Environmental monitoring
The Competitive Intelligence and Technology Watch methodology used by the Ideas Laboratory is designed as per the UNE 166006 Technology Watch standard. This establishes a series of steps in the so-called watch cycle show in the ?gure below and which is now described:
- Needs assessment. Starting from a series of topics of general interest, sources of information are identi?ed that can contribute value to power the system. The ?rst step consists of allocating sources by each of the partner companies of the Basque Ecodesign Center. The cycle begins once this step has been carried out. Alerts of interest for one or more of the companies can be identi?ed throughout that process.
- Alert identi?cation. Possible alerts of interest are detected by regular analysis of the sources and according to the selected topics. Each one is documented in alert sheet format which will be processed and entered in an internal database of the system, the Watch Platform. Once identi?ed, new traceable references will be used to search for and expand on the information.
- Searching, processing and validation. Finally, all the detected alerts are processed and maximised, by interrelating them and carrying out as many additional information consultations as necessary.
- Maximising. The ?nal result is embodied in a series of internal deliverables for partner companies, which will include speci?c proposals for action, along with already processed information that will drive the implementation of already existing project or which will be the starting point for getting new ones under way.
In addition, the so-called informal watch, using other types of sources not described in the system, will take place in the framework of the speci?c searches associated to speci?c needs. It is essential that the results of this informal watch, in the case of their being strategic for the company, are also included in the Internal Watch Platform, in the same way as the results of the formal watch.
During the two years that this service has been operating, the system has been re?ned and improved according to the needs detected and the areas for improvement identi?ed every year during the system review. The system has been constructed in a web environment and is run by the research team of the Basque Ecodesign Center’s Ideas Laboratory and is available online for all the partner companies.
