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 PARTNERS
The University of Edinburgh, TechMaPP Centre
 TechMaPP (Technology Management and Policy Programme) at the Department of Business Studies of The University of Edinburgh is a business and strategy-oriented Centre of research, teaching and consultancy in strategic management of innovation and technology development. TechMaPP pursues academic entrepreneurship by working at the leading-edge of theoretical development and tools for guiding business processes, and by pursuing practical involvement in real technological/business experiences.
A wide range of activities and products provides TechMaPP with a sound base of expertise and experience in multiple areas, including information and communication technologies, multimedia, telemedicine, smart houses, SMEs in internet, e-commerce for public administrations, robotics; expert systems; company wide information systems; biotechnology, real-time evaluation of commercialisation networks, regional clusters, ICTs and employment and digital divide.
TechMaPP is deeply involved in the development of technology and business strategies inside Scotland and Europe. For these purposes TechMaPP uses its own work as well as the best of others. Specialist concepts addressed in TechMaPP include taxonomies of technologies (including evolutionary taxonomies); expertise and users; contextual usability; situated cognition; typologies of knowledge and knowledge flows. In particular TechMaPP has developed a distinctive approach to guide business evolution and consolidation for European and other projects.
This makes use of TechMaPP's understanding of technological innovations and business developments as processes of building sociotechnical constituencies" through "sociotechnical alignment."
This methodology reveals the essence of successful technology/business creation as one of effective alignment among the broad range of existing and target constituents in a context of technical, social, industrial and market trends.
Many dimensions are involved, including the nature of the target problem, standards, user's requirements, competing technologies, legacy technology, organisational rules and routines, etc., both at intra- and inter-organisational levels. All these are inevitable ingredients in the generation of businesses, and the key success factor lies in the ability to align them successfully.
TechMaPP's instruments for these purposes are: the diamond of alignment, the evolving master scenario (EMS), the evolving business plan (EBP), and the real-time evaluation methodology. These instruments are put at the disposal of projects to guide their "constituency-building" to effective realisation. The following is a selection of past and current TechMaPP activities:
- Led Dissemination Strategy for ESPRIT's large-scale focused cluster The Open Microprocessor Systems Initiative (OMI). Wrote introduction to OMI work programme under Framework Programme IV; and the original draft work programme for the DGIII/ESPRIT Multimedia Systems action under Framework Programme IV.
- Co-ordinated of Scottish Multimedia Working Group supported by Scottish Enterprise and Scottish Office;
- EC-DGXII FAME project: "Forecasting the Application of Multimedia and its Environment to 2010 and Beyond," Examined changes in technology, various sectors and regional policy.
- EC-DGIII (ESPRIT) NewsPad project - worked on the Multimedia Technology for Interactive Information Dissemination ("the multimedia newspaper"); TechMaPP provided overall strategy and methodology for this technology innovation project.
- EC-DGXIII/DGXVI project InTouriSME (Building an Internet-based Tourism Constituency for SMEs in the Less Favoured Regions of Europe) aiming at opening the Internet market for Tourism SMEs from Less Favoured Regions of Europe. The strategy of this large-scale European project was conceptualised as the build-up of a "sociotechnical constituency".
- EC-DGXIII ETHOS. Observatory for the Development of Telematics in Europe. TechMaPP provides methodologies and strategies for understanding and informing telematics developments in European Cities.
- Increasing Information Intensity: Towards Intelligent Products. This UK Design Council project looked at the nature and design processes of the new breed of "smart products" coming to market. TechMaPP developed conceptual instruments to make sense of the particular management of expertise required for the successful innovation of these technologies.
- CEC-DGIII. BuKS - Building a Knowledge-Sharing E-Business Cluster in West Lothian. Designed and implemented an e-commerce pilot cluster in West Lothian. TechMaPP provided the methodology and strategies for cluster building.
- Real-Time Evaluation of the Scottish commercialization network CONNECT-Scotland. CONNECT brokers university-industry-venture capital relations with the aim of stimulating the formation of new businesses. TechMaPP provides the research methodology and implements a two-year real-time evaluation workprogramme.
- CEC-DGINFSOC, PACE - Public Administrations and e-Commerce in Europe. Implements a physical and virtual learning environment to help accelerate the take up of e-commerce in the arena of local public administrations. TechMaPP is the project leader and has specified the overall approach and methodology.
- CEC-DGEnterprise, Transfer of Cluster Experience in Biotechnology to Southern Countries (from Scotland to the regions of Rome/Lazio, Andalucia and Thessaloniki.). TechMaPP contributes the strategic approach and methodology.
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