Transferring Knowledge-Based Technology
into an Organisation

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This paper reports on the three integrated life cycles that support technology transfer and diffusion when introducing a new technology into an organisation. It is based on the work of SEI at CMU where they considered the birth of a new technology and the life cycles it passes through to become a mature technology. This life cycle model helps to position the work of AIAI and the work of AI related R&D groups within organisations.

The R&D Life Cycle

The objective of the R&D life cycle is to test the potential relevance of the emerging technology to meet business needs. To achieve this objective the strategy of many companies is to set up links to research institutes to provide technology studies for them and to engage in government or EC funded collaborative research projects. The activities that need to be undertaken to pass through this life cycle and move to the next life cycle are:

1. undertake "scouting" work, i.e. carry out surveys into how advanced the technology is, what can be achieved through using it, what problems types are best addressed by it.
2. from the results of (1) develop proof of concept demonstrators that provide a study on how to use the technology to address a specific business area.
3. from the results of (1) start to contribute to and direct the development of external standards for the technology so that it can gain maturity and satisfy a business need.

The results from this life cycle can be summarised as:

• identification of a new technology that will potentially be of benefit
• understanding the best application areas for the technology to address
• starting to acquire the necessary skills to develop the technology further for the organisation.

The New Applications Life Cycle

This life cycle is characterised by the technology gaining maturity although there is still the requirement for technology push by those working with it. The objective of the life cycle is to gain high-level management commitment for the adoption of the technology by developing key technology-proving applications.

The main strategy for the organisations's AI groups is to continue to work with external collaborators to support the technology maturity through: developing standards, developing training courses and building applications. The key strategic issue for this life cycle is the need to show practically how important applications can be designed and implemented with the technology and then demonstrate the business benefits from the deployment of these applications. The activities needed to achieve the progression of the technology to the final life cycle are concerned with altering attitudes so that the technology gains acceptance, new skill sets are developed, and a small number of technology-proving applications are built.

All this implies that the following activities are required:

1. design and implement "technology-proving applications" which demonstrate the potential impact of the technology on the business and prove the importance of the technology
2. establish the required skills and identify the key training requirements for the development and use of the technology
3. draw up practitioners guidelines, i.e. tailored guidelines based on both internationally recognized standards and in-house practices
4. launch awareness programs based on the technology-proving applications
5. start to generate ideas for new applications.

The results from this life cycle should be highly visible throughout the organisation. They are:

• a complete skills update within the AI group
• identified training requirements and the necessary training programs for future developers and users of the technology.
• accepted practitioners guidelines
• the new technology proven in key applications.

The new technology has now been demonstrated to be mature and ready for widespread adoption within the organisation.

The Adoption Life Cycle

In this life cycle there needs to be a one to many diffusion of the technology. The life cycle is characterized by the change from a technology push to a technology pull with the technology being recognised as mature. Management and users want a stable, mature technology but they need to be convinced that any new technology has reached such maturity. This recognition comes about by management and users seeing:

• accepted training programs for gaining skills in the technology
• accepted and highly visible success stories from the within the organisation and from external sources
• guidelines for supporting them to identify business/technology opportunities and guidelines for assisting them to develop the applications in a routine fashion.

The main objective for this life cycle is the diffusion of the technology throughout the organisation, which implies that the focus of attention has to be on the users of the new technology and the management responsible for facilitating the adoption of the new technology. Therefore the work in this life cycle concentrates on organisational issues for the routine development of applications.

The strategy has to be one of providing knowledge and skills to end-users of the technology which implies a need to provide technical infrastructure type support during the adoption and also ensure consistent sponsorship from management. The activities undertaken in the life cycle are:

1. promotion of the technology-proving applications in order to gain interest
2. selection and building of further applications in a routine fashion
3. gathering and analysis of feedback from management and users of the new applications
4. provision of maintenance and user support for the applications
5. formation of user groups to share experiences.

The results from this adoption life cycle are:

• a stable and mature technology providing business benefit throughout the organisation
• a technology pull from the business for more use of the technology
• management commitment to, and understanding of, the application of the technology within the organisation.

Ann Macintosh Artificial Intelligence Applications Institute University of Edinburgh 80 South Bridge Edinburgh EH1 1HN, United Kingdom

Tel: +44 (131) 650 2732 Fax: +44 (131) 650 6513 Email: a.macintosh@ed.ac.uk WWW: http://www.aiai.ed.ac.uk/~alm