What are Technology Roadmaps?

Technology road-mapping is a form of technology planning. It is a process whereby a framework can be developed to organize and present critical technology planning information in a way that improves technology investment decisions. Successful technology road-mapping efforts are based on a synthesis and integration of the work of a team of experts in the particular field of interest.

A technology roadmap is the document that is generated by the technology road-mapping process. The emerging technology roadmap focuses on a single technology, describes the way it is expected to develop, and may include project plans to support that development.

It focuses on:

• forecasting the development and commercialization of a new or emerging technology;
• the competitive position of an organisation with respect to that technology;
• how the emerging technology and the organisation's competitive position will develop.

The result of an emerging technology roadmap may be a decision to allocate additional resources to develop the technology to improve a competitive position. The implication is that as the technology develops, uses will be found for it.

The product technology roadmap identifies, as a function of these needs:

• critical supporting technology areas and their drivers;
• technology gaps that must be filled to meet targets;
• technology alternatives and information needed to make trade-off decisions;
• a plan to develop and deploy appropriate technology alternatives.

Emerging technology roadmaps may even be used to form subsections of complex product maps. The plan set forth in a roadmap includes development time frames and milestones, and often identifies ways to leverage R&D investments through coordinating research activities. In effect, a technology roadmap identifies alternate technology paths for meeting certain project or mission objectives. A single path may be selected and a plan developed. If there is high uncertainty or risk, then multiple paths may be selected and pursued concurrently. Some organisations have effectively combined the characteristics of both types of technology roadmaps. Both should be integrated with other business planning techniques.