In times of rapid technological progress and the shortening of innovation cycles, we are faced with the task of identifying and systematically monitoring trends that are capable of having a significant impact on society and economy. Systematic monitoring of prospective science and technology trends is an important tool for flexible and timely strategic decision-making in response to technological changes.
Emerging technologies are technical innovations that are currently developing or will be developed over the next five to ten years, and which represent progressive developments within an application area. Our emerging technologies monitoring benefits from a combination of quantitative and qualitative methods, which ranges from bibliometrics, horizon scanning and technology mining to scenarios and expert panels. Large scientific, patent and media databases are analysed by using data mining techniques. The input from the scanning phase is elaborated further by in-house desk research and external expert consultations through interviews and workshops. Emerging technologies are then described in detail with additional attributes such as the time of realisation, stage of development, disruptive capacity, key players, expected effects, new applications and consumer properties, drivers and barriers, impacts for society and further implications for science, technology, and innovation policy.
The anticipatory intelligence gathered through our Emerging Technologies Monitoring is able to provide stakeholders the opportunity to develop early responses to, capitalise on, protect against, or mitigate negative impacts of the reviewed technologies. The results obtained are suitable to be used by public authorities, business organisations, academic communities or other stakeholders that are interested in getting comprehensive view of major trends characterising the future of a particular application area, as well as their impact on social and economic developments.