Tools for technology management-structure, organisation and integration

The management of technology to support innovation is of increasing interest to both managers in industry and academics. A large number of practical approaches (or 'tools') have been developed by managers, consultants and academics to support the management of technology and innovation, in the form of published guides, facilitated processes, methods, techniques, models, frameworks, etc. However, the effectiveness of these tools is limited by a lack of fundamental understanding of the structure and application of management tools, together with generally poor levels of awareness of what tools are available. This paper seeks to address some of these issues by describing the development of a tool catalogue for supporting technology management in the firm. Collection and analysis of the tools in the catalogue have enabled key aspects of management tools to be explored, in terms of the purpose of tools, their structure and potential for integration, and organisation within a tool catalogue.