Information Resources

Technical Readiness Analysis

The objective of the technology readiness analysis is to clearly define the concept or technology, to establish its unique benefits and to assess the implementation potential of the technology.

The completion of the analysis will result in knowledge of the features and benefits of the technology, the present state of development, performance expectations, any industry standards or codes, and the current state of competitive technologies.

Outcomes

• Technology. Describe the technology (the benefits of the technology and the problems that the technology can solve i.e. what it does, NOT how it works)
• Stakeholder Analysis . Who are the project stakeholders, what are their capabilities and what do they want to achieve?
• Stage of Development. What is the present stage of technology development? What are the remaining requirements for the completion of the technology. Will the technology require considerable additional development before it’s ready for the market? Unless the technology is developed further, is an existing company likely to license it?
• Competing Technology. Describe competitors with the same or similar technologies. (Canada, U.S. and Europe) What technical advantage does the technology have over competing technologies? Is the technology unique?
• Patents. Identify the current patent status.
• Standards. Identify standards that are applicable to your technology, if any.

Competitive Intelligence: Finding Competing Technologies and Companies

The databases below can help you identify the same or similar technologies under development elsewhere and the companies involved.

1. List some words and phrases to describe the technology.
2. Think of synonyms, more general/more specific technologies, variant spellings, non-scientific/non-technical words and phrases.
3. Use these ‘key’ words and phrases to search in the databases.
4. Also search any company names or people you already know or identify during this stage. Information about companies, their products and new developments appears in trade magazine articles and local business news.

Business Databases

Trade Magazines/Company Profiles

ABI/Inform
On the search page change database to ‘ABI/INFORM Trade & Industry:

Use your keywords and phrases separately and in combinations.

Put an * at the end of a word to find variant forms. For example, cell* retrieves cell, cells, cellular, etc.

Switch into European Business, Asian Business, CBCA (Canadian) and run the same searches.

If you’ve found some company names, try Hoover’s Company Records for a profile.

Company/Supplier Directories

Company and supplier directors list manufacturers and distributors. Search by category, product or company.

Canadian

• Industry Canada’s Strategis Canadian Company Capabilities
• Canadian Trade Index
• Fraser’s Industrial

U.S.

• ThomasNet

International

• Thomas Global Register
• Kompass
• Process Industries Suppliers Directory
• Expo21XX

Search the Web using your technology keywords or product category with the word "directory" to find other lists of manufacturers, suppliers, and associations.

Business News

Use your keywords and company names to search in Canadian Newsstand and Factiva.

Don’t forget the Scientific and Technical Databases to help in

• Identifying similar or variant technologies.
• Determining the best words and phrases to describe your technology.
• Figuring out if the technology is still at experimental stage.

Use these subject links to access databases such as Compendex, Applied Science, Medline, Scifinder and E-journals.

Note: Off-campus access to library databases requires the web proxy at http://proxy.queensu.ca.

Patents

Patents are documents that define a patent owners legal rights to an invention and teach a new way of solving a problem.

Patent Searching Tutorials

How to Read a Patent Document

Patent Resources

Standards

A standard is a document that describes the construction, performance or safety features of a product, service or system. Standards are written by committees of experts from national and international standards development organizations (SDOs), industry groups, government agencies, consumer groups and other interested parties. Most standards are voluntary; that is, there are no laws requiring their use. Governments also make some standards mandatory by enacting legislation and regulations. The standards creation process is ongoing. New standards are written to accommodate new technologies while old standards are updated as technologies evolve.

Standards promote efficiency and safety. Imagine how costly and confusing it would be if there were thousands of light bulb designs on the market instead of a few dozen. A technology that does not conform to current standards will be very difficult or impossible to commercialize.

• What standard development organizations are responsible for writing standards that affect your technology?
• What specific standards apply to your technology?

Standards Resources

• Engineering and Science Library Guide to Standards
• ASTM International - Standards Worldwide
• Canadian Standards Association
• Global Engineering Documents
• NSSN
• TechStreet
• List of Standards Organizations (Univ. of Waterloo)