Centre for Technology Management

Archive Research Projects

[click here for a list of current projects]

Completed projects

Alliance-based business models for early-stage technology-based ventures

This project seeks to advance understanding of, and develop tools to support, the use of alliance based business models for new ventures seeking to bring a novel technology to market. The project will be carried out over 24 months starting from January 2004. The project will be based at the University of Cambridge Centre for Technology Management and will be managed with the active engagement of seven commercial partner organisations. The Cambridge project team will be led by Dr Tim Minshall and will comprise two part-time Research Associates. This project will run from January 2004 - December 2006.

Alliance Business Models for New Technology-based Ventures: A Comparison of Evidence from Spin-outs Exiting Cambridge, Stanford & MIT

This research is looking at the roles alliances can contribute to the growth of university spin-out businesses. The research will compare evidence from spin-outs Cambridge University, Stanford University and MIT, and will focus in particular collaborations the spin-outs form with established businesses.

Business Appraisal of Technology Potentials

This project seeks to provide companies with the means to assess systematically the benefit of new technologies to their business. This has been approached by reviewing the tools and techniques currently available to managers in industry to identify the gaps and limitations. We are now developing selected new approaches. Involvement of industrial partners includes documentation of practice, identification of future requirements, collaborative cases and workshops. This project will run from September 2004 - August 2006.

Decision Support for Early-stage Technologies

This PhD seeks to develop a framework to assist managers' decisions that attempts to balance qualitative and quantitative evaluations. Progress to date has involved an extensive literature review of related fields and preliminary interviews to scope the dimensions of future research. Very early-stage technologies offer great difficulty for those models seeking to provide quantitative financial valuations. This has meant that qualitative measures or even 'gut-feel' are often used as the basis of investment decisions. However, this offers little transparency or scope for communication through the layers of an organisation. This project will run from October 2004 - September 2007.

Effectiveness of Broadband Competition Policy

The aim of this PhD research is to find ways to improve the effectiveness of broadband competition policy, Current broadband competition policy is ineffective due to the two trade-offs between its four goals and between its two models. From a technology management perspective, this research proposes that the goal and model of broadband competition policy should differ from those traditional telecommunications competition policy. The research will conduct four case studies in the UK, the US, Japan and Thailand, using a cross-country comparative analysis to validate this proposal. The research will provide guidance to policymakers who are interested in improving the effectiveness of broadband competition policy.

Effectiveness of the knowledge transfer process from basic science to commercial product

The aim of this PhD research is to look at the effectiveness of the knowledge transfer process from basic science to commercial product and to examine the effects of restrictions on intellectual property rights on this process. It examines the myths and assumptions underlying both the 'entrepreneurial university', the apparent disconnect with the externalities that arise from open science and the economic disincentives put in place by imposing corporate paradigms on what are essentially 14 th century Monasteries. Special reference will be paid to the emergence of new IPR regimes within universities. It is intended to examine the field of biotechnology in particular detail, using exemplars from the Cambridge area.

Enhancing Creativity in New Product Development

Enhancing the creativity of NPD teams is seen as an important source of competitive advantage because it allows companies to produce novel ideas, improve their problem solving capabilities, and enhance their ability to identify and address the issues that matter most. The aim is to enable an internal or external facilitator to appropriately use elements from the plethora of tools available to adjust the creative process to the specific situation in order to strengthen the weakest link in the 'creativity chain'. The research methodology involves action research whereby the researcher intervenes in the process in order to achieve specific objectives, and subsequently evaluates and improves the process of intervention. Since there can be no 'recipes' or a procedure for enhancing creativity, the approach relies on growing people's professional competence with respect to creativity by cultivating qualities such as noticing ability, freedom from pre-conceptions, depth of perception, and a variety of other tacit skills. Identifying and overcoming barriers to creativity (perceptual, emotional, structural, intellectual/ knowledge or expressive) is another key element of this process. The key research question revolves around the learning process for one to be able to effectively function as a coach/mentor/facilitator in enhancing creativity in a NPD team. The learning process is mapped through a series of longitudinal case studies, where in each case study a number of design tasks are completed and the development in the creativity of individuals and the team can be observed. This project will run from January 2004 - December 2006.

