the development of a framework to measure the 'technology...

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The development of a framework to measure the “technology awareness”

of South African technology companies with regard to recent developments in

nanotechnology.

A Research Report

Presented to

The Graduate School of Business

University of Cape Town

In partial fulfilment

of the requirements for the

Masters of Business Administration Degree

By

Ansu Sooful

December 1999

Supervisor: Professor Rias Van Wyk

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COPYRIGHT UCTThis report is not confidential.

It may be used freely by the Graduate School of Business.

I wish to thank my wife Faldiela for her support and encouragement. Her comments and

advise on this report has helped me present difficult and vague concepts clearly and concisely.

I would also like to thank Professor Rias Van Wyk for his invaluable lectures on Management

of Technology, which introduced many of the tools and models used in this report.

I certify that except as noted above the report is my own work and all references used are

accurately reported in footnotes.

Signed: __________________________

Ansu Sooful

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COPYRIGHT UCTTHE DEVELOPMENT OF A FRAMEWORK TO MEASURE THE “TECHNOLOGY

AWARENESS” OF SOUTH AFRICAN TECHNOLOGY COMPANIES WITH REGARD

TO RECENT DEVELOPMENTS IN NANOTECHNOLOGY.

ABSTRACT

This study draws on the existing management of technology models and various perspectives

on strategy in order to build a coherent framework that can be used to measure “technology

awareness” as defined in this report. This framework is then applied to the Glass and Non-

metals sector to measure its “technology awareness” with regard to nanotechnology. Results

indicate that there is a low technology awareness of nanotechnology, which was in line with

expected results. The framework’s effectiveness, usefulness and usability were then analysed,

highlighting its strengths and weaknesses.

KEYWORDS: Technology, management of technology, technology awareness,

technology measurement, technology evaluation, nanotechnology,

technology in South Africa, nanotechnology in South Africa.

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Content

GLOSSARY........................................................................................................................................................... 1

1 INTRODUCTION........................................................................................................................................ 2

2 KEY DEFINITIONS ................................................................................................................................... 4

3 METHODOLOGY ...................................................................................................................................... 6

4 LITERATURE REVIEW............................................................................................................................ 8

5 THEORETICAL MODELS/FRAMEWORKS/CONCEPTS................................................................ 11

6 THE TECHNOLOGY AWARENESS FRAMEWORK ........................................................................ 18

7 APPLICATION OF THE TECHNOLOGY AWARENESS MODEL TO NANOTECHNOLOGY . 22

8 ANALYSIS OF THE FRAMEWORK.................................................................................................... 35

9 CONCLUSION .......................................................................................................................................... 37

10 APPENDIX 1 – SOUTH AFRICAN GOVERNMENT S&T ACTIVITIES......................................... 39

11 APPENDIX 2 – DESCRIPTION OF SECTORS ANALYSED ............................................................. 40

12 APPENDIX 3 – TECHNOLOGY AWARENESS SCORES PER SECTOR........................................ 49

13 REFERENCES........................................................................................................................................... 55

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Glossary

ASTC Australian Science and Technology Council

ATIP Asian Technology Information Program

CSIR Council for Science and Industrial Research

DACST Department of Art, Culture, Science and Technology

DRAM Dynamic Random Access Memory

FRD Foundation for Research and Development

GEAR Growth Employment and Redistribution Plan

GMR Giant Magnetoresistance

HSRC Human Science Research Council

IWGN Interagency Working Group on NanoScience, Engineering and

Technology

MEMS Microelectromechanical Systems

MOT Management of Technology

MRC Medical Research Council

NACI National Advisory Council on Innovation

Nm 1 Nanometre = 10-9 metres

NRF National Research Foundation

NRTF National Research and Technology Foresight

NSTC National Science and Technology Council (USA)

NSTF National Science and Technology Forum

POST Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology (UK)

RDP Reconstruction and Development Program

S&T Science and Technology

SAP Social Acceptance Probability

SED Single Electron Devices

SET Single Electron Transistor

SHE Safety, Health and Environment

WTEC World Technology Division

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1 Introduction

During the last eight years, there have been various investigations into Science and

Technology (S&T) in South Africa. These are outlined in Appendix A. One of the most

significant investigations was the technology audit that was commissioned in 1996 and

completed in September this year. This audit would enable government and industry to

evaluate the country’s current S&T strengths and weaknesses as well understand the impact of

technology on the future of the country. Now that the audit is complete, methods should be

developed to identify, evaluate and benchmark technology in South African companies

against the rest of the world. The report aims to provide a framework to South African

managers to enable them to measure the “technology awareness” of their companies and

thereby benchmark their organisations against global competitors.

This report firstly provides a definition of “technology awareness” and then draws on existing

Management of Technology (MOT) models to create a practical framework that can be used

to evaluate a company’s technology awareness with regard to emerging technologies.

Nanotechnology was chosen as the technology to test the framework. The reasons are outlined

below. Firstly, interest in the field of nanotechnology has been growing world-wide over the

last decade with ever increasing number of researchers from diverse disciplines entering the

field. This has increased scope and opportunities in the nanotechnology field. In 1997, the

total spend on nanotechnology research was 432 million dollars by various governments. This

figure excludes the private sector companies such as Hitachi - 280 million dollars, NEC - 15

million dollars and Toshiba - 20 million dollars per annum (Siegel, Hu, Roco, 1999:WTEC site

visits). Figures from Europe and United States private companies were not available,

however, if the trend is similar to Japan, then private sector R&D spend on nanotechnology is

more than double the government spend. This indicates an annual spend of ~1,296 million

dollars of R&D in the field of nanotechnology alone.

Secondly, the completion of a world-wide audit on nanotechnology by the United States

government’s NSTC coupled with the completion of the technology audit of South African

companies provided a great opportunity to draw information from these two reports and

measure South Africa’s technology awareness in the context of the world.

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Thirdly, nanotechnology is a broad-based technology. The implication of this is that many of

the industries would be affected. This research identified seven out of the eighteen technology

sectors would be directly affected by developments in nanotechnology. Only one company -

Eskom mentioned nanotechnology as a potential technology to be aware of in the future

(South African Journal of Science, 1998). It became clear that even “high tech” South African

companies had very little technology awareness of nanotechnology yet the world is spending

more than double South Africa’s total R&D budget on this specific technology. If this report

helps South African companies develop technology awareness with regard to this or any other

rapidly emerging technology, then it would have met its primary objective.

The report firstly defines key terminology and then outlines the research methodology

adopted for this study. This includes the types of research conducted as well as any problems

experienced with the methodology. After this, a brief review of the various types of literature

is outlined. Key pieces of literature are noted and their respective contributions to this report

are discussed. Various theoretical and MOT models are then discussed. These models were

selectively chosen to build up a practical framework for the evaluation of technology

awareness. The framework is then constructed from modified and self-developed models. It is

then applied to the Glass and Non-metals sector in South Africa to measure the sectors level

of technology awareness with regard to nanotechnology. The framework is then evaluated in

terms of its usability. This report then concludes with a synopsis of the key issues.

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2 Key Definitions

In order to develop a model to measure the technology awareness of nanotechnology in South

African companies, the following definitions are described.

2.1 Nanotechnology

Since nanotechnology is such a broad field, it is not surprising that different regions in the

world have different definitions of what is meant by nanotechnology. For example, in Europe,

nanotechnology is defined as “the direct control of atoms and molecules for materials and

devices” (Siegel et al, 1999:141) while the definition in the United States is broader. In this

report the United States’ National Science and Technology Committee’s (NSTC) definition of

nanotechnology is used:

“the exploitation of the novel and improved physical, chemical, mechanical, and biological

properties, phenomena, and processes of systems that are intermediate in size between

isolated atoms/molecules and bulk materials, where phenomena length and time scales

become comparable to those of the structure. It implies the ability to generate and utilise

structures, components, and devices with a size range from about 0.1 nm (atomic and

molecular scale) to about 100 nm (or larger in some situations) by control at atomic,

molecular, and macromolecular levels” (Siegel, et al, 1999:131).

2.2 Technology Awareness

For the purposes of this study “Technical Awareness” is defined as the holistic understanding

of the impact that new or emergent technologies will have on current actions/strategies.

Technology awareness must be holistic, indicating that the internal and external environment

of the company is understood. This includes social factors, environmental issues and various

trends in society. The identification of emergent technologies should be conducted via

technology scanning methods and/or the consulting of appropriate sources of technology

information. The extent to which the results of this technology analysis are used to influence

current actions/strategies is an indication of the level of technology awareness (Sanders,

1998:110-111).

