Fraunhofer-Institut für Produktionsanlagen und Konstruktionstechnik IPK

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Technologieaudit zur Bewertung von Forschungs- und Technologieorganisationen

2024-07-25 , Hecklau, Fabian

Forschungs- und Technologieorganisationen (RTOs) bilden die Brücke zwischen Grundlagenforschung und Industrie und sind somit zentrale Akteure nationaler Innovationssysteme. Um in einem dynamischen Forschungs- und Geschäftsumfeld konkurrenzfähig und langfristig erfolgreich sein zu können, müssen RTOs innovative technologische Lösungen anbieten. Diese Innovationen können sie nur generieren, wenn sie präzise Kenntnis über die eigenen technologischen Stärken und Schwächen erlangen. Das Technologieaudit bildet eine Methode, die es erlaubt, die technologische Reife von Forschungs- und Technologieorganisationen systematisch zu analysieren und zu bewerten, Verbesserungspotenziale zu identifizieren und Optimierungsprozesse anzustoßen. Die Arbeit nimmt eine umfassende Untersuchung vor, um mithilfe des Methoden-Engineerings diese passgenaue, standardisierte und umsetzungsorientierte Methode zur technologischen Auditierung von RTOs zu entwerfen und in der praktischen Anwendung zu prüfen.

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Assessment Dimensions and Items for the Evaluation of the Technological Maturity of Applied R&D Organizations

2022 , Hecklau, Fabian , Kidschun, Florian , Kohl, Holger

Applied research and development (R&D) organizations strive to develop technological solutions that translate results from research and science into state-of-the-art products and services. This can only be achieved when technological resources and competences are effectively and efficiently used to build up competitive advantages. Therefore, the assessment of the technological capability can provide applied R&D organizations with information on strengths and weaknesses in their specific technology areas, on the basis of which technology strategies can be derived to contribute to the development and training of substantial (core) competences, which in turn improve the quality of unique and differentiating products and services. In this context, the main aim of this paper is to describe crucial assessment dimensions and the respective items within those dimensions. Therefore, it must be focused on the technology basis of the applied R&D organization to identify important evaluation items. The technological base serves as input, as both technologies and competencies that are used for the execution of R&D activities need to be analyzed and evaluated. Additionally, the results of the R&D activities need to be focused as outputs. In this regard, technologies that result in products or technological services need to be considered. Lastly, assessment items in the field of cooperation must be taken into account as technological synergies through partnerships are important success factors for R&D organizations. In this context, partners who support the execution of R&D activities must be focused.

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A contribution to the interpretation of organizational resilience (Or) based on the analysis of key drivers and conceptual elements

2021 , Hecklau, Fabian , Kidschun, Florian , Kohl, Holger , Hizal, Gamze Gül

Organizations are increasingly confronted with unexpected events, which can occur within or outside the organization and relate to various dimensions or aspects. The significance and extent of its impact on the organization can be quite surprising (Duchek 2020). Despite the fact that academic interest in this subject area has grown steadily in recent years, its conceptualization is not yet fully developed. There is no consensus on the meaning of resilience and the elements it contains. This paper contributes to the understanding and need for organizational resilience (OR) and also reveals gaps in its conceptualization. Resilience is understood as the ability of an organization to repel, prepare for, consider, absorb, recover from and adapt ever more successfully to actual or potential adverse events. Those events are either catastrophes or processes of change with catastrophic outcome which can have human, technical or natural causes.(Thoma 2014) In order to survive in an uncertain environment and promote future success, organizations must be able to deal with all these manifestations of the unexpected and catapult themselves out of the crisis. They have to develop a capacity for resilience that enables them to react appropriately to unexpected events and to make capital from events that could potentially threaten the survival of an organization (Lengnick-Hall et al. 2011; Duchek 2020; Denyer 2017; Aguilar 1967). In literature and practice, there are various approaches to OR, which consist of phase models that also allow an assessment of an organization as resilience using a maturity model. From the examined methods in this paper it follows that the resilience capability is questioned only after occurrence of an adverse event and no "preparation phase" according to the Fraunhofer resilience cycle exists. This ex post approach endangers not only the competitive position, but also the existence of an organization.

