SYMPOSIUM ON STEPPING STONES TO THE FUTURE: STRATEGIES, ARCHITECTURES,CONCEPTS AND TECHNOLOGIES (D3.)

摘要

Within the framework of ESA Technology Transfer Programme, D'Appolonia is the Italian representative of the TTP network, whose objective is to assess the market needs in areas where there is a potential for exploitation of space technologies. In this framework D'Appolonia supports companies that have developed space-related technologies to find new application fields in order to expand their market. In order to accomplish such objectives, there is the need of making of use of advanced methodologies and tools to assess the real potentiality of technologies initially developed in space. As an example, a powerful tool is under development for patent analysis capable of providing a wide range of relevant information at global level on what is the current status of research patent activity in a certain technological field, who are the main players within a given field and how they interact among each other in terms of patent application strategies and alliances. This system has been successfully applied to the assessment of large distributed sensor monitoring systems for space deployable structures in order to assess the feasibility of an application within the civil-construction sector. Additionally, inventive problem solving methodologies are being applied, based on a combination of state of the art approaches such as TRIZ, Quality Function Deployment and Six Sigma, in order to identify potential innovative solutions to the industrial needs raised by companies willing to enhance their competitive advantage. To date, such approach has been successfully exploited in a wide number of cases covering industrial sectors as drilling equipment, textile and clothing, aerospace and automotive. The objective of the paper is to describe this combination of market-pull and technology-push methodologies providing also practical examples of case studies.