Formal Model of Collaboration on the Network

The aim of this research is the establishment of the formal (mathematical) model of the collaboration on the network. Current progress of computers and networks, especially the Internet, many patterns of collaboration appear and many software which support the activities on the network. However, their user interface, their functions, and their operations have great diversity. This is partly because of the lack of the formal model of collaboration on the network. In this research, we will try to establish the mathematical model and to develop the prototype software which supports various kinds of collaboration on the network. Currently we are trying to describe the collaboration with four elements: information flows with attributes, a set of participants, a function from one information flow to the subset of participants, and a function from one participant to the subset of information flows. This model can represent collaboration systems and tools by providing appropriate values to attributes of an information flow. Furthermore, this model includes other systems such as DBMS and Information Retrieval Systems. After the verification of the description power of this model, we will try to develop the prototype software of unified support tool for collaboration on the network. This project will run from October 2004 - September 2005.

Government User Identity for Europe, GUIDE

The Cambridge Centre for Technology Management is working with an industrial and academic project consortium to develop a roadmap for identity management in the context of e-Government that supports project integration and provides a composite forward view. GUIDE is a European Union (EU) funded Integrated Project in the Framework 6 Programme. It is conducting research and technological development with the aim of creating a technological, institutional, policy and socio-economic architecture for secure and interoperable e-government electronic identity services and transactions for Europe. This project will run from January 2004 - June 2005 (Phase 1).[ link to GUIDE website]

Identification and Exploitation of Intangible Assets - the push for commercial opportunity

Knowledge-based 'intangible' assets, such as technology, are increasingly seen as an important source of sustainable competitive advantage. This feasibility project explored the potential for research in this area, with the objectives of developing conceptual frameworks and practical tools to support the proactive management of such assets, with particular emphasis on how new commercial opportunities can be identified for existing capabilities. A preliminary framework was developed and tested through an industrial consultation process, highlighting the broad and complex scope of the area. A number of specific areas were recommended for potential future research, two of which are being taken forward in other IMRC programmes (services and evaluation of technology). This project will run from October 2000 - April 2004.

Managing Technology and Knowledge across Organisational Boundaries

This project is testing a framework for technological knowledge flow in product/process development in terms of preventing and promoting factors (barriers and enablers) in the following areas: source and receiver (collectively seen as the boundary), nature of technology /knowledge transferred and context. This project ran from March 2003 - August 2004.

Obsolescence, Sustainability and IT Innovation

This PhD research seeks to incorporate obsolescence into existing theories of innovation. Obsolescence is of particular interest in the IT industry where short product life cycles and high throughput affects the management of technology innovation and causes significant environmental impacts. The research will examine sub-sections of the IT industry to explore the relationship between innovation and obsolescence. Such an exploration will see the development of conceptual models to provide insight into the innovation process. It will also question the prevalent belief that product life cycles must be increased to improve environmental sustainability. The project starts from January 2004.

Project Portfolio Management and Technology Roadmapping: identifying synergy and competitive opportunities

This project is at the scoping stage and is part of a PhD programme of study. It will initially look at good practice in project portfolio management and technology roadmapping, and investigate appropriate research methods. It may ultimately focus on the roles and links between the strategy, marketing, operations and technology functions within hi-tech businesses. It will investigate a more proactive role for portfolio management in pursuit of synergy and competitive opportunities. This project will run from January 2004 - December 2008.

Quality Management in Open Source Projects

The aim of this PhD research is to find ways to increase and assure quality in volunteer Open Source projects. Open Source projects are typically distributed all around the world and performed by volunteers. Due to these two characteristics, Open Source projects face several challenges related to quality assurance. Based on an initial investigation looking at quality problems often found in small and large Open Source projects, this research will develop methods and practices to ensure quality in Open Source projects. The project will run from December 2003 - November 2004.

