Technology Outlook as a tool for the management of innovation .

The purpose of this paper is to present a theoretical overview of innovation management and the tools that can aid in this endeavour. The paper adopts a user-oriented description, aiming at making SMEs familiar with the possibilities opened by innovation management tools in general and technology outlook in particular. The goal of technology outlook is to search, interpret and evaluate information on technological developments in the areas of interest for the company. The process is divided into three general stages: observe, analyze and use. The paper explores all dimensions included in these stages together with the requirements for their implementation in the context of SMEs. In addition we also introduce the roles required for such a process to systematically work: observers, analysts and decision makers. These roles correspond to the previous three stages, so observers are involved during the first step, analysts are related to the second phase and decision makers to the final exploitation. The paper closes by raising some concerns as to why innovation management tools in general and technology outlook in particular are underused in the context of SMEs. The author concludes that if SMEs are to increase their innovative potential, this challenge will be to a great extent dependent on their ability to introduce innovation management routines and tools aligned with their general strategies.