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2.3 Internal Core Competencies

Van Wyk (1999:60) defined a core competency as a “unique combination of technology,

corporate procedures and corporate skills”. Core competencies have the following

properties:

• Differentiates the organisation from its competitors

• Is hard to imitate

• Underpins many different products

• Provides access to different markets

• Contributes to perceived customer value

Van Wyk (1999:61) acknowledges that it is very difficult to find core competencies that meet

this definition. Some organisations might not be able to find any such competencies. In this

study the term core competency is used to identify a unique and/or distinctive competency in

the company.

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3 Methodology

The first step in this process was the gathering of data. There were five areas in which

research was conducted. These were grouped in the following categories:

1. Nanotechnology as an emergent technology including current breakthroughs and

applications.

2. Ways and means of evaluating companies’ ability to link technology with strategy.

Current academic models, and evaluation methods.

3. Research into the South African companies’ strategic planning processes.

4. Information on South African government’s understanding of nanotechnology and

whether this forms part of its long term planning.

5. Information of first world governments’ understanding of nanotechnology and whether

this forms part of their long term planning.

6. Research on world-wide companies that are currently involved in nanotechnology,

including investment in the technology.

Desk research was done for all of the above categories.

The second step was to identify and pick the most appropriate models that could be used in

the development of the framework for the measurement of technology awareness in South

African companies. Some of the models had to be adapted in the creation of the framework.

All adaptations are fully described and documented.

The third step was to apply these models and create a complete framework that could be used

to evaluate technology awareness in South Africa. The framework was analysed and

described. Limitation and assumptions were highlighted.

The fourth step was to apply the framework to nanotechnology and to the South African

industry. This involved a technology scan of nanotechnology, followed by an internal analysis

of a South African company. During the scanning phase it became clear that the field of

nanotechnology was too broad to conduct a detailed scan without dividing the technology into

manageable logic areas. A logical hierarchical structure of nanotechnology, proposed by the

NTSC, was used in the scanning process (Siegel, et al, 1999:5).

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The initial proposal was to conduct an evaluation of the top technology companies in South

Africa. A Delphi study was to be conducted to get consensus on the evaluation of companies

as technology companies by experts in the field of MOT. However, many of the potential

panellists had issues of confidentiality with regard to the knowledge that they had on

companies and therefore could not participate in this panel. The implication of this was that

the “top technology” companies could not be identified.

Instead of using the Delphi study group to identify top technology companies, this report

made use of the information from the South African government’s technology audit to

identify technology sectors impacted by nanotechnology. These sectors included companies

involved in material processing, chemical, synthesis, and electronics. The impacts of

nanotechnology on seven key technology sectors were evaluated. The sector that was most

highly impacted was discussed in the report.

The final step was to evaluate the framework by interpreting the results and looking for

corroborating or dismissive evidence that the framework gives a “true” indication of

technology awareness of nanotechnology in the South African industry. Both benefits and

shortcomings of the framework were identified and discussed.

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4 Literature review

The types of literature that were consulted can be broken up into four basic areas, that is:

• Speculation on the Impact of Nanotechnology

• Research into Nanotechnology

• Management of Technology and Innovation

• Technology in South Africa

A fifth area called “General Area” was also outlined to include commentary on literature that

does not fall into any of the above categories.

4.1 Speculation on the Impact of Nanotechnology

Although there was little academic or scientific information in these readings, it gave an

indication of the general awareness of a technology, general public opinion and potential of

the technology, which helped when conducting a scan of the technology and social

landscapes. Currently there are over 500 nanotechnology sites on the Internet and just as

many Usenet articles. Majority of the Usenet articles tends to be speculative and sensational

with very little scientific data. Most of the web sites contain both sensational as well as valid

scientific data. The Foresight Institute’s web site www.foresight.org was a very valuable site

in extracting both visionary and scientific information. The “Engines of Creation” by Drexler

(1986) proved to be very useful since Drexler is also a scientist and he was able to link

speculation with scientific possibilities.

4.2 Research into Nanotechnology

For actual research information into nanotechnology, journals on general science, engineering

and physics provided valuable information. Articles on information on latest research

developments in nanotechnology could be found in New Scientist, Journal of Physics,

Scientific American, Nature, and the Journal of the American Chemical Society.

The most valuable information was extracted from the Internet. These included companies

that are currently conducting research into nanotechnology, Academic institutions such as

universities and technology institutions, various government sites such as NASA, NSTC,

POST, etc. These sites contained published and unpublished papers and articles.

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The most useful piece of literature was a worldwide study of nanotechnology commissioned

by the Interagency Working Group on NanoScience, Engineering and Technology (IWGN).

This report entitled “Nanostructure Science and Technology- A Worldwide Study” took more

that two years to complete and it provides a consolidated view of all the research that is

currently being done on nanotechnology by governments as well as companies. A complete

audit was done including worldwide site visits to public, private and corporate research

facilities. Many of the findings of this report were used during the technology scanning

process.

4.3 Management of Technology and Innovation

The main component of this report is the development of a framework that management can

use as part of their strategic planning. In order to develop this framework, technology

management books and journal articles were consulted. These readings include two of Peter

Drucker’s books, namely, “Technology Management and Society”, as well as “Managing for

the Future”. Other books included a book by Ernest Braun called “Technology in context –

Technology Assessment for Managers” and “Strategic Thinking and the new Science” by T. I.

Sanders.

The most useful readings in terms of practical and easy of use models were from “

Technology and the Corporate Board” and “Strategic Technology Scanning” by Rias Van

Wyk. This report makes use of some of the models that he proposed. The Journals that were

consulted included the Management of Technology Journal and the International Journal of

Technology Management.

4.4 Technology in South Africa

In order to get information on the technology awareness of South African companies the

following literature was consulted. The “Business Futures 1999” published by the Institute for

Futures Research gave an overall picture of the current technology situation in South Africa.

Various Government and non-government institutions produced reports and papers on

Science and Technology during the last eight years. These were also used to build up a profile

of technology in South Africa. The following science councils - CSIR, NRF, MINTEK, and

MRC were also contacted for more information on the South African technology landscape.

The Journal of Science was also used as a source of information to build this profile.

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The most useful source of information was the recently completed technology audit, which

covered 18 technology sectors. This report draws on many of their findings when conducting

an internal examination of South African companies. Economic data compiled by Standard

Bank was also consulted in order to get a perspective on the economic trends of the South

African industry. Another book that was consulted was “South Africa – Prospects for

successful Transition” by Nedcor and Old Mutual. This book outlined various possible

scenarios for South Africa and outlined difficulties that South African society has to face in

order to grow economically.

4.5 Other General Areas

The development of a model to evaluate technology awareness is part of a drive to create a

culture of foresight when conducting strategic planning. For this reason general Strategy

books such as “What is Strategy- and does it Matter” by Whittington as well as various

articles in “The Strategy Reader” were consulted.

Another area that this framework hopes to promote is the development of “learning

organisation” by providing a tool, “the use of which will lead to new ways of thinking”

(Senge, Keiner, Roberts, Ross, Smith, 1994:28). This is a concept introduced by Peter Senge

in his book the “Fifth Discipline: The Art and Practice of the learning organisation”. He,

together with four other authors, subsequently published “The Fifth Discipline Fieldbook”

which provided tools and strategies for building a learning organisation. This framework

embeds some of these tools and strategies in order to ensure that the process of calculating

technology awareness results in an increase in organisational knowledge.

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5 Theoretical Models/Frameworks/Concepts

5.1 Organisation of Nanotechnology technology areas

One of the problems that broad-based technologies introduce is the complexity of coherently

investigating various technological advancements. The United States National Science and

Technology Council (NSTC) developed a model to organise their research during their world-

wide study of nanotechnology during the period 1996 to 1999. This report will make use of

this model in order to highlight the areas of technology impact (Siegel et al, 1999:5).

The model is graphically represented as follows:

Organisation of the field of Nanotechnology

There are three broad areas that one can split up the process involved in nanoconstruction.

These are:

1. “Synthesis” - This involves the process where atoms or molecules are put together to form

“nanoparticles”.

2. “Assembly” - These nanoparticles are then put together to form nanostructures. By

controlling the size and structure of these nanostructures it is possible to control the

properties of the resultant material. A likely technology that would be introduced at this

stage in the process would be nanoreplicaters.

