Discovering Technological Intelligence (TI) in Silicon Valley

- by Peter Thomsen

Time to recap the second week in the entrepreneurial mecca of the US. After a productive first week with an almost completely packed schedule it was now the time for us to take lead and individually decide how we could develop our business idea further. But where to start? Now, before I boarded the plane in Copenhagen I spent some time reading and studying “technology intelligence systems” for the two main reasons: I was aware of the enormous geographically proportion of Silicon Valley and that I wanted to find a potential business partner/supplier.

Technology Intelligence (TI) is an activity that enables companies to identify the technological opportunities and threats that could affect the future growth and survival of their business. It aims to capture and disseminate the technological information needed for strategic planning and decision-making. As technology life cycles shorten and business become more globalized having effective TI capabilities is becoming increasingly important. In the execution phase TI is closely linked to technology scouting which is basically a systematic approach by companies whereby they assign part of their staff or employ external consultants to gather information in the field of science and technology and through which they facilitate or execute technology sourcing. Technology scouting is either directed at a specific technological area or undirected, identifying relevant developments in technological white spaces. Technology scouting relies on formal and informal information sources, including the personal networks of the scouts.

Personally I see TI this as an extremely important tool whenever managing a start-up business simply because speed is so very important. As a typical entrepreneur you will never be financial competitive with larger corporations, but because of the size of your business you have the ability to become more agile through flexibility and quick decision-making. I believe systemic TI allows you to eventually cut some tricky corners in the product development phase, by discovering skilled subcontractors and/or business partners.

Well one thing is theory… another is reality. Obviously I didn’t expect TI or technology scouting to be easy to execute during my stay here in Silicon Valley, because where would I start? And who should I talk to? However reality turned out to be quite different. Networking here in the Bay Area is extremely efficient and I have already made some contacts, which allows me be updated technology wise even when get back home to Denmark. People are generally very open-minded and interested in helping you – or at least they might know someone who can help you. I am now beginning to understand why thing move faster over here simply because of networking. Thereby not stating networking to be the only catalyst for progression, but only how much better I believe it works here compared to Denmark

I might not find an actual business partner over here, but already I have made some connections, which can function somewhat like scouts within my business area in Silicon Valley. So when I get back home I will therefore still be able monitor some of what is going on in Silicon Valley. Hopefully over time this will provide knowledge regarding either competition or maybe even business partners.