Addressing the information needs of technology managers: Making derived information usable

Technology managers are faced with identifying emerging technologies with the greatest economic potential. Text mining of technical information sources has great potential for structuring and analyzing the vast amounts of information that is available today. There are tools available capable of analyzing patents and publication databases for trends, identifying emerging activity, and monitoring competitors. However, a disconnect between managers' information needs and the analysts' information provides a significant challenge. Additionally, technology managers are not accustomed to processing derived knowledge obtained through text mining. Thus, analysts must present information to managers so that they can easily and accurately interpret it. This paper investigates an approach that presents derived information in the context of stated information needs by technology managers. Those information needs are assessed via survey, applied to a sample technology record set, and evaluated according to stated criteria.