Abstract
This chapter describes the primary ways in which technological knowledge can and should be managed inside of organizations. This is in contrast to Chapter “Technology Scouting”, which looked at the question of how technological information flows into the organization from the outside. We first discuss ways in which technological information is captured through documents, models, artifacts, and in people’s minds. We also present technological knowledge management (KM) as an emerging field of research and as a major need and challenge for organizations and give guidelines and examples of both internal and external technology transfer. Technology transfer can happen not only within an organization but also across organizations. We conclude with a brief discussion on reverse engineering as a form of reconstruction of technological knowledge from existing technological artifacts and systems. The quality of technology roadmaps is often a reflection of how well technological knowledge is managed inside an organization. An explicit knowledge management system will help avoid duplication of technological developments and keep an organization from “reinventing the wheel.”
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Notes
- 1.
Some scholars of KM point out that the notion of “explicit technical knowledge” is an oxymoron and does not in fact exist, since in order for “knowledge” to exist in the first place it must – by definition – be tacit and therefore contained in the human mind. Other scholars, however, very much insist that technological knowledge can and does exist in embedded or implanted form in technological or biological artifacts such as DNA and can therefore exist outside of the human mind. This is a rather semantic and philosophical debate and both viewpoints are defensible.
- 2.
In India, teacher-student lineages (guru-shishya parampara) have preserved ancient texts of Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism via oral traditions. Even today this is the way that Indian classical music is taught. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oral_tradition#Indian_religions
- 3.
See Open Software Foundation, now The Open Group
- 4.
Object Process Methodology (OPM) is defined by ISO Standard 19,450 which was adopted in 2015
- 5.
These are also called Design Record Books (DRBs) in some companies where such reports embody the details of the product design.
- 6.
Since the 1990s, the People’s Republic of China (PRC) has required technology transfers from foreign firms in exchange for market access, avoidance of import tariffs, and allowing foreign direct investment (FDI). The technology would most commonly be transferred to a Joint Venture (JV) or a state-owned enterprise. With this strategy, China was successful in gradually building up its own technological base over the last 20 years, and combining the transferred technologies with its own inventions to bootstrap new industries and becoming a major exporter itself. This happened in high speed rail, nuclear reactors, and a number of other industries and it may happen in aviation as well (Young & Lan, 1997).
- 7.
An example is the Airbus Leadership University, see here: https://www.airbus.com/careers/working-for-airbus/leadership-university.html
- 8.
F + W Emmen was a Swiss government-owned aerospace company engaged in the design, manufacture (under license), and flight testing of aircraft, drones, and space systems. It has since been privatized and is now known as RUAG, a tier 1 supplier in the aerospace industry with headquarters in Emmen, Switzerland. McDonnell Douglas, then headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri, merged with Boeing in 1997 and is headquartered in Arlington, Virginia.
- 9.
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de Weck, O.L. (2022). Knowledge Management and Technology Transfer. In: Technology Roadmapping and Development . Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-88346-1_15
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-88346-1_15
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