Strategic visualisation tools for managing technological information

Abstract

In an information economy, the effective management of a massive amount of technological information is inevitable when attempting to facilitate the decision-making process. It is an important part of selecting R&D projects and allocating budgets to promising technology development. Information visualisation is thus regarded as a critical tool in technological information management because it can provide decisive implications that the intelligence of humans cannot produce. This paper proposes six graphical forms, including a technology tree, a technology map, a technology network, a technology matrix, a technology curve, and a technology dictionary, presenting the generic form and concept of each method. Moreover, the principles and applications of such visualisation tools are suggested in order to enhance their use in practical circumstances. A case study of TFT-LCD (thin film transistor-liquid crystal display) technology will help to explain how to apply visualisation tools to strategic technology management.

Keywords:

• information visualization
• technology tree
• technology map
• technology network
• technology matrix
• technology curve
• technology dictionary

Acknowledgements

This research was supported by the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) and funded by the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology (Grant No. 2008-331-D00712).

Notes

In the paper of Yoon and Park (2007), the most valuable shape in each dimension was derived through conjoint analysis about the value of existing patents which was calculated on the basis of their citation frequency. The most promising technology had the configuration which combines the most valuable shapes.

The proposed recommendation can be validated by applying the guideline to practice or conducting a survey on the response of users. However, this mapping on the basis of the definition of the role of workers is reasonable to identify the methodology that each user needs to be adept at because people can easily agree to the relationship between users and the applications of the suggested methodologies.

SPSS and SAS are representative statistical analysis software. UCINET is network analysis software.