3. “Application” – this includes the way in which these nanostructures are networked

together in order to control the properties of the resultant material. This resultant material

can fall into four application areas that is:

Atoms/ Molecules

NanoparticlesNanostructures

Nanodevices

Dispersion and coatings

Consolidated materials

High Surface Area

Process line

Synthesis ApplicationsAssembly

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• Functional nanodevices - driven by the need for smaller devices. These devices need

to have the ability to interconnect with other nanodevices and create complete

functional systems.

• High surface area materials - The nanoscale building blocks have high surface to

volume areas. One would be able to control the surface area of a material by

controlling the networking/bonding of the nanostructures that make up a material. This

is very important for the creation of absorption materials or catalysts.

• Consolidated/bulk materials – the bulk behavior of materials can be controlled and set

at the atomic level. This could affect the mechanical, magnetic, or optical properties of

materials.

• Dispersion and coatings - Some of the commercial applications include printing,

sunscreens, photography, and pharmaceuticals and drug dispensary (Siegel, et al,

1999).

This report uses these four functional areas to act as a basis for investigating and describing

advancements in nanotechnology.

5.2 Technology Scanning/Assessment - Nanotechnology

There were several models or methodologies for technology scanning that various literatures

proposed. Hetman (1973:119) proposed a seven-step model while Braun (1998:33) proposed

a five-step model for technology assessment. Whilst these models covered the various aspects

of technology scanning, it was felt that Rias Van Wyk’s (1997:28) four-step approach to

technological scanning seem more relevant here. The reason for this was that both Braun and

Hetman’s approaches appeared to concentrate on the technology impact analysis, while Van

Wyk’s approach seem to concentrate more on the strategic nature of technology scanning. His

approach is outlined below.

• Define the landscape and set the agenda

• Explore the technological frontier

• Interpret and identify landmark technologies

• Evaluate using the landmark technologies and re-examine the company’s technological

base.

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It must be noted that the intended use of this model was to examine a host of emerging

technologies and not just one. In fact Van Wyk (1999) cautions against scans that are “clearly

focused and narrow domains of interest”. This warning must be noted when conducting a

technology scan as systemic influences in an organisation can dictate the areas that are

scanned (Whittington, 1993:55). The scope of this report, however, has been restricted to the

technological area of nanotechnology. Within the context of this report, it is acceptable to

apply this model to one well-defined technological area.

This report was interested in the identification of landmark nanotechnology technologies and

the evaluation of South African companies’ technological basis with respect to these

technologies. Van Wyk (1999) also proposed methods for the diagnosis of core competencies

and a matrix that indicates the interaction between the core competence and landmark

technologies. This would help an organisation identify landmark technologies that it should

be considering in their strategic planning.

5.3 Measurement of the status of technology in a corporate

In his unpublished book “Technology and the Corporate Board”, Rias Van Wyk (1999:1)

used a four-point scale in describing a link between corporate strategy and technology. The

scale is described as follows: -

Level 0 – There is no link with technology and strategy. Technology is a tool.

Level 1 – There is a relatively weak link between technology and strategy. Strategy is formed

first, and the technological implication examined later.

Level 2 - Strategy and technology codetermine each other. Executives understand their

technological core competencies and they use this as part of the strategic drive of the

organisation.

Level 3 – Technology foresight shapes and defines overall strategy. Executives use this

foresight to identify strategic opportunities.

5.4 Examination of the External/ Market Forces

Braun (1998:130) introduced the concept of a “relevance tree” that covers five areas, namely,

Economy, Technical/Commercial, Labour, Social/personal, and the Environment. Van Wyk

(1999:41) identified six “clusters of social values”. These are Safety, Health, Environment,

Energy, Entropy, and Economic. This report makes use of Van Wyk’s (1999:42) social

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preferences as basis for examining external/market forces. A table has been developed to help

map technologies against emerging social/ market values.

Description Weight Weighted

score

Rejection

Score =0

Acceptance

Score =0.5

Preference

Score = 1

Safety % Threaten No Impact Enhance

Health % Threaten No Impact Enhance

Environment % Contamination No Impact Improve

Energy % High cost, high

wastage, low

output

No Impact Low cost,

low

wastage,

High output

Entropy % High Low No impact

Economy

a) Efficiency % Reduce No Impact Improve

b) GDP/Capita % Reduce No impact Increase

c) Money % Reduce No impact Stable

d) International Ratios % Unstable Not

Affected

Stable

e) Non Cyclic Development % Unstable Not

Affected

Stable

f) Equitable distribution of

means

% Reduce No impact Increase

g) Balanced geography

development

% Reduce No impact Increase

h) Differential Social

Empowerment

% Reduce No impact Improve

Social Adoption Probability (SAP) =

This table indicates the social values and trends in society. The implications of this are that

technologies having a high “preference” bias will have a higher probability of succeeding

(P=1) then technologies that have a “rejection” bias (P=0). These probabilities are reflected

as “scores”.

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Also weights have been added to these values to indicate the importance attached to each

factor. These values can differ in different regions or societies. For example, first world

countries might be more concerned about SHE factors and less concerned about economic

factors while third world countries might have an opposite perspective. The “score” is

multiplied by the weight to give a “weighted score”. The “Weighted Scores” are added up to

give a “Social Adoption Probability” (SAP) score.

A cautionary warning by the Processualists is that the market is not as flexible as one might

be lead to believe. Even superior technologies that score a high SAP might be rejected by

society. Another cautionary note is that the calculations done here are highly subjective.

This model would work best if the weights were done by an internal committee rather than

individuals. The reason for this is that there is a great deal of thought and debate behind the

values. This activity will help develop organisational knowledge by stimulating debate and

assumptions about the external environment. If organisations continue to perform this activity

on a regulate basis and reflect on the results of their previous activities by revising their

assumptions and perceptions, then they would have taken the first steps to creating a learning

organisation around social scanning (Senge et al, 1994).

5.5 Strategic Technology Management

Drucker (1992:216-219) supports the view that research and development need to become

business driven rather then science driven. He proposes that technology strategies must be

based on business and market objectives. Business objectives should be based on the

potential of technology.

Whittington (1993:81-90) gives various perspectives on this subject. From a classical

perspective technology has to be market driven, that is, “technology push” processes must be

replaced with “market pull” processes so that the organisation can meet and satisfy consumer

needs. Wittington then shows how this market centric perspective is flawed in that technology

innovation can also be used to improve profits by controlling workers (Marxian) or by

controlling markets and dominating consumers (Schumpeterian).

Processual and systemic prospects suggest that technology innovation management is more

than simply understanding that the market directs technologies.

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The systemic view looks at the culture of the organisation. In American companies, R&D

staff views themselves as individuals separate from the company technology, while top

management view technology as simple tools to serve the objectives of the organisation.

Financial and Accounting disciplines dominate the top structure. In Germany companies,

technology drives the corporate strategy. Top management tends to come from R&D or

science backgrounds. Technology and strategy are intertwined at all levels in the company.

The German industry’s recent success indicates a better approach to technology (Whittington

1993:81-90).

The processual perspective is that technology innovation cannot be managed due to its

uncertain and unknown nature. Processualists warn against “over management” of innovation.

Also, the market approach tends to over estimate the flexibility of the organisations and

markets, Nuclear power and the QWERTY keyboard are given as examples of superior

technologies that did not fit with established paradigms. “Effective technology innovation

does not only come from scanning the external environment for marketing opportunities …

but from looking internally into the organisation and establish and build on core

competencies” (Whittington 1993:90).

Systemic view of Technology Management

This diagram attempts to capture these various points of view on strategic technology

management. The four areas outlined in the corners of the rectangle influence strategy, yet

strategy also impacts these areas. Also there are interrelationships between each of the

corners. Business objectives can impact the market, even if it means dominating the

consumers (Schumpeterian) and vice versa where market factors dominate business objectives

Business / Market

Objectives

Strategy

Potential

Technologies

Market/ External

Factors

Internal Core

Competencies

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(Classical). Objectives can drive internal competencies (Marxist) while competencies can

determine objectives (Processual). Internal competencies develop/ drive new technologies

(Processual), or new technologies can drive /influence competencies (Systemic). And finally,

the market environment can drive new technologies (Classical) or new technologies can

create new markets (Processual) e.g. 3M’s “Post-it”.

