Projects that aim to introduce changes sometimes run into difficulties – particularly if they touch upon fundamental issues. The magazine Harvard Business Manager recently published a case study on this issue. The case study deals with the question of how to develop and implement new ideas effectively in the corporate context; its main topic is innovation and change management. Weiterlesen
Neither technology nor innovation exist in a vacuum. They respond to customer needs and/or social and technological trends. Or even better, they anticipate them. The third and final part (part 1, part 2) of the discussion between Birgit Stelzer, a researcher at the Institute for Technology and Process Management at Ulm University, and Guido Beyß deals with the relationship between producers/suppliers and customers, with the response to new trends, with the anticipation of new technology trends and with the question of how to document knowledge which is relevant for technology management. Weiterlesen
Technology and innovation are closely linked. Technology without innovation – i.e. Vorschautechnology which cannot be successfully used on the market – will remain invention at best and stuck in a pre-market phase. The second part of the discussion on technology management (part 1) between Birgit Stelzer, a researcher at the Institute for Technology and Process Management at Ulm University, and Guido Beyß deals with what defines innovation, how innovation originates, which type of culture promotes innovation and what kind of vision a technology-driven company needs. Weiterlesen
Birgit Stelzer, Ulm University
Technology management, which involves the planning, implementation and monitoring of the development and use of (new) technologies to create competitive advantages, is one of the most important steering tasks in R&D-heavy industries. Birgit Stelzer, a researcher at the Institute for Technology and Process Management at Ulm University, spoke to Guido Beyß about key aspects of technology management. We will document excerpts of the interview in three blog entries. The first entry will focus on a fundamental understanding of technology management, its integration into the company and its internal and external points of reference. Weiterlesen
By Olaf Neumann
How do corporate decision-makers in a high-wage country (such as Germany) screen the pile of ideas, proposals and suggestions to select those which may be profitable in the long run? First, they need to identify valuable innovative ideas, and then they have to decide which innovative ideas the company will pursue. As a rule, this situation is complex and uncertain. In practice, companies have a range of tools and methods at their disposal and rely in addition on the personal experience and expertise of internal and external experts to assess ideas. Nevertheless, all efforts to base decisions on an objective and facts-based evaluation of new ideas are subject to certain limitations (see also “Die Bewertung von Innovationsideen. Eine empirische Analyse von Bewertungsdimensionen und sozialen Einflussfaktoren”/“The evaluation of innovation ideas: an empirical analysis of evaluation criteria and social influencing factors”, doctoral thesis at RWTH Aachen, 2012). Weiterlesen
On 21 June 2013, the German newspaper Handelsblatt ran an article with the title “Die Waffe aus dem Hobbyraum” (“Home-Made Weapons”) on potential uses of 3D printers. The title referred to the notorious “Liberator”, a pistol which is almost completely made from plastic. Instructions for printing the weapon out were released on the internet by the company Defense Distributed of Texan law student Cody Wilson. It took only two days for the instructions to be downloaded 100,000 times. That was too much for the US authorities, which made sure that they were deleted from the net.
A plastic weapon? It seems quite unlikely that the pistol really works. Several videos on the internet show people trying to shoot with the one-shoot weapon. While it does shoot, it is not secure for the shooter, and hitting the target is strictly optional. Weiterlesen
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