Designing a Systematic Technology Application Selection Process to Unlock the Potential of Technologies

The competitiveness of technology-oriented companies depends on their ability to identify
opportunities from technological developments and turn them into innovations. Particularly young
university spin-offs or technology-based startups built upon an existing technology waiting for its
commercialization in the market. But also, for technology-based companies, it is becoming
increasingly crucial to identify innovative applications for new or existing technologies. Since future
success depends on the recognition and coordination of opportunities of such, technology-push
innovations become essential. Still, oftentimes technologies remain unexploited and their potential
unused, which is also caused by the fuzzy front end, involving the technology application selection
(TAS). However, although several TAS approaches exist, they lack consistency and scientific
evaluation. Within a design science research (DSR) project, a systematic TAS process was iteratively
developed. Since the evaluation is essential, the focus of this paper lies in the evaluation of the second
design cycle of the systematic TAS process. Using the FEDS framework, an evaluation strategy was
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developed for five workshops (N=75), with the data collection carried out by a survey in form of a
questionnaire, analyzed with SPSS and the Gioia method. At the end of the evaluation, the potential
for improvement of the artefact is identified, to be integrated into the subsequent design cycle.