Roadmapping in industrial companies: Experience

Abstract

• From its origins in the US electronics 
sector in the 1970s, technology 
roadmapping has been adapted 
(and adopted) widely, for many 
different innovation, strategy and 
policy applications. Communication 
is commonly cited as one of the key 
benefi ts of roadmapping, particularly 
in terms of the process that brings 
different organizational perspectives 
together, with the roadmap providing 
a common visual ‘language’. There is 
signifi cant demand for methods that 
are agile, in the sense of being rapid, 
fl exible and effective to apply, focused 
on strategic decisions and actions. 
‘Fast-start’ roadmapping workshop 
techniques enable key stakeholders 
to address strategic issues effi ciently 
using the visual structure of roadmaps 
to capture, discuss, prioritize, explore 
and communicate. This paper presents 
the learning from a set of fi ve diverse 
applications of the fast-start approach in 
the Basque Country, which demonstrate 
the agility of the technique.