Technology managers need to be able to understand the systemic nature of strategic

technology planning and understand the interrelationships of these driving forces in order to

effectively manage technology. The interrelationships differ in different organisations.

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6 The Technology Awareness Framework

The following framework has been developed to help organisations come to terms with the

technology awareness levels within their organisations. Existing MOT models help identify

technologies that organisations should be concerned about, but fail to measure their

technology awareness of the organisation with regard to these technologies. A possible reason

for this is that the measurement of a concept like technology awareness is not an exact science

and much of it is based on calculated intuition. This framework attempts to integrate the

models/frameworks mentioned in the previous section into a coherent framework that can be

used to calculate an organisation’s technology awareness.

The Technology Management model outlined and described in section 4.5 was used as the

base model as this outlines the various areas that impact strategy. The Technology Scanning

model from section 4.2 was then added to the base model to identify “potential technologies”.

The External/Market Forces model from section 4.4 is used to identify market or external

issues. And finally, the Status of technology framework from section 4.3 is used to measure

the strategy in terms of the levels defined by Van Wyk. The board is capable of identifying

the business objectives and core competencies. Core competencies are defined in section 2.3.

Since most directors know their companies core competencies and business objectives, it was

felt that no framework or model was required for this. The model now looks like the

following diagram:

The Modified Technology Management Model

Business / Market

Objectives

Strategy

Potential

Technologies

Market/ External

Factors

Internal Core

Competencies

Internal Analysis

Technology

Scan

Market/External

Factors

Status of

Technology

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A matrix was then developed. This matrix was based on Van Wyk’s (1997:33) matrix of core

competencies versus landmark technologies. The following adaptations were made.

1. The matrix allows for a score of one and zero where 1 indicates impact, and 0 indicates no

impact. This deviates from the original matrix where scores from –2 to 1 were allowed.

2. New calculations were added onto the matrix where certain mathematical formulas were

used to work out the technology awareness per landmark technology, and then per

organisation.

This matrix gets its information from the modified technology management model. This is

represented below:

Landmark

Technologies

Core competencies Internal

Impact (I)

Strategic

Level (L)

SAP Awareness

Score (S)

A B C

Technology 1 1 0 1 2 2 0.7 2.8

Technology 2 0 0 0 0 3 0.2 0

Technology 3 0 1 0 1 1 0.8 0.8

Technology 4 1 1 1 3 3 0.4 3.6

Internal Effect (E) 2 2 2 6

Technology Awareness (T) T= ∑∑∑∑S /∑∑∑∑I 1.2

Low T High

Awareness 0 Low 1 Medium 2 High 3 Awareness

Some of the basic calculations and definitions are as follows:

1. Strategic level (L) – Strategic level of a landmark technology in a company - as defined by

Van Wyk (1999:1). Values range from 0 to 3 indicating the strategic level of that

technology at the organisation’s board level.

2. Impact level (I) - the sum of the core competencies that are affected per technology. This

calculation indicates number of core competencies impacted by a landmark technology.

Internal

Analysis

Technology

Scan

Status of the

technology

External/

Market Factors

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3. Effect (E) - the sum of the technologies that affect a core competency. This calculation

indicates the total effect on each core competency.

4. Social Acceptance Probability (SAP) – the probability of the technology being accepted

by the market.

5. Awareness Score (S) - the level that the landmark technology has in the organisation (0-3)

multiplied by the Impact Score I multiplied by the probability of Social acceptance SAP.

6. Technological Awareness (T) – the sum of S divided by the sum of I. The scores can be

clustered as follows:

• 0 – 1 Low Awareness

• 1 – 2 Medium Awareness

• 2 – 3 High Awareness

The logic behind this framework is that there are various considerations to measuring

technology awareness. The technological landscape should be understood so that potential

landmark technologies could be identified (Systemic). The organisation should understand its

core competencies and business objectives and how they relate to technology (Processual).

The market environment must be understood and organisations should understand the impact

of introducing new technologies (Classical). The final component of technology awareness is

the strategic view of the organisation on technology. By creating a framework where

technology awareness is determined by looking at the impact of a technology on a company,

the impact on society, and the attitude of the board to that technology, gives an “Awareness

Score” per technology. Some companies might score high on some technologies and low on

others due to possible systemic reasons. Technology awareness is organisational based and

not technology based. For this reason, an overall score (T) is calculated to indicate technology

awareness.

The usage of the framework is as follows:

1. A Technology scan is conducted as described in section 5.2

2. An External /Market examination of each landmark technology identified in Step 1.

3. An Internal Analysis is done to determine core competencies and business objectives.

4. A scoring of the strategic level of each landmark technology at the board level.

5. Populate the matrix and calculate the score.

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The framework is useful in the sense that it provides a measurement to an abstract concept.

In South Africa, companies are very financially driven and therefore numbers play an

important role. This framework puts together many abstract concepts and adds certain

values to them in order to reduce technology awareness to something that investors and

directors can understand. Currently, abstract concepts like “brand value” and “company

value” are measured and accepted by the market. Even in a conservative discipline like

Accountancy, the concept of “goodwill” was introduced to cater for these abstract

concepts. The creation of frameworks to measure various technology concepts helps a

non-technology aware market come to grips with technology matters in a format that they

can understand.

MOT measuring frameworks would help the market peg a value to something, even if it is

an abstract concept. Once the market has some perception of value to these concepts, it

will begin to manage them by discounting firms with low scores and funding firms with

high scores. It must be noted that the current JSE handbook does not have any technology

indicators. Since investors use this book to make investment decisions, it implies that

investors are not totally aware of the level of technology awareness of the companies that

they are investing in. By creating these indicators, so that investors can understand and

evaluate them, one would indirectly influence the board to begin managing technology in

order to protect their share price.

This model is very simplistic, however it outlines the important considerations that one

should account for when determining the level of a company’s technology awareness. It

also provides a base on which other technology evaluation frameworks can be built. This

framework will be tested using nanotechnology as the technology landscape. Any

problems experienced with the framework will be highlighted and discussed in section

nine.

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7 Application of the Technology Awareness Model to Nanotechnology

7.1 Step 1 – Conduct a Technology Scan

7.1.1 Define the Landscape and Set the Agenda

The boundaries of the technological scan are set within the nanotechnology organisation

model described in section 5.1. These are as follows:

• Nanodevices

• Dispersion and coatings

• Consolidated materials

• High Surface Area materials

The scanning process will concentrate on these technological areas.

7.1.2 Explore the Technological Frontier

7.1.2.1 Nanodevices

7.1.2.1.1 Construction of Nanoprocessors

One of the most exciting areas of application of nanotechnology is in the area of

microprocessors. Currently chip manufacturers are faced with the problem of size vs.

complexity. As complexity (c) increases and size (s) decreases, cost goes up and feasibility

decreases i.e. c/s ∝∝∝∝ cost and s/c ∝∝∝∝ feasibility.

Microprocessors – size vs. complexity

(Roux A, 1999:4-18)

In some of the laboratories research activities on silicon are decreasing, research activities on

single-electron devices (SEDs) which are composed of integrated single-electron transistors

No of Transistors

0

50100

150200

250300

350400

450

Year

Transistors per cm 2

Circuit Line Size

0

0.05

0.1

0.15

0.2

0.25

Year

Circuit Line Size

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(SETs) are increasing. Hitachi has already created a logical circuit of a diameter of less that

10 nanometers in diameter that can represent 1 bit of information using less than 10 electrons.

(Chown 1995:22). Currently more that 500 000 electrons are used to represent 1 bit. This

development indicates the journey towards SET and SED circuits has already begun and that

a breakthrough is possible in the near future.

7.1.2.1.2 Giant magnetoresistance (GMR) Technology

In many metals, electrical resistance changes when placed in a magnetic field. This property

has been of little use until GMR in multilayered structures was discovered in 1988 where it

made it possible to detect very small external magnetic fields.

Current applications of this technology are found in hard disk heads, computer memory

applications that could compete with (Dynamic Random Access Memory (DRAM) and flash

memories, and various very small sensors, e.g. motion detectors (Roux A, 1999:4-54).

After the introduction of GMR technologies, the annual increase in number of bits per cm2 of

disk surface area have increased from 30% per annum to 100% per annum (PC Magazine,

1999).

