Technology-push and market-pull are two ideas that affect innovation strategy.

And we're going to take a look at how they affect that strategy.

And so why do we think this concept of technology-push and

market-pull is significant?

But, basically, if you consider innovation types,

they can be classified as either technology-driven or market-driven.

And by classifying innovation opportunities like this,

either technology-driven or market-driven, you can make it easier to develop

appropriate strategies for how to get your innovation into the marketplace.

So first let's look at technology-push.

What do we mean by technology-push?

This is where research and development or

some technology breakthrough actually drives the launch of a product.

And so it's the technology that is interesting

to customers in the marketplace and valuable to customers in the marketplace.

And some examples of this are when, back in,

way back in 1993 when Apple Newton, the Apple Newton PDA was developed, and

it was way ahead of its time, but it was a real good example of technology-push,

pushed way out there, interesting technology.

Maybe it wasn't as successful as it could have been, but

it was pushed out into the marketplace.

And also, now we see in a current example

the Samsung Galaxy with touchscreen technology in 2012 is really

an example of a technology-push that was pushed out into the marketplace and

probably responding to some market need, but basically it was a push of technology.

And so let's look at the other side of this, market-pull.

What do we mean by market-pull?

This is when the market demand for some solution to a problem or some solution

to a need in the marketplace actually triggers a development of a new product.

So there's pressure and interest and desire for

the marketplace that is telling companies we need to have something.

And so one example of this is simply the miniaturization of digital cameras,

making them smaller and easier to use.

And photo editing software, where there was a real rush of people who are taking

photos everywhere and processing them, and so the market really was telling

companies that what we need is an easy way to handle all these digital photos.

And so the market did respond to that.

And so let's start with looking at a technology-push approach and

how that really plays out.

First of all, in a technology-push approach,

you are focusing on technical issues and problems.

And then what you do is trigger some kind of a search for technical and

scientific knowledge, and both within the firm, in your R&D function or

your, the talent that you've got inside your company, and

you also look with, at external sources, what is it that the body of knowledge,

the body of scientific knowledge, the body of technical knowledge can show you and

tell you about what that technology can do.

And from that, you develop some kind of an innovative technical solution that you

then can offer into the marketplace.

So that's how technology-push develops.

And market-pull just again develops just the other way.

You start with understanding external market needs.

So you recognize them as a trigger for possible search to technology and

scientific knowledge that might be a way to help solve that problem.

But you're really starting with external needs and

marketplace needs, and you analyze that for potential solutions and

you basically build an innovative offering for the marketplace.

And so what you're doing is you're taking ideas from the marketplace,

you're looking for technology solutions, and then responding

right to the marketplace, but responding with a technology solution or

some innovative solution that really is directly responsive to the marketplace.

And so when you think about linking technology,

technology always plays a role in almost every innovation, and so

you want to find ways that you can exploit the creative insight and talent that you

have within your firm and also what is available outside of your firm.

What resources do you have that you can draw upon?

And you want to recognize what type of research and unique expertise

is necessary to make the problem solvable and feasible in the marketplace.

And it works best when you can link both technology-push and

market-pull in what we call technology and market linking.

In this matrix that you see here, we have four quadrants.

And you can see in the upper left-hand quadrant where you have a low ability to

link technology to the product and have a low ability to identify the need.

You're not going to have a good venture idea.

You're not going to have a good innovation.

On the other hand, the lower right end is where you have a powerful technology, and

you have an applicable technology, and you have a recognized market need.

That's where you have a winner.

And so you have a very strong venture potential in that area.

So you want to be looking for ways in which you ultimately can connect

the value of the technology with the understanding of the market need.

And so we can look at how markets actually inform innovations.

And so if you start with a, in a two-step process, you can really start with a very

simple technology application, and you can apply it to almost any customer and

form a very simple prototypical solution approach.

And you put it out there on the market and you then test.

Do you find out, if you can build a more relevent application,

what is the market telling you about it.

You find a typical user, once you've got it out in the marketplace,

you find out, if you don't know who the user is, you'll find out,

once you put it out in the marketplace, who's using that innovative technology.

And from that, you can spawn additional applications.

You can refine your product or your service.

And you can achieve really a better understanding of what the need

is out there.

So the markets inform something that you're putting out there to test.

And the other side of this is how innovations actually inform markets.

So this is kind of like a technology-push.

You're putting a technology out there in the marketplace,

and you're showing people in the marketplace how well something works.

And so what you've really got to be able to do,

you can start with a minor innovation that maybe is very workable, but

it's not clear what the technology opportunity is, and so

you start without a project champion, you put it out there in the marketplace, and

you look at what the market response is.

And you can validate that need with some research and

you test its feasibility, and if it really flies, then you assign a product champion,

and you can then develop that product to really work in the marketplace.

So the takeaways here for technology-push and

market-pull are recognizing where your innovation is.

It is a technology-push innovation or is it a market-pull innovation?

You have to understand what it is that it is really responding to.

And where technology-push and market-pull are actually linked, you have a much

greater impact and a much greater likelihood of success of any innovation.

And ultimately markets will inform innovation opportunities

to make them acceptable and profitable.

So markets are the ultimate determinant of the success of an innovation.

Which innovation strategy: technology-push or market-pull?

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