IRI Workshop: Innovation in Action: A Case Study Workshop on Adopting an Integrated Approach to Roadmapping

This 75-minute interactive professional development workshop is designed to prompt conversations among R&D, innovation, and technology management practitioners on how exemplary cases of innovation can help them approach and think about innovation in their own contexts. This session is built around active participation, so expect to collaborate, analyze, and discuss as you explore an innovation case study.

Workshop topic:

This session will focus on an integrated approach in which companies combine roadmapping with SWOT analysis, a method for evaluating internal organizational strengths and weaknesses along with external opportunities and threats. While roadmaps enable insightful visualization of strategic time-based plans, they tend to overlook critical uncertainties and risks, potentially leading to adverse outcomes. The SWOT-based roadmapping (SWOT-RM) method seeks to offer a comprehensive means to improve the quality, balance, and traceability of strategic options and programs.

The session will feature a case study on the use of SWOT-RM at IHI Corporation, a Japanese manufacturer that conducts R&D activities intensively for a range of technologies, including energy, chemical processes, materials, mechanical systems and robotics. IHI has set a target of 2035 to implement the SWOT-RM approach in alignment with the organization’s group strategy. The study focuses on the use of SWOT-RM in its transport and logistics sector.

This workshop is offered in collaboration with the Research-Technology Management (RTM) Journal. We encourage you to read the RTM article that discusses the case study before the workshop: https://iriweb.org/resources/how-implementing-swot-rm-at-ihi-corporation-improved-strategy-development-while-addressing-uncertainties/

Workshop format:

Each session will feature a short presentation that summarizes the case study’s main concepts and applications. Then, the participants will be assigned to small groups and tasked with discussing and identifying common challenges, available methods, and creative solutions related to the session’s case study and theme. The attendees will return to the plenary and engage in a facilitated conversation to share key takeaways from their small-group discussions, highlighting areas of convergence and divergence and connecting the session’s takeaways back to their work. Seating for this workshop is limited, so we encourage you to register soon. If you have any questions, please contact Besher Al Makhlouf (balmakhlouf@nam.org).

This workshop is designed for current IRI members. If you are not a member, please contact Clayton Warnke (cwarnke@nam.org).