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Research Methodology in Management and Industrial Engineering pp 45–69Cite as

Technology Forecasting: Recent Trends and New Methods

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Abstract

Because of the big and increasing importance of technology, the analysis and forecasting of technology trends and futures are more and more important. Although precise predictions are not possible, technology forecasting provides useful insights that are badly needed. The basic principles and methods of technology forecasting basically remain the same. However, the current capacities of obtaining information, communicating and processing data have modified fundamentally the application and possibilities of the methods. Additionally, new methods derived from the existing ones have appeared. The technology forecasting methods have been divided into five blocks: environmental scanning, expert opinion, trend analysis and statistical methods, modelling and simulation, scenarios and roadmapping. For each block, main concepts, recent evolution and new methods are presented.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Serra Húnter fellow, Institute of Industrial and Control Engineering, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya - BarcelonaTech (UPC), Barcelona, Spain

    Gema Calleja-Sanz

  2. Institute of Industrial and Control Engineering, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya - BarcelonaTech (UPC), Barcelona, Spain

    Jordi Olivella-Nadal

  3. Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya - BarcelonaTech (UPC), Barcelona, Spain

    Francesc Solé-Parellada

Authors
  1. Gema Calleja-Sanz
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  2. Jordi Olivella-Nadal
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  3. Francesc Solé-Parellada
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Correspondence to Jordi Olivella-Nadal .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Management, School of Economics and Management, University of Minho, Campus Gualtar, Braga, Portugal

    Carolina Machado

  2. Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Aveiro, Campus Santiago, Aveiro, Portugal

    J. Paulo Davim

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Calleja-Sanz, G., Olivella-Nadal, J., Solé-Parellada, F. (2020). Technology Forecasting: Recent Trends and New Methods. In: Machado, C., Davim, J. (eds) Research Methodology in Management and Industrial Engineering. Management and Industrial Engineering. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-40896-1_3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-40896-1_3

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