A current restriction on this technology is that the transition of these layers is quantum

mechanically confined in one dimension. Current research is conducted to create layered

filaments in which there are one- and two-dimensional confinements (Siegel, et al, 1999:67-

93)

7.1.2.1.3 Optical Devices

Optical devices have already benefited from incorporation of nanostructured materials. Recent

advances in the “self-assembled” formation of quantum dot structures have stimulated

progress in the development of quantum dot lasers, implying greater improvements for lasers

utilising either quantum wire or quantum dot active layers. (Siegel, et al, 1999:67-93).

7.1.2.1.4 Nanotubes

The first synthesis of carbon nanotubes was reported. Initially, work on nanotubes was

focused on purifying and producing these tubes rather then studying their properties. The

theoretical study of their electronic structure followed this. The finding of these studies

indicate that these nanotubes have unique electronic and mechanical properties that are

expected to lead to groundbreaking industrial applications in the near future (Siegel, et al,

1999:67-93).

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7.1.2.2 Dispersion and coatings

This area is the most advanced in terms of current applications of nanotechnology. A unique

value of nanoparticles is their extremely high particle surface area; having many more sites

for achieving property enhancements makes them ideal for a wide variety of applications as

dispersions and coatings. Dispersive and coating applications of nanoparticles include optical,

thermal, and diffusion barriers. One of the great advantages are in the environmental impact

of coatings. Currently many coatings involve the utilisation of toxic solvents. Utilising

nanostructure particle in coatings will eliminate the use of these solvents. By eliminating

hazardous wastes, nanocoatings can both reduce a company’s disposal costs and improve its

environmental position (Siegel et al, 1999:35-49).

Some of the current applications are outlined below.

7.1.2.2.1 Cosmetics.

An area of nanoparticle technology that has incredible commercial potential is in the

multibillion-dollar cosmetic and beauty industry. This industry consists of cosmetics and

hygiene products such as powders, sprays, perfumes, and deodorants. There are also large

markets for sunscreens and skin rejuvenation preparations. The diet industry is also being

impacted by nanotechnology where nanoparticle taste enhancers are introduced into low-

calorie substrates (Siegel et al, 1999:35-49).

7.1.2.2.2 Medicine/Pharmacology.

In the area of medical applications, finely dispersed pharmaceuticals offer rapid drug delivery

and reduced dosages for patients (POST, 1996).

7.1.2.2.3 Microelectromechanical Systems (MEMS).

Although most MEMS technologies will support the semiconductor industry in particular,

there are many other applications being explored, such as in medicine, ceramics, thin films,

metal alloys, and other proprietary applications. The production and use of nanoengineered

ink products benefit from this technology. For example, laser-assisted delivery of the ink jet

droplet could maintain accurate deposits of the ink on its target. Another application in this

field is using nanoscale properties to tailor the inks to achieve ideal absorption and drying

times for desired colour properties and permanency (POST, 1996).

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7.1.2.2.4 Semiconductors

One form of “bottom up” technology that is receiving considerable attention is thin films for

the semiconductor industry (POST, 1996). Here single atoms or molecules are deposited by

physical vapour deposition via a process called sputtering. Sputtering is used on a large scale

to coat metal sheets, glass, polymer substrates and other receptive materials in order to

produce enhanced electronic properties for information storage and processing speed (Siegel

et al, 1999:93- 113).

7.1.2.2.5 Sensors

Chemical or physical sensors often use nanoparticles because they provide high surface area

for detecting the state of chemical reactions, because the quality of detection signals is

improved, and because earlier and more accurate determination of leakage reduces waste.

Some commercial sensors and actuators composed of thin films are already used for

environmental vapour monitoring in reactors (Siegel et al, 1999:93- 113).

7.1.2.3 Consolidated materials

There is great interest in the mechanical behaviour of nanostructured materials. The reason for

this is mechanical properties of materials can be controlled and enhanced by controlling the

nanoparticle size and structures. An example of this is nanocrystalline pure metals (~ 10 nm

grain size) where hardness values are 2 to 7 times higher than those of larger grained (>1 mm)

metals. There are examples of other properties such as magnetic and ductility factors also

being increased.

7.1.2.4 High Surface Area materials

High Surface materials have many uses. This includes the creation of chemical separators,

catalysts, various others outlined below. Separation materials with well defined pore sizes and

high surface areas are already being fabricated and tested in the laboratory for potential use in

energy storage and separations technologies. In addition, many laboratories around the world

are actively pursuing the potential to create novel thermal barrier materials, highly selective

sensors, and novel construction materials whose bonding and strength depend upon the

surface area of the nanoscale constituents. Other applications include (Siegel et al, 1999:49-

68):

• Battery or capacitor elements for new or improved operation

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• Biochemical and pharmaceutical separations

• Product-specific catalysts for almost every petrochemical process.

Many research companies are also engaged in developing molecular replication technologies

for rapid scale-up and manufacturing.

7.1.3 Interpret and Identify Landmark Technologies

The potential landmark technologies were extracted from the above findings of the

technology frontier. In each case, the potential technology must be evaluated whether it is a

landmark technology by looking at the following criteria as proposed by (Van Wyk 1999:58):

• Frequency of appearance in the literature

• Very high growth in a technology dimension

• Novelty in principle, material or structure

• Commercial availability or promise of rapid deployment.

• High linkage with other technologies

There are some general observations that can be made since nanotechnology is the only

technological frontier that is being looked at. The first observation is that nanotechnology is a

novel technology by definition. The bottom up or “building blocks” approach is novel in

terms of the principle of manufacturing. The size is novel since it is in the region of ~0.1nm to

~150nm. Finally the structure is novel in terms of the ability to manipulate it and control the

properties of the material. All the nanotechnology related technologies share this novelty.

The potential technologies are identified below in a table. This table indicates the frequency

of articles that appear in the technology literature such as New Scientist, various technology

journals, University publications, Time magazine, Fortune, the Internet, etc. In this report, the

Internet was searched for unique articles that contain information relating to each technology.

It was felt that it would be acceptable as a method of measuring frequency of literature. Also,

nanotechnology is an emerging field, and therefore most information on the subject is

published to the Internet before it gets to the journals thus making the Internet a valuable

source of information.

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The table also indicates technological links and the commercial status of each potential

landmark technology.

Technology Frequency Technology Linkages Commercial

Status

Single Electron Devices 500+ Electronics R.D.

Giant magnetoresistance (GMR)

Technology

500+ Electronic data storage C.A

Quantum Dot Lasers 238 Optical technology C.A

Carbon Nanotube materials 500+ Materials technology R.D.

Nano based cosmetics 180 Chemical Synthesis S.D.

Nano based hygiene products 159 Chemical Synthesis S.D.

Nano based coatings 43 Electroplating, Spraying,

painting

R.D.

Nano taste enhancers 19 Food and Beverage

Technology

S.D.

Rapid drug dispersion methods 172 Medical technology S.D.

Enhanced ink dispensing/properties 43 Printers/ presses paint

technology

S.D.

Microelectromechanical Systems 500+ Electromechanical technology R.D.

Nano constructed Semiconductors 500+ Semiconductor technology R.D.

Miniature sensors 500+ Chemical detection R.D.

Molecular enhanced materials 390 Materials technology R.D.

Nanostructured chemical separators 58 Separation technologies R.D.

Nanostructured thermal barrier

materials

500+ Materials technology R.D.

Nano structured catalysts 500+ Chemical Synthesis R.D.

C.A. = Commercially available

R.D. = Rapid deployment

S.D. = Slow deployment

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In this study, all technologies with 500+ articles that are either currently available, or they

would be rapidly deployed when they become available are identified as landmark

technologies.

The results are as follows:

• Single Electron Devices

• Giant magnetoresistance (GMR) Technology

• Carbon Nanotube materials

• Microelectromechanical Systems

• Nano constructed Semiconductors

• Miniature sensors

• Molecular enhanced materials

• Nanostructured thermal barrier materials

• Nano structured catalysts

This will conclude the technology scan. The next step is to conduct an external investigation

to find the social preferences of each technology.

7.2 Step 2 - Market/ External Analysis

For each of the landmark technologies identified in the technology scan, an external analysis

must be done to calculate technology specific Social Adoption Probabilities (SAP). This

process is very subjective, and therefore it was recommended that a committee assign the

various values to the table.

