Designing technology intelligence networks in the context of open innovation

The increasing innovation potential of integrating once distinct scientific disciplines as well as a highly dynamic and changing environment are two major factors with a considerable impact on the innovation processes of technology oriented companies. This development affects the way in which technology management in general and technology intelligence in particular should be carried out. As a consequence, the integration of external information resources becomes more important. This raises the question of how the access to those external resources should be organized and coordinated, i.e., how a technology intelligence network comprising external information sources should be designed. The article outlines a general framework which permits to formulate contextual requirements for technology intelligence. Based on those requirements, a systematic network design becomes feasible by deriving the constituent elementary and structural network properties. An approach is presented which comprehensibly models the process of network formation.