From where to find out about the latest technological developments to getting specialist support to make the most of them, Peter Davies answers all your queries about emerging technology...
What are the most exciting emerging technologies and what is their potential?
The potential is practically limitless. Various suggestions of the types of new technology that could be launched by 2015 include:
- Clothes that respond to the weather
- Information systems that monitor vital signs, deliver medicine and automatically protect wounds
- Airfoils that respond to airflow
- Buildings that adjust to the weather
- Bridges and roads that sense and repair cracks
- Kitchens that cook with wireless instructions
- Virtual reality telephones and entertainment centres and personal medical diagnostics
Where do I obtain further information on emerging technologies?
Keeping up to date with the latest scientific and product developments used to mean reading through the latest journals and trade media, but the widespread use of email alerting and awareness services has significantly simplified this task.
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Where can I find out more about near-to-market technologies?
More than 70% of the world's technical literature is tied up in patents. Patent activity is a good gauge of market interest in a technology and it allows for the identification of the key players and enables a more in-depth understanding of any advance and its wider implications to be reached by exploring the claims and patent in detail. Patent searching is often perceived to be expensive, time consuming and an art. However, services such as Espacenet from the European Patent Officehave made searching of patents free and accessible.
Where do I find public funding for investing in emerging technologies?
Funding for technological innovation remains a complex area. There are regional, national and European funding programmes that will be available to a large proportion of UK enterprises. The government has established a number of funding programmes aiming to support innovation with UK SMEs.
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How do I minimise the risk associated with technology investment for my business or a technology change within my industry?
Many large enterprises now recognise the need to spread the risks associated with new technology adoption, and have developed broad policies to suit. Within these often complex approaches lie simpler lessons for smaller enterprises, namely:
- Learn from the market leader/benchmark
- Maximise networking opportunities
- Seek extending funding to spread risk
- Identify availability of applicable business support programmes
- Consider collaboration and joint ventures
Further guidance on innovation practice is available in the publication The Innovation Premium by Ronald S Jonash and Tom Sommerlatte, 1999, ISBN 0712684239.
How can I find a specialist innovation support company that will assist my use of emerging technologies?
Pera is an international group, which provides businesses with the expertise to succeed by developing groundbreaking technological solutions and implementing world-class business strategies. Pera supports companies by assisting them with innovating business processes to provide competitive advantage, and by creating new business through providing the technological and commercial know-how to break into new markets. The Association of Independent Research and Technology Organisations (AIRTO) encourages technology transfer by helping to develop and support government and private sector initiatives.
How is education support the needs of industry?
The days of enjoying a mono-skilled profession are long gone as industry is now placing ever-increasing demands on multi-skilled designers to possess a wider appreciation of design, business processes and manufacturing processes. Broadening the skills portfolio can only be achieved by educating and training the internal customer - ie the employees - and this can be done via a number of methods. However, training delivery is becoming a fast-paced environment with the emphasis on the delivery of training to be completed in the least amount of time possible, but in the most effective manner. There now appears to be a gap developing between the needs of the industry and what education can cost effectively deliver. Attempts are being made to fill this gap via a number of new learning methods and techniques, including greater interactivity between trainer and student, the use of multimedia, and the use of online training.
How can online training help with continuing professional development?
Online training is simply a method of teaching or training that enables the employee to learn about the subject matter without the need to go off-site or even leave their desk in the office. This is achieved through the training material being delivered to the customer directly from a CD-ROM playing on the PC, or via the internet. The key advantage to this type of training is the flexibility that it offers. Many companies now operate in dynamic environments that are not always conducive to allowing employees to be away from the office for several consecutive hours, so this method allows the employee to complete the training according to their own work pattern and to their own schedule. Universities and colleges are an excellent source of online learning due to the vast array of subjects they cover, and governmental organisations such as Learndirect provide some of the most comprehensive online training opportunities in the UK.