The technological innovation process consists of a series of phases necessary for improvements to be implemented or for a new production process, product or service to be developed.
There are two currents about the origin of technological innovations. One argues that the technological impulse (Technological Push) comes from the scientific research and development, non-commercial sectors and the other (Market Pull), which is more accepted today, says that it is the needs of the market that instigate companies to develop new technologies that satisfy the demands of consumers and businesses.
In this post, we will analyze the technological innovation process aimed at meeting market needs and how it applies to companies.
See also: How many stages to use in process innovation?
The 8 stages of the technological innovation process
1- Basic search
Basic research is that phase of the technological innovation process that only occurs in large companies, usually in the pharmaceutical, energy and information technology fields, which keep research and development departments continuously updated on the state of the art of the technologies that most impact their organizations.
2- Applied research
Upon detecting any specific market need that may represent an opportunity to develop a sustainable competitive advantage for the business, the company searches among the technologies that dominate a way to solve this problem.
At this point, you can integrate existing technologies in a creative and innovative way or really develop something totally new.
3- Development
When reaching a solution to the market’s need, it is time to develop the product, service or process that will be marketed or employed.
For this, a prototype is developed that must be tested, preferably with the help of the public who will use it.
Two interesting approaches to this stage of the technological innovation process can be used:
- The design thinking , which takes into account the way people interact with innovative products and services
- The Scrum , which promotes small iterations, incremental advances in the prototype and the rest of the innovation process, always based on the needs of those who will use it.
Learn more: One of the authors of the manifesto criticizes the Agile and Scrum methodologies
4- Engineering
With the prototype defined, it is necessary to transform it into a scalable product or service, which can be mass produced or to meet the specific needs of an industry.
Materials, suppliers, appropriate forms of storage and transport, how to connect parts and benefit from inputs are researched, defining which professionals will need to be hired and trained, among other measures.
5- Manufacturing
This is one of the most important points in the technological innovation process.
It is time to define the best way to deliver the solution created to the end customer, with efficiency and quality.
Process modeling starts , preferably using BPMN automation software .
Read also: 7 Business Process Modeling Tips for Dummies
6- Marketing
With the product or service ready to be launched, it is time to do concept tests, marketing research and market tests to see if any adjustments are still needed due to how their acceptance and distribution is occurring in test markets.
7- Promotion
After the market tests, the product or service is launched on a national or global scale, depending on the markets the company serves.
This stage of the technological innovation process can use the so-called agile marketing , which uses Scrum and Kanban methodologies in order to make a quick launch of products and services to achieve results as soon as possible.
8- Continuous improvement
As soon as it is launched, both the product or service, as well as the process flows used to produce and deliver them to end customers, are constantly measured and analyzed, with the aim of looking for ways to improve and further improve them. , adding even more value to the perception of end customers.
