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Byline: Letizia Mortara, Clive I.V. Kerr, Robert Phaal, David R. Probert Technological information has become an increasingly important advantage for technology-based companies facing shorter technology life cycles and a more globally competitive business environment. Companies have dedicated progressively more resources to the development of Technology Intelligence (TI) systems, realising that these are important assets for business success. Reviewing eight intelligence systems implemented by UK technology-based organisations, this work aims to test the theoretical model developed by Kerr et al. (2006) and to investigate how TI systems are implemented in practice. The characteristics, strengths and weaknesses of each system were reviewed using the theoretical model as an analysis template.

Byline: Letizia Mortara, Clive I.V. Kerr, Robert Phaal, David R. Probert This paper proposes a toolbox of elements which can be used to structure and characterise any Technology Intelligence (TI) system. The toolbox has been derived by reviewing what roles, activities and physical infrastructure companies adopt in practice to build their own TI capability, including social networks. The different choices of elements can be attributed to the four modes of searching from Kerr et al.'s (2006) model: mine, trawl, target and scan. With the exception of the trawl mode, which features just connector elements, all the technology intelligence modes are supported by coordination, source connectors, repositories of information and search elements.