Rapid Distributed Innovation

Firms commonly outsource operations so that they can concentrate on the rapid development of new products. Many of these products will also include technology developed elsewhere. As a result, the nature of the innovation process is changing as firms become less vertically integrated, and the co-ordination of processes in each link of the chain becomes increasingly critical. These issues are particularly evident in the consumer electronics industry (e.g. Ericsson, HP, Handspring). With time-to-volume often the crucial metric, and with shortening product lifecycles, how is the distributed innovation process to be optimised? Do the traditional principles of NPD management still apply?

[Project Summary]

Software Sourcing for Products

An increasing source of cost and risk for product creators now emanates from the software contained in products. Examples of these products include: engines, washing machines, freezers, door security systems, ....etc. This project will produce a method to guide product creators through the software make-or-buy decisions required.

Stakeholder Expectation Mapping Using the ERO Model

The aim of this PhD research is to identify new approaches for analysis in acquisition scenarios. Existing research has traditionally been at the firm level and concentrated on the buyer's point of view. Numerous variables are used to define success and failure of acquisitions. The seller's perspective, however, has been identified as being equally important to the performance of an acquisition. In this context, the ERO (Expectation, Realisation, and Outcome) model has been developed to map the expectations of individual stakeholders on the seller's side of the transaction over time. Case studies have been undertaken as part of a broader attempt to test the feasibility of the ERO model as a viable tool for analysing acquisitions amongst technology firms at the level of the individual. It is hoped that the ERO model will challenge various firm level assumptions and enhance theory building in the area of strategy. Caren Weinberg's doctoral research is supervised by Tim Minshall and advised by Mike Gregory and Clive Kerr. This project will run from October 2005 - December 2009.

The role and contribution of the Chief Technology Officer (CTO)

Chris's doctoral research is focused on ‘The role of the Chief Technology Officer (CTO'. He is conducting cognitive (causal) mapping interviews with senior technology executives across a range of industries. His CPGS paper was ‘The CTO - A human competence perspective', and he has recently co-written a conference paper entitled, ‘Managing technological risk - the role of the CTO'.This work forms part of a broader study being conducted by the European Institute for Technology and Innovation Management (EITIM). Each EITIM forum (which includes academics from six universities across Europe and a significant group of senior technology leaders), has contributed to formulating Chris's research agenda (2006) and then discussing emergent issues (2007). The research is now being written up. This project will run from January 2004 - December 2009.

The Role of Intellectual Property in Innovation Development: The Case of Medical Devices and Instrumentation Innovation

The study aims to provide an understanding of the role of intellectual property in innovation strategies, innovation growth and innovation development from the perspectives of the medical devices and medical instrumentation industries - an under-researched but undoubtedly significantly important sector in the UK and the global economy. This involves an investigation into the stakeholders in the sector, including medical devices firms, hospital, research labs and innovation hubs in the UK (Cambridge, Oxford and London), the US (Massachusetts and California) and Australia (New South Wales and Western Australia). Paul Hwang's doctoral research is supervised by Elizabeth Garnsey. This project will run from October 2007 - December 2009.

Technology Roadmapping in the Packaging Sector

Technology roadmapping is an approach that is widely used in industry to support integrated strategic planning, linking product development to business goals. The aim of this research is to develop a roadmap architecture and process which will enable information to be captured and used to support decision-making, enhancing the operations of companies in the packaging sector. The research includes both sector and company level collaboration, providing a bridging mechanism between these perspectives. In addition to the anticipated benefits to the packaging sector, some of the challenges associated with the roadmapping approach will be explored, including capturing and structuring knowledge, and potential linkages with other decision-support tools. This project will run from April 2003 - April 2006.

Auditing Product Design Capability

As a parallel activity to the Good Design practice project, this PhD project aims to provide a pracitical approach to auditing design capability, taking a product and process perspective. Specific objectives are to understand the elements of 'good design' and the role of industrial design (ID) in NPD and to develop and validate a practical approach to assess product design capability which encourages the integration of ID and the adoption of 'good design' practices. A practical tool has been developed which has been successfully applied in several companies. This project will run from October 2000 - September 2004.

