Two programmes for technology diffusion are presented in this paper. The first is the
"Technology Cheque", carried out during the period 1987-92. The other is the "Technology Consultants"
programme, started in 1991 and which is still in progress.
These two programmes have a broad approach to technology and do not specifically focus on IT or any other technology. However, as will be seen, IT is important independent of the approach taken.
Today, IT is a general technology with applications covering the entire enterprise area.
In Sweden there is no programme for technology diffusion linked to a special technology or an industrial sector at national level. At the regional level, however, there are programmes that focus on special areas of technology. During the so-called "technology-centre" movement of the 1980s, IT was given high priority, and was often the basic motivation for investing in technology centres.
During the last few years, the aim has been to place more emphasis on technology pull than on technology push. As will be seen, both the programmes described here are technology pull-oriented.
The government has recently presented a bill concerning its R&D policy for the coming three years. In that bill, IT has been given higher priority than before in terms of economic resources.
Furthermore, resources will be devoted to technology transfer to SMEs. This holds for all technology, but it is reasonable to assume that IT will have a central place in the programmes arising from the bill.
The Technology Cheque programme
This programme was carried out during 1987-92. It was a national programme implemented through the Regional Development Funds. The model for it was the British programme, Manufacturing Advisory System ( MAS).
SMEs formed the target group. The idea of the cheque was to launch processes in SMEs which would represent a real technology improvement and not just a normal step in upgrading existing competence. The Regional Development Funds offered SMEs a cheque up to a maximum of 50 per cent (but not exceeding SKr 25 000) of the costs of undertaking a technology analysis which would form the basis for an action plan. It was then up to the company to decide what experts they engaged for the analysis and the programme.
In 1991 an evaluation was made based on approximately 350 companies. First, some facts about the SMEs participating in this programme:
-- average number of employees in the companies was 42.7. Half of the companies had fewer than 23 employees;
-- average turnover was SKr 32.2 million. Half of the companies had turnovers of less than SKr 15 million;
-- 50 per cent of the companies had been active for 20 years or less;
-- two-thirds of the companies were to some extent dependent on sub-contracts, and about 20 per cent functioned only as sub-contractors;
-- about 42 per cent of the companies had a turnover of 90 per cent or more derived from their own products.
Some results of the evaluation:
-- The perspectives of the companies were the starting point for the analyses. In some 70 per cent of the analysis, the basic idea was to take advantage of the possibilities offered, and not for problem-solving;
-- In some 50 per cent of the companies, the cheque was used for clearly-defined projects. The average total cost for this kind of project was around SKr 600 000;
-- In some 30 per cent of the cases, the cheque was applied to a chain of projects. The average cost of this kind of project was about SKr 2 million. For about 50 per cent of the companies working with so-called chain projects, the total cost was SKr 500 000 or less;
-- When the evaluation was made, approximately 6 per cent of the companies had implemented the programme resulting from the analysis. One-third of them had together increased revenues of SKr 130 million, and approximately one-third had lowered costs by an average of approximately SKr 457 000.
The areas on which the companies focused were: production planning, 50 per cent; product development, 25 per cent; marketing, 12 per cent; and production administration, 8 per cent. The following structure shows the character of the projects:
Purpose Share in %
Development of routines for offer and calculation 3.1
Tools for marketing 3.1
The table shows that most companies need IT.
Programme for Technology Consultants
In 1991 the government commissioned the Swedish National Board for Industrial and Technical Development (NUTEK) to carry out a general programme for technology diffusion targeted at SMEs. The programme consists of three activities:
-- training and education of technology consultants through the Regional Development Funds;
-- creating better co-operation between publicly-financed actors working in the field of technology diffusion;
-- stimulating Swedish participation in international programmes for technology diffusion, with emphasis on the EC.
Training and education are the key elements in the programme. Sweden is divided into 24 counties, each with a Regional Development Fund whose main purpose is to implement government SME policy. In addition to the Funds, there are other actors working with technology diffusion at regional and local level.
The objectives of the technology consultants are:
-- to stimulate SME demand for new technology and to increase the ability of the companies to absorb new technology;
-- to make public-financed R&D more accessible to SMEs;
-- to promote better co-ordination between public actors working with technology diffusion.
To enable the consultants to play all these roles, the training programme consists of the following three main parts:
-- exchange of experience, and monitoring and development of tools for technical analysis, etc.
(about 25 per cent of the programme);
-- building networks with different actors (research institutes, universities, technology centres, industries, etc.) working with R&D and technology diffusion. Through these networks a consultant will be better able to guide a company to the right source of competence (about 25 per cent of the programme);
-- education in project management, new technologies, licences, patents and standardisation (about 50 per cent of the programme).
Twenty-two of the 24 Regional Development Funds participate in the programme. Each fund has chosen one consultant to take part in the training. Some conditions were set for participation in the programme, e.g. consultants should have at the least a degree in engineering and ten years’ professional experience in either product development, production technology, material or production control. They should also have the experience and ability to be a stimulating factor in their work with SMEs.
The role of the technology consultant is that of a "house doctor" in technology, and not of a specialist in certain technologies. The idea is that, after a first diagnosis in the form of a technological
analysis performed together with the company, a programme for the company should be worked out. The role of the consultant is to be not only a discussion-partner for the company, but to guide it to relevant competence or to a relevant ongoing programme. The building of networks should be seen as an operating tool in the daily life of a consultant.
As mentioned earlier, one element in the training has been to revise existing methods for technology analysis. These revised methods for analysis are now being tested. The analysis consists of two days’ work and is free of charge for the company. The goal for 1992 was to initiate some 400 analyses, but so far only 100 analyses have been completed. One reason for this low percentage is that the consultants are not completely satisfied with the structure of the analyses. In practice, they were considered too schematic to create a constructive dialogue between the company and the consultant. This has now been rectified, but a lot of time was lost. In any case, the main reason for the low outcome compared to the goal is that the objective was too optimistic in the light of general economic developments.
Future evaluation will give a more relevant picture.
The work programmes developed in the framework of the analyses have the following profile:
Purpose Share in %
As can be seen from the table, the activities cover a broad range, from production technology through administrative solutions to product development and marketing. Another observation is that IT is linked to most activities (at least 40 per cent of the activities are IT-orientated). IT does not require special attention since it is a broad technology and is integrated in almost all technologies.
The budget for the technology consultants is SKr 4.5 million, of which SKr 3.5 million is devoted to technology analysis. Each analysis costs SKr 8 000.