MOT (Management of Technology) is a management approach that treats technology as a business resource and links technological innovation to business growth and competitiveness.
Examples of ideas used in MOT
Technology portfolio: where to allocate resources
Technology forecasting: how to anticipate the future
Patent strategy: how to protect and use rights
Innovation: what to transform
Rather than stopping at the results of research and development, it manages from a management viewpoint which technologies to invest in and how to commercialize them into profit. Ideas such as evaluating technologies, forecasting the future and using patents serve as tools for this.
AnalogyIt is like a restaurant owner with a skilled chef who decides which dishes to feature and where to open shops, turning that skill into profit for the business.
How to rememberMOT stands for Management of Technology. Management comes first: the focus is less on technology itself than on running a business with it.
Exam points
ExamThe aim of MOT is to connect the innovation produced by investment in technology to the company's own business and keep the company growing over time.
ExamShaping technology development strategy and drawing up development plans fall within the scope of management that MOT covers.
ExamThe executive responsible for a company's technology strategy and for driving development is the CTO (Chief Technology Officer).
A technology portfolio (技術ポートフォリオ) is an analysis method that plots a company's technologies on a chart along several evaluation axes to decide which ones should receive resources first.
Placement example
Own technical level high
Own technical level low
Technologies with strong prospects
Invest heavily
Consider strengthening or partnering externally
Technologies with weak prospects
Use as a current strength
Consider scaling back or withdrawing
Based on the placement, the company picks technologies to invest in heavily and ones to scale back or drop. It applies to technologies the same idea as PPM, which lays out products and businesses to plan resource allocation.
AnalogyIt is like an investor sorting stocks by growth prospects and stability to decide where to concentrate money.
How to rememberA portfolio originally meant a document case or a collection of works. Picture gathering all your technologies into one binder to compare them.
Exam points
ExamA technology portfolio (技術ポートフォリオ) is an analysis tool for building technology development strategy: it places in-house technologies on a matrix formed by evaluation axes and compares them.
Technology forecasting methods (技術予測手法) is a general term for ways to anticipate technical progress and changes in the business environment, and it forms the basis for technology development strategy.
Technology roadmap example
Now
In 3 years
In 5 years
Core technology
Prototype small sensors
Mass-produce sensors
Lower part costs
Product functions
Measure standalone
Connect to networks
Predict failures automatically
Target market
Factories
Logistics
Homes
A typical method is the Delphi method (デルファイ法), which sends questionnaires to experts repeatedly and gradually converges their opinions. A chart that shows the forecast as the path technologies and product functions follow along a horizontal time axis is called a technology roadmap (技術ロードマップ).
AnalogyIt is like checking the weather forecast and expected traffic before a trip, then choosing when to leave and which route to take.
How to rememberDelphi was an ancient Greek site famous for its oracle. The name of a place where people sought the future lives on in a forecasting method.
Exam points
ExamTechnology development strategy is built on a view of future technologies and the business environment, so forecasting is the basis for deciding where to invest.
ExamA technology roadmap (技術ロードマップ) arranges technologies likely to appear in time order, which makes it easy to tie to plans for how much to spend on which development and when.
Mix-upA technology portfolio (技術ポートフォリオ) places technologies on evaluation axes to compare them, while a technology roadmap draws their path of progress along a time axis.
Patent strategy (特許戦略) turns a company's inventions into rights as patents and uses them both defensively, to block imitation, and offensively, by licensing their use, to gain a business advantage.
For example, cross-licensing (クロスライセンス), in which patent-holding companies let each other use their patents, is a way to bring in technology a company lacks. A patent portfolio (特許ポートフォリオ), which groups the patents held or pending and analyzes how they relate to the business, also feeds into patent strategy. Analyzing IP information together with business and management information and reflecting it in strategy is called IP landscaping (IPランドスケープ).
AnalogyIt is like building a fence around an invention to keep people out, while opening the gate for a toll or letting the neighbors cross each other's land.
How to rememberThe word patent comes from a root meaning "open." In return for disclosing an invention to the public, the holder gets exclusive rights for a set period.
Exam points
ExamIn cross-licensing (クロスライセンス), patent holders license each other, so each can use the other's technology to make products.
ExamA patent portfolio (特許ポートフォリオ) looks not at individual patents but at all patents held or pending, analyzing how they connect to the business.
ExamIn IP landscaping (IPランドスケープ), analysis results that include IP information are shared with executives and business leaders and used to shape strategy.
Process innovation (プロセスイノベーション) is innovation that transforms the processes for making and delivering products and services to raise efficiency and quality.
Examples include replacing manual work with machines or reorganizing manufacturing steps to cut costs or improve quality. It covers not only factory production but also reworking the steps used to deliver a service.
AnalogyIt is like making the same curry, but reworking the steps and tools so it comes out faster and tastes the same every time.
How to rememberProcess comes from a Latin word meaning "to move forward." Picture materials advancing through each step of production.
Exam points
ExamWhen process innovation (プロセスイノベーション) improves manufacturing, the direct result is higher product quality.
Product innovation (プロダクトイノベーション) is innovation that creates new products or services themselves or remakes them substantially.
Bringing goods with new functions or a kind of service that did not exist before to market are examples. It also includes improving an existing product so much that it becomes something different.
AnalogyIt is like a curry shop adding a dish it has never offered before.
How to rememberProduct comes from a Latin word meaning "to lead forth." Think of something shaped by hand and sent out into the world.
Exam points
ExamMarket needs drive product innovation (プロダクトイノベーション), which creates new products and services.
Mix-upProduct innovation changes what is made, while process innovation (プロセスイノベーション) changes how it is made and delivered.