In the absence of such a committee, this report adopted the following strategy for assigning

values to the table. The National Science and Technology white paper together with various

other government documents were used to extract national priorities as an indication of social

preferences. The assumption made is that government priorities reflect the social value

system. The weights were then assigned accordingly. Each of the scores assigned for each of

the technologies was done using the researcher’s understanding of the impact of the

technology on the social landscape. In a corporate environment the committee members

would discuss and debate these values thereby reducing the subjectivity of such a study.

Sometimes the social value scores might differ depending on the external environment that is

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affected by technology. A table on the next page has been developed with the calculations of

SAP for each technology within the South African social context.

The first two steps complete the external environment assessment. The next two steps would

look internally at the organisation.

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Description Weight SED GMR Nanotubes MEMS Semi-

conductors

Sensors Molecular

Material

Thermal

Barriers

Catalysts

S W S S W S S W S S W S S W S S W S S W S S W S S W S

Safety 11% 0.5 0.06 0.5 0.06 0.5 0.06 1 0.11 1 0.11 1 0.11 1 0.11 1 0.11 0.5 0.06

Health 5% 0.5 0.03 0.5 0.03 0.5 0.03 0.5 0.03 0.5 0.03 1 0.05 1 0.05 1 0.05 0.5 0.03

Environment 8% 1 0.08 0.5 0.04 0.5 0.04 1 0.08 1 0.08 1 0.08 1 0.08 1 0.08 0.5 0.04

Energy 3% 1 0.03 1 0.03 1 0.03 1 0.03 1 0.03 1 0.03 1 0.03 1 0.03 1 0.03

Entropy 4% 1 0.04 1 0.04 1 0.04 1 0.04 1 0.04 1 0.04 1 0.04 1 0.04 1 0.04

a) Efficiency 2% 1 0.02 1 0.02 1 0.02 1 0.02 1 0.02 1 0.02 1 0.02 1 0.02 1 0.02

b) GDP/Capita 13% 1 0.13 0.5 0.07 1 0.13 1 0.13 1 0.13 1 0.13 1 0.13 1 0.13 1 0.13

c) Money 10% 1 0.1 1 0.1 1 0.1 1 0.1 1 0.1 1 0.1 1 0.1 1 0.1 1 0.1

d) International Ratios 8% 0.5 0.04 0.5 0.04 1 0.08 1 0.08 1 0.08 1 0.08 1 0.08 1 0.08 1 0.08

e) Non Cyclic Development 7% 1 0.07 1 0.07 1 0.07 1 0.07 1 0.07 1 0.07 1 0.07 0.5 0.04 0.5 0.04

f) Equitable distribution of means 12% 0.5 0.06 0.5 0.06 0.5 0.06 0.5 0.06 0.5 0.06 0.5 0.06 0.5 0.06 0.5 0.06 0.5 0.06

g) Balanced geography development 9% 0.5 0.05 0.5 0.05 0.5 0.05 0.5 0.05 0.5 0.05 0.5 0.05 0.5 0.05 0.5 0.05 0.5 0.05

h) Differential Social Empowerment 8% 0.5 0.04 0.5 0.04 0.5 0.04 0.5 0.04 0.5 0.04 0.5 0.04 0.5 0.04 0.5 0.04 0.5 0.04

Social Adoption Probability (SAP) 0.74 0.63 0.74 0.83 0.83 0.86 0.86 0.82 0.7

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7.3 Step 3 - Internal Analysis of South African Organisations

Initially, the top technology companies in South Africa were going to be analysed. However,

South African companies are not measured in terms of technology management and attempts

to put together a Delphi study failed due to issues of confidentiality. Therefore this report

makes use of the results of the South African National Technology Audit that was recently

completed. The other main sources of information included the Science Councils, the

Department of Arts Culture, Science and Technology, the Institute for Futures Research and

various sources of South African economic data. The following sectors were examined as it

was felt that these sectors would be affected by nanotechnology:

• Mining

• Base Metals

• Rubber & Plastic

• Glass & Non-Metallic

• Electrical & Electronics

• Petrochemical & Chemical

• Medical & Pharmaceutical

A description of each sector can be found in Appendix 2.

Although all the above sectors were investigated, the scope of this report is limited to a

complete discussion one technology sector only. The two most impacted sectors were

identified as the Glass and Non-metallic and the Petrochemical & Chemical sectors. This

report conducts a complete internal analysis of the Glass and Non-metallic sector. A listing of

the findings with regard to the other sectors can be found in Appendix 3.

The Glass and Non-metallic sector’s core competencies were extracted from the list of

competencies listed in appendix 2. They were identified as:

• Non metal material synthesis, which includes glass, clay and ceramics;

• High tech sighting equipment,

• High Productivity,

• Low cost processes that produce quality products.

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The business objective of this sector is to become more competitive in the world market bylowering costs (Audit Report, 1999:8-9).

7.4 Step 4 – Strategic Level of Landmark Technology

One of the limitations of using information out of the technology audit reports is that there is

no interaction with the board to determine the strategic nature of technology in the

organisation. However, part of the audit team’s function was to question the companies about

the industrial sector technologies. This study draws on the audit teams interpretations of these

responses. The following strategic levels were defined based on the audit report finding:

Landmark Technology Strategic

Level

Single Electron Devices 0

Giant magnetoresistance (GMR) Technology 0

Carbon Nanotube materials 0

Microelectromechanical Systems 0

Nano constructed Semiconductors 0

Miniature sensors 0

Molecular enhanced materials 1

Nanostructured thermal barrier materials 1

Nano structured catalysts 1

The audit team’s findings were that the majority of the respondents in this sector could not

adequately describe the technologies in their companies yet the technology yield amounted to

an average of eight technologies per company, which is considered to be high. Also the

clustering of technologies indicated a focus on process technologies while 82% of research

and development activities was on product technologies. Finally, the researchers indicated

that they were heavily dependent on their research equipment, which they believed was

inadequate to serve their needs.

The audit report does not mention which people in the organisation were interviewed,

however, one can assume that it would have been key people since this was a high level

delegation. The findings in this sector indicate that these key people from the organisations

did not understand the technologies employed in their organisations. Their focus on process

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technologies indicates a priority of cost cutting rather than new product development. This is

mismatched with focus R&D, which is on product rather than process technologies. This

indicates that R&D activities are not totally integrated into the company. “Technology is

viewed as a tool to serve corporate goals” (Whittington, 1993:85). Finally, researchers

indicated that their equipment was inadequate which also indicated a lack of strategic

technology planning at senior levels in this sector.

7.5 Step 5 – Calculation of Technology Awareness

The final step is to bring all the calculations done in each section into one consolidated view

by populating the technology analysis framework with these values. The following table

represents this:

Landmark technology Core Competencies Impact Strategic

level

SAP T.A.

C1 C2 C3 C4

Single Electron Devices 0 0 0 0 0 0.74 0

Giant magnetoresistance

(GMR) Technology

0 0 0 0 0 0 0.63 0

Carbon Nanotube materials 1 1 1 1 4 0 0.74 0

Microelectromechanical

Systems

0 1 0 0 1 0 0.83 0

Nano constructed

Semiconductors

0 0 0 0 0 0 0.83 0

Miniature sensors 0 1 0 0 1 0 0.86 0

Molecular enhanced materials 1 1 1 1 4 1 0.86 3.44


materials

1 1 0 1 3 1 0.82 2.46

Nano structured catalysts 0 0 1 0 1 1 0.7 0.7

0

Effect 3 5 3 3 14 6.6

Sector Technology Awareness Score (Nanotechnology) 0.471

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C1 - Non metal material synthesis, which includes glass, clay and ceramics;

C2 - High tech sighting equipment,

C3 - High Productivity,

C4 - Low cost processes that produce quality products

It is very clear that the technology awareness of nanotechnology is practically non-existent in

the Glass and Non-metals sector. The key competencies are all affected with the ”high tech

sighting equipment” the most impacted. The technologies that have the greatest impact on the

sector are the nanotube materials and the molecular enhanced materials.

This resultant technology awareness score is verified by the fact that management sees cost as

the greatest threat from international companies, rather then substitute products or alternative

process methods.

Competitive Environment as Defined by Sector Respondents

Changes of the Competitive Environment in the Glass & Non-metallic Sector

1

2

3

4

5New Entrants

Supplier Pressure

International CompetitionSubstitutes

Price Pressure

Future Environment Current EnvironmentAQ22d - 410.XLC

Source: National Technology Audit - Glass and Non-metals sector

The application of this framework is evaluated in the next section.

