Mining with Robots a Reality
Posted by gary oosta in Uncategorized on March 8th, 2010
In a recent Wall St. Journal, there was an article about Rio Tinto’s mining operations that involve a remote controlled satellite linked mining machine. The idea sounds like Asimov or Avitar. It seems like another bit of science fiction coming true. I’ll be looking in more detail at this idea in future blog posts, but it is fascinating.
I’ll be taking a week’s sebatical and attending the SCIP 2010 meeting this week. See you next week.
Controlling Regulations: A Competitive Edge
Posted by gary oosta in Renewable energy on March 2nd, 2010
While we think often about new technology as a key driver of new business, it isn’t the only method of gaining competitive advantage. James K. Galbraith in his book “The Predator State” (see pages 178 & 179 in particular) reminds us that controlling regulations can be a source of competitive advantage too. Today’s article in the Wall St. Journal “Natural Gas Tilts at Windmills in Power Feud” is a great example. Is the playing field the same for natural gas and windpower? Should it really be the same? What technology could level the playing field?
———— ADDED 3/3/2010 ————-
Isn’t it interesting. When you start to look for something you keep finding it. Here’s an example of how “big solar” killed a bill to avoid setting standards in Arizona.
Competitive Technical Intelligence Workshop
Posted by gary oosta in Uncategorized on February 26th, 2010
The annual meeting for the Society for Competitive Intelligence Professionals (SCIP) is coming up soon – March 9th – March 12th – in Washington DC. Patent Insights will be presenting a workshop titled W2 - Technology Mapping, Competitive Technical Intelligence and Strategic Decisions.
In the workshop, we will discuss key ideas in CTI and strategic decision making.
- Where is the “theoretical” foundation for CTI? Why does it work at all?
- Are there examples where CTI provided critical information for strategic decisions?
- What tools exist to implement CTI?
- How can you implement CTI in your group, company? Who needs it? Is this a “new market” or “new role” for the CI professional?
My personal thesis is that the CTI area is ripe and ready to contribute to strategic decision making. It seems to me that competitive technical intelligence represents the intersection of product R&D, marketing research, business intelligence (broadly defined) and technology management. I also believe that pictures from technology mapping are key to helping explain the findings of a CTI analysis.
I’m hoping for a lively discussion and an exchange of ideas and methods. See you there. If you are not able to attend, but would like more information, please reply with your name, company or organization and email. I’ll contact you after the workshop.
Technorati Claim Code
Posted by gary oosta in Uncategorized on September 12th, 2009
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Choosing a Study Area
Posted by gary oosta in CTI Methods on September 12th, 2009
Choosing an area to study is often one of the easiest parts of a competitive technical intelligence ( CTI ) problem. In reality, this gets to the heart of what competitive intelligence and business analytics ( BA ) can deliver. Below is a partial list.
Research & Development
- Where should we invest?
- What programs and new ideas should we support?
- Which programs should we slow down or terminate?
- What technologies fit our company’s risk tolerance?
- What pathways are blocked? Which pathways are open and free (white spaces)?
Competitive Analysis & Strategy Analysis
- Are there strategic threats we should be aware of?
- What areas are my competitors investing in?
- What is/was my competitor’s R&D structure?
- What is the creative potential of my vendors?
- Can we block competitors? Building IP fences!
Business Development & Licensing
- Are there patents we should be licensing to control our destiny?
- What Technologies should we be acquiring?
- What Companies/Universities should we partner with?
Strategic IP Management
- Identify key areas of IP areas
- How should we manage our IP?
How else can we use competitive technical intelligence and business analytics? Please post your thoughts.
Why Does Technology Mapping and CTI Work?
Posted by gary oosta in CTI Methods on September 7th, 2009
Technology mapping and analysis with competitive technical intelligence depends on public disclosure of technically significant information. What organization would do such a thing? Answer. Both large and small organizations! BUT, you must be prepared to organize the disclosures AND you must be prepared to interpret the disclosures to make them tell a story.
What motivates organizations to disclose “sensitive” information? Below are some of the forces. What other forces can you identify? Please add a comment.
- Big business needs to convince investors that they are leaders and worthy of investment. As a result, businesses publish useful information in press releases, annual reports and financial documents.
- Small businesses disclose information in order to raise money.
- Businesses seek patent protection for products and product improvements as a form of strategic advantage.
- Businesses publish to gain strategic advantage.
- Scientist and engineers are often evaluated on their publication and patenting frequency. As a result, there is “pressure” from below to disclose technology information.
- Patenting and publishing timeframes are similar or shorter that product development cycles in many organizations.
- Others?
Competitive Technical Intelligence also benefits from the fact that scientific and patent information is very highly structured. Patents and scientific papers have informative titles and abstracts. Patents have claims which summarize the invention. Papers have conclusions with a similar summary function. The well structured formats make text mining and mapping fairly convenient.
Organizational Impacts of Technology Mapping and CTI
Posted by gary oosta in CTI Methods on September 7th, 2009
In 1996, McGonagle and Vella (A New Archetype for Competitive Intelligence, Quorum Books, Westport Connecticut) published their thoughts on the organization of corporate intelligence. Their thoughts are summarized in the table below. My assessment of the impact of technology mapping and CTI methods are shown in the last column.
| Intelligence Area | Function | Impact |
| Competitive Intelligence | Competitor investments capabilities, intentions | Very High |
| Strategic Intelligence | Corporate radar, providing early warning | Very High |
| Crisis Management | Shocks, disasters and sudden changes | Medium |
| Benchmarking | Quantifying and comparing | Medium |
| Reverse Engineering | Product analysis | Medium |
| Defensive (counter) Intelligence | Corporate security | Low |
| Market Intelligence | Segments and sales | Low |
I believe that the impact of technology mapping and CTI on an organization can very broad. Below are some thoughts on where a good technology map and competitive analysis can benefit organizations.
- Management can see why a project is not a leap of faith.
- Investors can see why the idea makes business sense and why it is strategically useful.
- Business Development can negotiate from a strong position, knowing more than the other side.
- Project Leaders can prove that ideas are fundamentally sound before proposing a project.
- Project Teams can judge new ideas and new information in an agreed upon context.
What other impacts have you experienced?