Opportunities and Obstacles to Enterprise in Sustainable Technologies

Many opportunities are in principle opening for cleaner and sustainable technologies. However few such technologies have penetrated the mainstream market. Entrepreneurs have been responsible for radical innovations in many sectors. Accordingly, this project aims to explore the role of entrepreneurial initiatives in technology transfer and the problems of starting and growing new environmental companies, using UK evidence. The project, funded by EPSRC, will run from October 2001 to 2004 and supports Nicola Dee's doctoral research, supervised by Elizabeth Garnsey.This project will run from October 2001 - October 2004.

Growth and Co-Evolution as Complex Dynamic Processes in High-Tech Enterprise

New high tech firms in new industries are subject to complex dynamic processes in a turbulent environment. This project examines the growth paths of high tech firms and the kinds of problems they encounter. What factors lead to growth crises, even for firms earlier seen as having promising prospects? When the factors giving rise to sudden transitions (changes in phase state in complex systems) are better understood, remedial action may be possible. Evidence is from cases and a database of Cambridge firms. This project will run from January 2000 - May 2004.

[Project Summary]

Good Design Practice Program - Integrating engineering and industrial design

Together with the University Engineering Design Centre and the Royal College of Art, this project will work with a selected group of partner companies on 'live' projects. It will develop new approaches to the integration of industrial and engineering design, including state-of-the-art business, marketing and production expertise. Phase two of the project will run from January 2002 - December 2003

[Project Summary]

Open Source Software

This project is to clarify the advantages and disadvantages of open source software and in particular, it will identify and understand the success factors underpinning online developer communitites. It also investigates the issues involved in using open source software components in commercial products.This project will run from February 2001 - January 2003.

Foresight Vehicle Technology Roadmap

A technology roadmap is being developed with the UK Foresight Vehicle consortium, sponsored by the Department of Trade and Industry. The aim is to define the research agenda for the future road transport systems, feeding into the 2002 DTI-EPSRC Foresight Vehicle Link Programme.This project will run from October 2001 - end August 2002.[Project Summary]

Valuation of Technology

Focusing on the different methods of valuing technology including patents and licences. These methods include the traditional DCF, real options and other hybrid models. Simple spreadsheets models will be built in the analysis of this research so as to present a general methodology in doing technology valuations. This project will run from October 2001 - September 2002.

Developing Product Innovation Capabilities in Medium to Large Enterprises

Many medium to large enterprises that were known as historic early innovators, are often prone to difficulties sustaining or repeating pioneering product innovation. These difficulties are heightened when the sectors in which they operate are subject to market turbulence that in turn leads to uncertainty and ambiguity in the innovation process. This project deals with developing an innovation capability required to overcome the innovation inertia experienced by such firms. Three sectors have been singled out as appropriate for the research: healthcare, telecoms and domestic appliances. This project will run from October 1999 - December 2002. [Project Summary]

The role and effectiveness of E-learning: key issues in an industrial context

E-learning is an emerging technology that has been adopted by an increasing number of organisations. E-learning is mainly used in staff training, where the organisations train staff to improve skills and provide the required knowledge for the demands of the jobs. Online training and software based training are the most frequent methods in E-learning. Learning is essential for organisations. Organisations adopt new concepts and techniques. E-learning is especially useful to offices, technology-based firms and academic organisations, which are the main bodies in the knowledge based economy. One of the best types of learning, interactive learning, is the combination of E-learning and face-to-face training, is the core part of this research. This project will run from October 2001 - September 2002.

New Product Introduction Collaborations - Developing Robust Processes for Supplier & Customer Interaction

Increasingly the development of new products involves collaboration between customers, suppliers and end users. This project explored the processes for collaboration, focusing on entry and exit, design and development phases and essential commercial arrangements. This project ran from March 1998 - end November 2001. Project Summary

Industrial Make-or-Buy Decisions

The make-or-buy decision is a fundamental strategic decision that most companies have to make. This project aims at developing a make-or-buy methodology to assist managers in the manufacturing industry to reach make-or-buy decisions with more consistency and repeatability than existing methods. Project Summary

Industrial Sustainability

This research will develop a more comprehensive understanding of how present research programmes and activities within the academic and research communities are positioned to support industrial shifts to more sustainable modes of production and business planning. Project Summary

Analysing the Strategic Management of Organisational Competences

Many technology-based organisations are gaining competitive advantage by correctly identifying and managing their organisation's competences. This project aims to develop a process and practical tools to analyse how effectively an organisation's competences are being managed.

