Paper submitted to: R&D Management Conference 2016 “From Science to Society: Innovation and Value Creation” 3-6 July 2016, Cambridge, UK 1 Quick and Dirty Technology Intelligence for SMEs Raffaella Manzini 1 , Valentina Lazzarotti 1 , Milena Motta 2 and Silvia Fossati 2 1 LIUC Università Cattaneo, 21053 Castellanza, Italy, rmanzini@liuc.it, vlazzarotti@liuc.it 2 Strategie & Innovazione, 20124, Milano, Italy, milena.motta@mstnet.it, silvia.fossati@mstnet.it SMEs are increasingly opening their innovation process, but in order to find and evaluate opportunities for openness they need a technology intelligence process, able to provide information about the competitive context, the potential partners, the evolution of existing and emerging technologies. At the moment, contributions specifically dedicated to technology intelligence for SMEs are still very limited. The aim of this paper is to make a step further in research in this field, proposing a framework for building a “quick and dirty” technology intelligence process, suitable for SMEs. By integrating the suggestions drawn from the extant literature on the topic, with the experience collected in 4 cases, the proposed framework distinguishes the technology intelligence process and methods according to three main areas of investigation: the WHO area (concerning players), the WHAT area (concerning technology) and the HOW area (concerning the evolutionary dynamic). The idea is that in order to make technology intelligence affordable for SMEs, it is necessary to focus on a specific area of investigation, by tailoring the TI process (be it mine, trawl, target or scan) as well as the TI methods, in coherence with such area. The framework brings into evidence how to select among different types of TI processes, TI methods and TI areas of investigation, in order to narrow the process and make it coherent with the SME company specific competences and resources. 1. Introduction Small and medium enterprises are increasingly opening their innovation process, in spite of the risks deriving from sharing competences and know-how (Van de Vrande et al., 2009; Lee et al., 2010). But in order to find and evaluate opportunities for openness they need to have information about the competitive context, the potential partners, the evolution of existing and emerging technologies, the risk of technological discontinuities, the needs of present and potential customers. They need a Technology Intelligence process (Veugelers et al., 2009; Mortara et al., 2012, Lichtenthaler, 2005, 2007; Schoemaker et al., 2013), i.e. “a process of systematic acquisition, assessment and communication of information on technological trends in order to detect opportunities and threats in a timely manner ” (Lichtenthaler, 2007). Technology intelligence is considered by SMEs as an expensive, complex and time consuming process, that requires skilled resources and a dedicated organisational process. So SMEs face a tension: they need to conduct TI in order to exploit open innovation, which potentially allows them to overcome their limits in terms of competences and resources, but they lack the competences and resources for conducting the TI process. SMEs need to identify new technologies of interest, potential partners for technology development, centres of excellence in the production of knowledge, but they generally lack an intelligence activity. Hence, it is necessary to develop an efficient and effective model for technology intelligence, able to ensure to SMEs that most relevant information are actually collected, by exploiting sources, models and tools really coherent with the competences and resources available within the company, and with the specific information need. This is crucial to help SMEs recognise that technology intelligence could actually be affordable. The literature on TI for SMEs is really very limited at the moment, with very few relevant exceptions (Manzini et al., 2015; Savioz et al., 2006; Bianchi et al., 2010, Zabala-Iturrigagoitia, 2014). This lack of research investigation is