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8 Analysis of the Framework

During the application of the framework, it became very clear that technology awareness

calculations need the involvement of directors and/or senior managers in an organisation. The

framework is more than a mathematical tool. It is designed to stimulate discussion and debate,

and thereby create a culture of technology inquiry and measurement. This study relied on

literature rather then inquiry procedures to extract information. The indirect value attained

from the process of trying to reach consensus on the various values assigned at the different

steps could not be tested. This activity has been structured such that it would increase the

technology knowledge of the organisation and help by developing a learning culture when

challenging existing organisational mental models. It was also intended to help technology

unaware directors to come to grips with strategic technological issues by showing them how

social values, technology, strategy, business objectives, and core competencies interact with

each other. The way in which the model was applied to the Glass and Non-metals industry

did not allow for the indirect impact on the organisation to be measured.

A problem with the framework is that it involves a very long process to get to the technology

awareness score. Directors’ or senior managers’ time tend to be very limited. This could act as

a deterrent to companies adopting the framework. It is therefore advisable in these

circumstances to conduct each step separately. Also, experts can be used for the technology-

scanning step to minimise the impact on current resources. However, all the other steps must

involve senior company people. A possible method of implementation might be to arrange an

annual two-day workshop where these models are applied to work out whether the company’s

technology awareness score in increasing or decreasing. This long process can be managed

within the organisation in many ways, however, it must not be viewed as a task that can be

delegated to lower level staff to complete.

This framework is still based on the capacity of the users to interpret and analyse the

information presented in an open and unbiased way. The use of a committee would help

reduce any biases, however, if the committee itself lacks diversity, systemic biases would be

prevalent. The model does not cater for these systemic biases or for the analytical and

interpretation skills of the users. In this way, it presents a rather simplistic view of the

gathering information, interpreting it and assigning values to the framework. It was felt that

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attempts to factor in adjustments for size of committee, diversity of committee and analytical

skills would have complicated the framework and made it difficult for people to interpret. The

main reason for developing this framework was to provide a simple yet practical framework

that companies can use to measure their technology awareness. The cost of this simplicity is

that not all the variables have been considered.

Besides the above concern with the framework, it worked well in many ways. It addressed

technology landscape issues, the social issues, the internal issues and the strategic issues in a

coherent way. It provided a measurable method of comparing companies in terms of

technology management, and it helped provide an indicator to areas that need attention or

focus.

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9 Conclusion

Historically, government R&D and private sector R&D were not aligned. The recent

initiatives by government have resulted in South Africa completing an audit of Science and

Technology in private and public sector companies. This gives an indication of the state of

S&T currently in South Africa. Over the coming period, government must produce policies

that firstly create co-operation and synergy between government and private sector, secondly,

guide R&D activities in terms of national priorities, thirdly, provide methods of identifying

key areas of technology focus, and fourthly, to measure South Africa in terms of Technology

Awareness. In this way government will be in a position to benchmark South African

industry against international competitors.

Current methods of benchmarking technology between companies/countries include the

following:

• Various methods of comparing R&D spend, i.e. R&D/turnover, R&D/GDP, R&D/capita,

etc.

• Number of Scientist/ PhDs/ Engineers per 1000 employees or per 1000 capita

• Number of technologies that are used in the organisation

• The state of equipment in a country/organisation

• Amount of R&D outsourced.

These methods are fundamentally flawed in that there is no link to strategic intent with regard

to technology. It does not logically follow that a company with a huge R&D budget, a large

amount of scientists, with many different types of technologies, and best possible equipment

will do any better at innovating and managing technology than a company with less resources

at its disposal. In fact, there are numerous examples of where smaller under-funded

companies produced technological innovations that revolutionised that industry. Even though

these numbers provide little or no idea of the status of technology in a company, it is used

extensively with the latest being the national audit. This raises the question of why does such

an inefficient method of calculating remain so widely used?

This report proposes that the reason these ineffective methods are used is that the market

needs some method of measuring and comparing properties of companies. Technology

aspects between companies or even countries are measured in these terms. The aim of this

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report was to create a more appropriated framework to measure technology awareness

between two entities. The framework draws on many of the MOT models already published

and puts them into a coherent format that can be applied to a country or an organisation. This

model provides a more accurate indication of the status of technology in the entity being

evaluated.

Some of the problems with the model are as follows. The major problem is that the

framework calculations are not a precise science. Different people evaluating the same

company can end up with different results. What this score will indicate is that based on the

user’s understanding (mental model) of the external, internal, and technological frontier, that

is how he/she sees the company (Senge et al, 1994:235). Two ways of combating this is to use

a committee to apply the framework, or to use a Delphi study to reach a common score. In

this way, biases can be managed. The second problem is that it is a lengthy process that senior

management has to go through. This might cause them to reject the process or outsource it.

The third problem is that there are factors like committee diversity and size of committee that

might influence the reliability of the scoring process. It was felt that the introduction of

control parameters for these factors would have unnecessarily complicated the framework.

The application of the framework to nanotechnology in South Africa gave a good indication

of the status of nanotechnology in the South African environment. The results of the

application of the model to various sectors indicated that technology awareness with respect

to nanotechnology was between zero and one indicating that it is low (see Appendix 3). Key

areas that would be impacted and the effect organisation core competencies were highlighted.

The social acceptance probability also indicated which technologies are preferred (>0.5) and

which were not (<0.5). All of these factors would help the board decide where they should

concentrate efforts with regard to improving their technology awareness of nanotechnology.

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10 Appendix 1 – South African Government S&T Activities

Year Description Responsible

1992 Towards a science and technology policy for a

democratic South Africa.

International

Development

Research Centre

1994 Science Research Policy in South Africa – a discussion

document

Royal Society of

South Africa

1994 Science Councils : Towards democratisation of

governance

National Science

and Technology

Forum

1994 Proposals for a future national science and technology

management system in South Africa

National Science

and Technology

Forum

1994 Science and Technology policy for the new South

Africa

Foundation for

research and

development

1995 The commissioning of a National Research and

Technology Audit.

Department of Art,

Culture, Science

and Technology.

1996 White paper on Science and technology – Preparing

for the 21st century.

Department of Art,

Culture, Science

and Technology

1998 Year of Science and Technology Government

1999 Audit Results published NRTF

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11 Appendix 2 – Description of Sectors analysed

Each of the sectors is examined in the following way:

• A brief description of the sector.

• Their core competencies

• Strategic technology focus

• R&D focus

• Contribution to GDP

11.1 Mining

Description The Mining sector covers technologies for the extraction processof the ores and the primary surface refinery processes. This areacovers the following type of mining as well as the accompanyingmining services such as surface preparation of the ore orexploration work.

Metal mining

Coal mining

Gas Extraction

Non metallic mineral mining

Competencies • Extraction and purification of mined products

• Exploration

• Quality control and grading

• Transportation of mined products

• Environmental measurements

Strategic

Technology Areas

• Better extraction techniques.

• Mining Equipment

• Automation of Mining process

• Detection of mineral ore techniques

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Product Process Support Information OtherR& D focus

9% 72% 5% 14% 0%

Contribution to

GDP

7.7% percent in 1995

11.2 Base Metals

Description The transformation of mining products into basic metals such as

silver; gold; copper; brass; bronze; zinc; scrap stainless steel and

copper alloy; platinum catalysts; high ferro-chrome carbon;

ferro-chrome; ferro-manganese; silicon metals and iron products;

stainless steel slabs and coils; electrolytic copper or nickel

cathodes. The typical processes adopted in this industry blast

furnace, refining, alloying, casting, sheet and foil rolling

processes.

Competencies • Extraction and purification of metals

• Creation of metal alloy products (ferrous and non ferrous)

• Production metal composite materials

• Metal filming and coating

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Strategic

Technology Areas

• Better quality metal products – reduction of impurities.

• Reduction of hazardous emissions/ by products due to

stricter international standards

• Better extraction technologies

• Enhancement of metallurgical properties resulting in better

surface quality and better strength to weight ratios.

• Reduction of manufacturing costs and improved energy

utilisation in production

• Wet chemical refining.

• Automation of production processes to reduce overall cost


9% 55% 28% 8% 0%

Contribution to

GDP

3.2 percent in 1995

11.3 Rubber & Plastic

Description This sector is responsible for the manufacture of man made

fibres, rubber products as well as plastics and synthetics.

Products include tires and inner tubes; rubber and plastic

footwear; hose, belting, gaskets, packing and sealing devices and

various miscellaneous plastic products.