Innovation and adoption of new materials

Materials innovation often take many years, even decades, before being commercially exploited. This project has developed a methodology to assist managers in making a systematic evaluation of the business potential of a materials innovation, in order to facilitate more rapid and effective exploitation.This project ran from October 1996 - September 2001.

Auditing and Improving Decision Making Quality

Group decision making is an important part of business activity, but how can you tell whether your decision process is soundly based and well executed? This project developed an assessment technique that can be applied to determine the quality of a decision making process, and identify areas for improvement.This project ran from October 1996 - September 2001.

Engineering Reuse

Reuse offers major opportunities for reductions in cost, product introduction lead times and the use of scarce specialist engineering resource. This research will provide a framework and tools for reuse analysis and management. This project ran from January 1997 - May 1999.

Strategic Technology Management - Linking technology resources to company objectives

Integrating technology, product and commercial considerations is a key issue for companies for effective strategy and planning in the business. This project developed practical tools and a framework for supporting technology strategy and planning. The tools support the rapid application of technology 'roadmapping', together with the development of a tool catalogue for supporting technology management. This project ran from April 1998 - July 2001. Project Summary

Technology Management - A Process Approach

- developed a methodology for auditing current technology management practice within a firm, based on a framework of technology management processes, to identify likely areas for improvement Collaborators : BAe, GEC-Marconi and T&N. This project ran from November 1994 - March 1998.

Strategic Make or Buy

- assisting companies to make strategic choices about manufacturing technologies. A book describing the methodology has been published by the IEE entitled : "Developing a Make or Buy Strategy for Manufacturing Business" Collaborators : Lucas Industries and Royal Academy of Engineering.

NPI Audit and Improvement in SMEs

- developing an audit of new product introduction practices in smaller companies based on the performance of projects and the perceptions of staff involved in the process Collaborators : Acorn Network Computing, The Unicam Companies.

World Class Software Delivery

- a Teaching Company programme in the telecommunications industry seeking to improve software development management practices Collaborators : GPT, Cambridge Computer Laboratory, Teaching Company Directorate.

R&D Project Selection

- developing an audit methodology to review current practice, the link to strategy and to identify appropriate improvements Collaborators : T&N.

Linking Business Strategy and Technology Development in Medium-Sized Enterprises

- providing tools and techniques to allow companies to examine their manufacturing and technology forward plans and identify areas for improvement Collaborators : ABB Kent Taylor, KDG Mobrey, Delta Controls.

Technology Change

- A framework for technology change has been developed to provide a structured way of assessing the suitability of manufacturing process technology change in a firm. The framework consists of four main analyses: requirements, resources, implementability and strategic goals.

Innovative Management in Small High-Tech Firms

- seeking an improved understanding of the issues confronting entrepreneurs, managers and investors in the effective management of emerging technologies in rapid growth enterprises Collaborators : St John's Innovation Centre.

Product Planning

- seeking to formalise the reconciliation of market technology and production issues in the context of overall business strategy Collaborators : Graseby, Soundcraft.

Impact of Product Introduction on Manufacturing

- measuring the impact of NPI in terms of how it affects the flow and efficiency of manufacturing operations Collaborators : Matra BAe Dynamics, Fruehauf, ASW, CSC.

Knowledge and Technology Management for Sustainable Production

- A study has been undertaken for the European Commission, in support of the development of the Framework V Programme, to assess how knowledge and technology management approaches can support the desired shift to more sustainable modes of production (in terms of competition, environement and social sustainability). The work included literature reviews, and series of structured interviews in manufacturing firms across Europe.

Speeding New Products to Markets

Technology Foresight

- This work aims to investigate how technology foresight processes can be implemented in companies, to support strategic planning. Case studies have included the application of foresight in intermediate organisations and SMEs.

Technology Evolution in High-tech Firms

- The aim of this research is to develop an understanding of industrial and technological evolution for firms entering early to a new technology marketplace, with reference to two specialised sectors. The reasons why some firms succeed and some fail as the marketplace develops and grows will be investigated.

List of current projects