Technology roadmapping in the TRIFOLD-project - technology transfer through customized capacity development measures in Tunisian Research Centers

Abstract

Research Focus: The contribution investigates how technology roadmapping has been used as a sound, appealing, and hands-on instrument to improve research valorization of six Tunisian research centers – embedded and illustrated by the German-Tunisian technology transfer project “TRIFOLD”.

The TRIFOLD project is financed by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) and supported by the DLR International Office (2016-2018). It is carried out by the Innovation Capability Center, Universität Bremen, and the Wilhelm Büchner Hochschule – Mobile University of Technology (Darmstadt) serving as subcontractor.

The objective is to empower Tunisian research centers using their role in the national Tunisian innovation system to improve research valorization. Six Tunisian research centers have been selected due to technology transfer readiness and innovation capabilities. For all six Tunisian research centers capacity development measures have been provided, all embedded in case studies: Any case study addresses a focus technology or a field of application that sounds promising in the light of the Tunisian socio-economy and national innovation system and is considered as of priority from the research centers’ perspective. The most promising example is the case study: „Hydroponic Cultivation“: It is the maturity of the technology and the joint enterprise of three research centers, all located in the Technopole Borj Cedria.

Methodology & research design: The entire methodology applied in TRIFOLD consists of 3 elements:
- A process-driven iterative adaptation (PDIA) procedure used as overall framework for capacity development measures in technology transfer (Andrews et al. 2015).
- The Service Process Capability Determination approach “innoSPICE” - a powerful analysis instrument of organizational cooperation capacity, based on ISO/IEC 15504 (Besson et al. 2012).
- The IPMI fast start approach of technology roadmapping (Moehrle and Isenmann 2017) as a sound, appealing, and hands-on methodological core in the “technology transfer front end”.

Research implications & results: Based on the IPMI fast start approach of technology roadmapping, technology transfer activities have been started and innovation projects have been launched. Even some roadmaps have been initiated: commerzialization of wind tunnel services roadmap, South Tunisian cooperative Biotech roadmap, reverse osmosis from deepwater sources for irrigation roadmap, Hydroponic Cultivation roadmap.

References
Andrews, M.; Pritchett, L.; Samji, S.; Woolcock, M. (2015): Building capability by delivering results: putting problem-driven iterative adaptation (PDIA) principles into practice. Whaites, A.; Gonzalez, E.; Fyson, S.; Teskey, G. (Eds.): A governance practitioner's notebook: alternative ideas and approaches. Paris: OECD: 123-133.

Besson, J.; Woronowicz, T.; Mitasiunas, A.; Boronowsky, M. (2012): Innovation, knowledge- and technology transfer capability model – innoSPICETM. Mas, A.; Mesquida, A.; Rout, T.; O’Connor, R.V.; Dorling, V. (Eds.). SPICE 2012. CCIS, vol. 290. Heidelberg: Springer, 74-85.

Moehrle, M.G.; Isenmann, R. (2017): Technologie-Roadmapping. Zukunftsstrategien für Technologieunternehmen. Berlin et al.: 4th ed. Springer.