Competencies • Chemical synthesis

• Material development

• Moulded products

• Packaging

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Strategic

Technology Areas

• Better environmentally friendly technologies.

• Rubber and PVC compound technologies

• New polymer products

• Use of CAD for the design of new products


37% 41% 13% 9% 0%

Contribution to

GDP

0.5% percent in 1995

11.4 Glass & Non-Metallic

Description This sector covers industrial minerals and limestone, through to

the manufacture of mineral wool and reinforcing fibreglass and

the processing of glass into construction materials, containers

and consumer products, and finally the utilisation of glass for

high tech sighting systems.

Competencies • Glass and Clay

• Ceramics

• New non metal materials

• Sighting Equipment

• High Productivity

• Low cost processes

• Quality products

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Strategic

Technology Areas

• Product focused R&D

• Sighting equipment

• Glass containers with improved strength and lower mass will

allow reduction in unit price

• Improved manufacturing process

• Integrated information technology process control and

quality assurance


82% 8% 7% 3% 0%

Contribution to

GDP1.1% in 1995

11.5 Electrical & Electronics

Description This sector includes basic electrical and electronic components

and the specific materials; the manufacture of intermediate

measuring, controlling and signal transforming assemblies and

their further integration, into consumer electronic products; as

well as computer and industrial control equipment to the

integration thereof, into computer, control, transport and defence

electronic systems.

Competencies • Magnetic storage and recording media

• Electric and Electronic components

• Information System and Communication systemcomponents

• Electric and Electronic Systems

• Computer and communication systems

• Services

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Strategic

Technology Areas

• Smaller multiple units, smaller, more accurate components,

higher tolerances – led to smaller and mobile computers.

• Use of more digital technology - in the home and industry.

• Small trade refrigeration products because of demands for

fresh foods.

• Environmentally acceptable electronic products (low water

and detergent consumption).

• High bandwidth availability

• Network integration-authentication technologies.

• Developing new power supplies.

• Laser technology.

• Work across country boundaries and remote areas.

• Production line automation.

• Energy efficiency rates.

• Secure on-line commerce initiatives.

• Voice recognition and activation.


74% 11% 11% 5% 0%

Contribution to

GDP

1.7 percent in 1995

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11.6 Petrochemical & Chemical

Description The Petrochemical & Chemical sector covers the transformation

of crude oil and the manufacture of base as well as speciality

chemicals. This covers petroleum and coal products as well as

chemicals and allied products.

Major products include a variety of chemicals: food and

beverage ingredients; pharmaceutical chemicals; agricultural

chemicals, fertilisers and animal feeds; mining chemicals;

plastics; paints; industrial chemicals; synthetic fibres;

explosives; electroplating chemicals; atomic energy chemicals;

enzymes; solvents; chemical feed-stocks and waxes.

Petrochemicals produced include fuels, lubricants, heating oil

and gas.

Competencies • Agricultural products – chemical/ fertilzers/ pestesides, etc.

• Electro-plating

• Chemical products

• Explosives

• Waste processing and storage

• Synthetic fibres

• Enzymes

• Pharmaceutical products and additives

• Paints and coatings

• Food and beverage ingredients

• Plastic and plastic additives

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Strategic

Technology Areas

• Genetic engineering replace conventional chemical processes

and products

• Higher value added speciality products based on fertiliser

technology and materials

• Greater use of plastic smart cards

• Greater use of engineering plastics as a replacement of

metals

• Merging of traditional organic synthesis and biotechnology

to produce optically active molecules for pharmaceuticals.

• Implementation of environmentally friendly technologies,

materials and applications

Product Process Support Info OtherR& D focus

46% 35% 17% 2% 0%

Contribution to

GDP

2.9%

11.7 Medical & Pharmaceutical

Description This sector covers from the extraction or synthesis of reagents

and active substances, through the processing thereof, into

medicines and finally their utilisation as part of comprehensive

and multiform treatments.

Competencies • Clinical analysers and diagnostic reagents

• Various types of medication

• Contraceptives

• Generic pharmaceuticals

• Intravenous fluids

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Strategic

Technology Areas

• Non-invasive probe technology.

• Natural medicines.

• Vaccines-one for life.

• Genomics.

• DNA fingerprinting.

• Gene therapy.

• Biotechnology focus; ongoing product research and

development for product capability.

Product Process Support Info OtherR& D focus

75% 18% 0% 7% 0%

Contribution to

GDP

2.2% in 1995

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12 Appendix 3 – Technology Awareness Scores per Sector

12.1 Mining


level

SAP T.A.

C1 C2 C3 C4

Single Electron Devices 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.74 0


(GMR) Technology

0 1 1 0 2 0 0.63 0



Systems

1 1 1 0 3 2 0.83 4.98

Nano constructed

Semiconductors

0 0 0 0 0 0 0.83 0

Miniature sensors 1 1 1 0 3 2 0.86 5.16

Molecular enhanced materials 0 0 0 1 1 0 0.86 0

Nanostructured thermal

barrier materials

0 0 0 0 0 0 0.82 0

Nano structured catalysts 1 0 1 0 2 0 0.7 0

0

Effect 3 3 4 2 12 10.14


C1 - Mining Techniques

C2 - Exploration

C3 - Grading and Quality Control

C4 - Nature Resources

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12.2 Base Metals


level

SAP T.A.

C1 C2 C3 C4



(GMR) Technology

0 0 0 0 0 0 0.63 0



Systems

0 0 0 0 0 0 0.83 0

Nano constructed

Semiconductors

1 0 1 0 2 0 0.83 0




materials

0 1 1 0 2 0 0.82 0


0

Effect 3 3 5 2 13 3.44


C1 - Purification of metals

C2 - Alloy products

C3 - Composites

C4 - Filming and coatings

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12.3 Rubber & Plastic


level

SAP T.A.

C1 C2 C3 C4

Single Electron Devices 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.74 0


(GMR) Technology

0 0 0 0 0 0 0.63 0



Systems

0 0 0 0 0 0 0.83 0

Nano constructed

Semiconductors

0 0 0 0 0 0 0.83 0




materials

1 1 0 0 2 0 0.82 0


0

Effect 5 4 3 1 13 3.44


C1 - Chemical Synthesis

C2 - Material Development,

C3 - Moulding

C4 - Packaging

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12.4 Electrical & Electronics

Landmark technology Core

Competencies

Impact Strategic

level

SAP T.A.

C1 C2 C3

Single Electron Devices 1 1 0 2 1 0.74 1.48


(GMR) Technology

1 1 0 2 2 0.63 2.52

Carbon Nanotube materials 0 0 1 1 0 0.74 0


Systems

1 1 0 2 1 0.83 1.66

Nano constructed

Semiconductors

1 0 1 2 1 0.83 1.66

Miniature sensors 1 1 0 2 0 0.86 0

Molecular enhanced materials 0 0 1 1 0 0.86 0


materials

0 0 0 0 0 0.82 0

Nano structured catalysts 0 0 0 0 0 0.7 0

0

Effect 5 4 3 12 7.32


C1 – Electronic devices

C2 - Storage Devices

C3 - Communication Systems

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12.5 Petrochemical & Chemical


level

SAP T.A.

C1 C2 C3 C4



(GMR) Technology

0 0 0 0 0 0 0.63 0

Carbon Nanotube materials 1 0 1 0 2 2 0.74 2.96


Systems

0 1 0 1 2 0 0.83 0

Nano constructed

Semiconductors

0 0 0 0 0 0 0.83 0




materials

1 1 1 1 4 1 0.82 3.28


0

Effect 3 5 3 5 16 14.52


C1 - Plastic and Plastic additives

C2 - Petroleum conversion,

C3 - Synthetic fibres

C4 - Waste Processing and Storage

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12.6 Medical & Pharmaceutical


level

SAP T.A.

C1 C2 C3 C4



(GMR) Technology

0 0 0 0 0 0 0.63 0



Systems

0 1 0 0 1 0 0.83 0

Nano constructed

Semiconductors

0 0 0 0 0 0 0.83 0


Molecular enhanced materials 1 1 1 1 4 0 0.86 0


materials

1 1 0 1 3 1 0.82 2.46


0

Effect 3 5 3 3 14 3.16


C1 - Non metal material synthesis, which includes glass, clay and ceramics;

C2 - High tech sighting equipment,

C3 - High Productivity,

C4 - Low cost processes that produce quality products

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