The current pace of technology advancement necessitates companies to align with the trends to maintain a competitive edge. The number of tech solutions available in the market is larger than ever, and it has become not enough for organisations to just harness innovation – they now have to think ahead and implement game-changing discoveries in advance.

Outstanding performance of the world’s most innovative companies shows why:

On top of being at the forefront of AI and ML in autonomous driving, Waymo contributes to advanced research in the field, e.g. on sensor suites, the Gemini-powered EMMA, advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) and industry new framing concepts.

Last year NVIDIA brought out its Blackwell processor, kicking off the AI race through market-dominating GPUs. New Blackwell Ultra, unveiled March 18, delivers unparalleled AI reasoning inference performance, stated to feature 65 times more AI compute than Hopper systems.

Last month, to enhance its Work AI platform, Glean introduced Glean Agents, able to analyze performance evaluations, personalize sales outreach and automate IT and HR requests, among others.

The company is now developing the next generation vehicle Neutron to introduce satellite constellations and spacecraft missions.

Automotive, technology, software services and space industry – with such a wide range of products, what could they all have in common? They decided to be tech-focused once.

But adhering to innovation requires a whole process to be deployed.

First, companies make a strategic decision to be tech-focused. Second, they should understand their internal technology capabilities, identify solutions they lack and choose how to search for them. Then, they need to undertake technology scouting, develop a business plan, estimate economic benefits, allocate resources and, finally, integrate a solution.

Some might think, R&D teams struggle to conduct tech scouting on a regular basis due to the lack of time and human resources, alongside budget restraints and unawareness of new solutions for searching.

Yet, 88% of R&D organizations are estimated to run a technology scouting process – either formal or informal, with over 90% of them assigning several individuals or entire teams for the task.

As a rule, this is where the external approach comes into play.

Methods of external tech scouting

Primarily outward-directed, external scouting aims at establishing new partnerships and augmenting the R&D process with ready-made technology, hence expanding the market share.

However, if tailored to the stakeholders’ needs and aligned with the company’s goals, these methods applied to internal (or in-house) tech scouting might bear even more fruit:

1. Qmarkets supplies its customers with the innovation technology scouting software, empowering teams to detect, evaluate and commercialize opportunities via AI-Powered search and open innovation challenges.

In 2024, a consultancy CBTW set up the Q-ideate platform to host the company’s solutions portfolio and enable cross-departmental collaboration for better innovation outcomes.

2. The ITONICS Innovation OS allows teams to spot redundant or underperforming technologies and reallocate resources to higher-value initiatives.

Among the company’s tech scouting projects are:

3. Seamlessly connecting 5m+ startups, 20k+ trends, and 150m+ news articles, patents and market reports, StartUs Insights suggests that teams accelerate their technology scouting process 10-fold with the innovation assistant FoxiAI.

4. HYPE’s tech scouting encourages customers to launch R&D idea campaigns and discover solutions within the corporate boundaries.

5. The Traction Technology scouting software ensures 3x faster evaluation and deployment of new technologies and 6x more products considered for pilot or full implementation.

The list goes on, but the message is clear: with breakthroughs and innovations determining an organization’s success or failure, it is pivotal for R&D teams to incorporate a continuous technology scouting process.

There are numerous ways to conduct technology scouting. Each company will tailor the process to its needs, resources and pace, but some simple steps you could take are to: define objectives and criteria, choose targets (trends, patents, startups, experts), consider commercialization approach and internal stakeholders, select a methodology and determine a tool (innovation scouting software, search engines, startup databases, project management apps).

Anyway, while rolling out the tech scouting, shortlisting and implementing process, either in-house or outsourced, companies are to adapt their plans and internal capabilities to their priorities, not the technological landscape only.

Now, when the world is changing faster than ever, the disruption curve is pretty steep. To get ahead, accelerating the search and introduction process is required. With so many technologies to adjust to and industry trends to investigate, redefining the company’s tech scouting approach should be at the top of the strategic agenda.