Exploring technological opportunities by linking technology and products: Application of morphology analysis and text mining

Abstract

The technological opportunity discovery (TOD) can be divided into two types: anticipating new technology and applying existing technology. The latter is useful for small and medium companies, which have weak technology forecasting capability. Thus, this research aims to suggest the methodology for the TOD based on existing technology by using morphology analysis and text mining. The extracted results of TOD are classified into three categories based on the types of product - existing, applied, and heterogeneous product. To illustrate the process and validate the utility of application, LED heat dissipation technology and LED lamps are selected as the technology and product for the illustration. The method contributes to suggest a semi-automated normative method for technology forecasting by combining morphology analysis and text mining. (C) 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.