A Multicriteria Decision Model for the Evaluation and Selection of Technologies in a R&D Centre

Abstract

R&D Centres play a key role in the technology development process of industries, and therefore in their competitive strategies. They have responsibility in the identification, selection, acquisition, development and transfer of technology. Among these activities, the successful selection of new technologies is becoming a highly critical and complex challenge in the Technology Management Process. The problem of succeeding in the selection of new technologies is, from the methodological side, linked to heterogeneous key factors (technological, economic, human, and organisational). Many approaches deal with it by means of Multiple Criteria Decision Making (MCDM) techniques and tools. Nevertheless, most of the works are related to the selection of technologies in industrial cases and very few works have been found in the bibliography related to R&D Institutions and, in particular, Technological Centres. A model for the evaluation and decision about one or several technologies based on the MIVES (Modelo Integrado de Valor para Evaluaciones de Sostenibilidad) method is proposed. Introducing the motivations for using this method, after a review of the most used MCDM methods, and describing the structure of the model and the preliminary key parameters and relations among them. The proposed model is oriented to it’s application in the manufacturing sector, observing the particularities of the sector in the selection of the critical factors related to technology, R&D Centre and Industry.