a suitable instrument for revealing recombination in patents. And third, the approach can be used by scholars as a complementary or even integrative tool with conventional forecasting methods like the Delphi technique or Scenario planning.

At least three practical implications arise from the study. First, incumbent firms of a technology branch can use this approach as an early-warning system to identify technological change and to identify opportunities related to their company’s technological competence and provide inspiration for new ideas. Second, companies seeking to tap into new markets may also be interested in the approach as managers could anticipate whether their company’s technological competences are in line with upcoming trends. Third, the approach may be used as a supportive tool for various purposes, such as investment decisions or technology life cycle analysis.

The approach introduces textual patent data as suitable means for forecasting activities. As the statistical validation reveals, the promising patents identified by the approach are cited significantly more often than patents with less promising prospects.

The purpose of this paper is to develop an approach that can detect abnormal deviations in the time series models for technology forecasting. The detected modifications provide a basis for understanding the determinants and impact of the corresponding change.

The proposed approach is based on monitoring residual values (the difference between the observation and the forecasted value) continuously using statistical control charts (SCCs). The residuals that are out of the expected limits are considered an alert indicating a remarkable change. To demonstrate the use of the proposed approach, a time series model was fitted to a number of TV-related patent counts. Subsequently, model residuals were used to determine the limits of the SCCs.

A number of patents granted in the year 2012 violated the upper control limit. A further analysis has shown that there is a linkage between the abnormal patent counts and the emergence of LCD TVs.

Change in technology may dramatically affect the accuracy of a forecasting model. The need for a parameter update indicates a significant change (emergence or death of a technology) in the technological environment. This may lead to the revision of managerial actions in R&D plans and investment decisions.

The proposed methodology brings a novel approach for abnormal data detection and provides a basis for understanding the determinants and impact of the corresponding change.

During recent years there has been a vast growth in the literature of and the study of the theory of the firm. Underlying the various different theories however is a generally acknowledged structure of a company having an objective(s) towards which it strives by laying down and implementing plans. Planning involves making decisions which will have their effects and outcomes in the future and so an estimate of this future is required. This assessment of the future is termed forecasting and it is a vital ingredient in any planning process.