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Structured analysis of methodologies for the assessment of the technological capability of RTOs - Using a method engineering approach

2020 , Hecklau, Fabian , Kidschun, Florian , Kohl, Holger , Tominaj, S.

New state-of-the-art technologies in evolving markets enable organizations to lead the competition and gain advantages over their competitors. The constantly changing technological developments and market demands not only affect industrial companies but also Research and Technology Organizations (RTOs). As RTOs are situated between universities and organizations that pursue fundamental research on the one hand, and business entities on the other, they are strongly influenced by changing economical environments. Hence, to generate value for their customers, RTOs need to use state-of-the-art technologies in order to be able to provide high-quality products and services to their customers. In consequence, regular analysis and assessment of the technological capability of RTOs is an important strategy to ensure progress and success. In previous research work a generic process model for the structured analysis of methods used in the context of the technological capability of Research and Technology Organizations has been developed. Therefore, method engineering approaches have been used as a basis to create a holistic model that can be used as a structured approach for the analysis of methodologies. Building on this, this paper uses the approach to analyze different methodologies. The generic process model of method engineering will be applied to analyze existing methodologies for the assessment of technological capabilities of RTOs in a structured way. Therefore, a literature review is conducted to identify existing methodologies in the context of the technological capabilities of organizations with a special interest in RTOs. Furthermore, the identified methodologies are assessed using the method engineering approach. In a final step, limitations and further developments of methodologies for the assessment of technological capabilities are discussed.

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Quantitative Evaluation of Assessment Items of the Technology Audit Method for Research and Technology Organisations (RTOs)

2023 , Hecklau, Fabian , Kidschun, Florian , Kohl, Holger , Böhm, Julius Lukas

Applied research and development (R&D) organisations strive to develop technological solutions that translate results from research and science into state-of-the-art products and services. As advanced technological capability is essential to their competitiveness, they need to be able to analyse and evaluate their technological capabilities. Hence, a tool or method is required that objectively and practically assesses the technological capability of Research and Technology Organisations (RTOs) while meeting their unique requirements. The technology audit enables the assessment of the technological capability and thus the technological maturity of an RTO. It focuses on the analysis of the research activities in the R&D service areas of the RTO. This allows for a comprehensive understanding of the technologies used, the research competencies, the technologies developed, and the established technology partnerships of the RTO. In this context of the development of a suitable technology audit methodology, this paper aims to describe the process of validation of assessment items for evaluating the technological maturity of applied R&D organisations. After a brief overview of the technology audit method and the assessment dimensions and items, the focus is placed on the process of its validation. An expert survey using a questionnaire was created and used to evaluate the relevance of the 11 assessment items for the technology audit instrument in the three dimensions of Technology Base, Products & Services and Cooperation, as well as the respective aspects within each assessment item. This evaluation is intended to validate the selection of the items and to specify their respective importance to ultimately optimise the process of auditing applied R&D organisations.

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Intellectual Capital Statement (ICS) - A Case Study from a Hungarian non-profit Joint Venture

2022 , Kidschun, Florian , Hecklau, Fabian , Gábor, Nick

An Intellectual Capital Statement (ICS) is a strategic management instrument for assessing and developing the Intellectual Capital (IC) of an organization. The ICS shows how IC is linked to corporate goals, business processes and the business success of an organization using indicators to measure these elements. By identifying the causal relationships between the different types of capital, improvement potentials are discovered, which can then be used profitably for the strategic and operational development of the organization. Therewith, the ICS is an essential tool for preserving the competitive edge and keeping business successful in the knowledge-based economy. The workshop-based approach to creating an ICS helps participants to gain new insights into how their own organization operates. It also provides concrete results in the form of prioritized recommendations for action to foster their organization’s sustainable development and consistent reporting. Against this background, a case study to outline selected essential steps of the ICS creation for an applied research a non-profit joint venture for computer science and control in Budapest is presented.

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Development of a Conceptual Understanding of the term Technological Capability

2021 , Hecklau, Fabian , Kidschun, Florian , Kohl, Holger , Hizal, Gamze Gül

The term "technological capability" has been studied for almost 40 years. It is an important component of technology strategy that contributes to the success and strengthening of organizations competitiveness. There are numerous attempts to define the term in the literature, but it is always used in different contexts. Thus, the definition of technological capability varies depending on the researcher's perspective and objectives. Therefore, the main objective of this research is to develop an own definition and interpretation of the term technological capability. To this end, an extensive literature review will be conducted to examine the basic concepts and management areas of technological capability and to analyze the individual definitions of the term. The subsequent goal is to derive an understanding of what technological capability is in terms of research and technology organizations.

