Homepage Technology, Strategy & Entrepreneurship
The section Technology, Strategy and Entrepreneurship (TSE) in the faculty of Technology, Policy and Management (TPM) conducts research and provides education in the fields of innovation management, entrepreneurship and strategy, all taken from a business perspective. The research is embedded in the TPM research programme 'Innovation Systems'.
The section teaches various minors throughout TU Delft and coordinates the elective Bedrijfskunde in een high tech omgeving, Ondernemerschap: Technology-based Entrepreneurship and Project Management.
TSE examines the role and management of innovations and technology based on company performances. Typical questions include:
- What technological developments could have consequences for the market definition and the future competitive strength of the company?
- How are the effectiveness of research and development resources measured in terms op company profits and the growth of market share?
- What knowledge needs to be developed within or for the company, given the technological developments on the one hand and the objectives and strategies of the company on the other hand?
- In what way should this knowledge pool be realized? Should this be done through in-house research or through cooperation with suppliers, customers or public knowledge centres?
- How can the knowledge function best be connected to other business functions, such as strategy, marketing and production?
- What processes lead to a dominating technology in the market?
How will finalized innovation projects be implemented, i.e. how will existing knowledge be used in new activities, like new company operations or as new businesses? These questions are important for both businesses and governments.
Businesses: market pull or technology push
For companies, it is either a matter of 'market pull' (market demand determines the objectives of research and development) or a 'technology push' (initiatives for improvements or the set-up of whole new activities come from the knowledge pool). The decision-making process on shifting scarce resources into innovation processes is complex and is the core of the innovative firm. Anyone who is too late to acknowledge and take advantage of technological changes can quickly run into difficulties. The same applies to those who come onto the market too soon with new products or services or with products that are socially suspicious, as for example in the biotechnological industry.
Important aspects are strategy, entrepreneurship and project management.
Government: innovation policy
Many national authorities pursue an active technology policy in order to ensure that the country in question disposes of a high-quality knowledge infrastructure. Knowledge infrastructure means all education, research centres, facilities for the dissemination and application of knowledge, measures to promote knowledge development and so on. In order to formulate policy instruments for the benefit of an effective innovation policy by the government, it is important to know what the determinants 'and thus the targets of policy' of innovation at company level are. An important area here is future research (strategy).
