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

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.