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Technology Audit - Procedure for the assessment of the technological maturity of applied R&D organizations

2022 , Hecklau, Fabian , Kidschun, Florian , Kohl, Holger

Applied research and development (R&D) organizations - or research and technology organizations (RTOs) in a broader sense - strive to develop technological solutions that translate results from research and science into state-of-the-art products and services. This can only be achieved if technological resources and competences are effectively and efficiently used to build up competitive advantages. Therefore, the assessment of the technological capability can provide applied R&D organizations with information on strengths and weaknesses in their specific technology areas, on the basis of which technology strategies can be derived to contribute to the development and training of substantial (core) competences, which in turn improve the quality of unique and differentiating products and services. The main objective of this paper is to describe the technology audit as a procedure for evaluating the technological maturity of applied research organizations. Hence, the focus will be put on the technological capabilities needed to execute the intended research activities on the way to becoming a reference in the respective technology area. In addition, the aim of the application of the procedure is to provide a detailed insight into the working methods of research institutions with focus on the R&D portfolio (e.g. complexity of R&D projects). Furthermore, the sustainable impact of R&D projects of the applied R&D organization (e.g. optimizations of customers processes) will be discussed, as well as the used & developed technologies and the necessary competences to generate innovative solutions for the Brazilian industry.

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Towards a Framework for Impact Assessment of Research & Technology Organisations

2021 , Kidschun, Florian , Hecklau, Fabian

Due to their ability to bridge the gap between knowledge created by basic research and market requirements, Research and Technology Organisations (RTOs) play a major role in countriesâ innovation systems. Their R&D results should lead to innovations, which in turn generate the economic output of public investment in research and development. Moreover, they should support the foundation of new companies and industrial innovations. RTOs can thus be seen as intermediaries between R&D and the industry, while they themselves constitute to a certain extent entrepreneurs and actors in applied R&D that focus on industrial and commercial application right from the start of their activities. Therewith, RTOs pursue to increase the competitiveness of the entire economy. With a growing demand for evaluating their actual contribution in national innovation systems, simply stating the goal of positive impact to stakeholders like governments, the public, investors etc. is not enough; its accomplishment needs to be proven by robust evidence. In this regard, the value of an impact assessment is determined by the strength of the evidence produced and the credibility of the evaluation. RTOâs research activities and their impacts are diverse in nature and occur across many sectors of the economy. To gain transparent insights into relevant and comprehensive performance metrics showing the impact of RTOs from a micro- and macroeconomic perspective, impacts are only appropriate for evaluation if a causal relationship can be drawn back to their origin. While some impacts are primarily economic and suitable for quantitative analysis, others have to be evaluated qualitatively. Regardless of its type, each impact needs to be assessed within a common framework to enable a comprehensive understanding of RTO's impact. Within this contribution, an impact assessment framework is established with the aim to enable the identification of causal relationships between impacts and their origin.

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Resilienz im strategischen Management produzierender Unternehmen. Konzeptpapier

2021 , Schuh, Günther , Patzwald, Marc , Krebs, Leonie , Dumitrescu, Roman , Rasor, Rik , Sihn, Wilfried , Steinwender, Arko , Sala, Alessandro , Kohl, Holger , Knothe, Thomas , Singer, Katrin , Hecklau, Fabian

Während Resilienz in anderen Managementdisziplinen, wie etwa im Bereich der Lieferketten, bereits seit längerer Zeit Einzug gehalten hat, existieren für das strategische Management von produzierenden Unternehmen kaum systematische Untersuchungen zu dessen Integration. Im Rahmen des Konzeptpapiers werden dem Leser daher konzeptionelle Ansatzpunkte aufgezeigt, wie Resilienz als neue normative Zielgröße in exemplarischen Teilstrategien des Strategiesystems produzierender Unternehmen Berücksichtigung findet (bspw. der Unternehmens-, Technologie- und Innovations-, Engineering- sowie Produktionsstrategie).

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