Industrial technology roadmap as a decision making tool to support public R&D planning

Abstract

There are a variety of methodologies to forecast future technology, economy, and society. Technology roadmap (TRM) is one of the easily implementable methods of technology forecasting. It is a strategic management tool to support R&D planning and new product development at various levels such as a firm and government. This study aims to address a strategic decision making tool in public R&D programs to affect firms' strategic behavior under this umbrella. The main purpose of this paper is to address evolutionary aspects of industrial technology roadmap and provide a more advanced framework of public R&D planning. In South Korea, technology roadmapping has been initiated by government since 2000 and nowadays popularized in small and medium-sized companies as well. Despite of its popularity, there are only a few literatures to provide practical guidelines and systematic process to develop TRM applicable to R&D planning in any organizations. The framework of industrial technology roadmap developed by the Korea Institute for the Advancement of Technology which is established bringing together old 6 major government agencies such as Korea Industrial Technology Foundation, Korea Technology Transfer Center, Korea Institute of Industrial Technology Evaluation and Planning, Institute for Information Technology Advancement, Korea Material and Components Industrial Agency, Korea National Cleaner Production Center, Korea Institute of Design Promotion, can be applied to the R&D planning process of diverse government R&D programs in other countries. The proposed framework can be applied and modified to the R&D planning process in any organizations. The study deals with a variety of industries, having different characteristics, and proposed similar technology roadmap. Consequently, this paper attempts to articulate establishing firms' R&D and business strategy, accompanying with government R&D programs and setting priorities among R&D projects.