Strategic product- and technology-planning with the innovation-database: A field-proven approach from the market-oriented product idea up to an operational development roadmap

Due to the intense innovation efforts in the German Automobile, Mechanical Engineering and Chemistry Industry, Germany was the world´s largest exporter of technologies in 2005. Particularly in these industries, a company´s competitiveness is determined by technological know-how and the ability to transform this know-how into product innovations. Technology Planning is a proven concept for using technological know-how which enables companies to pursue a technology push approach. A central database ensures a wide access to the collected information within the company. This paper describes in what way the Innovation Database of the Heinz Nixdorf Institute covers a major part of the strategic management process of a mid-size company. A case study demonstrates how decision makers and product developers use the knowledge of the technology management system within the Innovation Management Process - beginning with a first product idea via different principle solutions and Technology Roadmaps up to an Operational Product Development Roadmap including product ideas, technologies used and time frames for the different stages of a Product Development Process. Due to the fact that future market scenarios are taken into account, our approach integrates the technology push and the market pull.