State-of-the-art, Tech landscaping
What is it ?
The state of the art is often the first step of an Open Innovation project. Knowing the latest developments in a specific scientific or technological field, find one’s competitors or try to find out what they are doing, identify new ideas based on the latest advances in the research world, solve a new problem, here are some reasons to achieve a “state of the art”. Realizing a state of the art in a field is investigating in a systematic and structured way the existing knowledge in this field to produce a synthesis. The fact of making a state of the art not only makes it possible to take stock of the existing information, but especially not to run the risk of reinventing.
Why the ideXlab platform
ideXlab’s platform has been designed to facilitate the realization of a state of the art. It provides access to the latest scientific knowledge through publications in specialized journals or conference reports. It provides access to patents filed worldwide. It makes it possible to identify companies that work in the field of interest. Access to this information is greatly facilitated by the mechanisms of “Open Access”, which proposes to put all or part of the scientific production on line. An important element of a state of the art is the reliability of the information accessed. We have made the choice through ideXlab’s platform to offer only peer-reviewed information, which is therefore re-read and validated, in order to provide only reliable information. It can therefore be reused with confidence in the context of a doctoral thesis, a scientific or technical report, or as a first step before going further in a case of wider application (problem solving, research for new application, etc.)
The platform also provides tools that will help go further in achieving the state of the art. These tools allow to structure knowledge in a visual way that helps simplify the understanding of complex domains. They also allow to share knowledge with other users. A state of the art can therefore be achieved in a collaborative way, whether it is colleagues or even external experts that the platform helps identify and with whom a dialogue can be built. The platform also allows to automate the production of a report on the state of the art that can be annexed or included in broader works and that keeps traceability of the research carried out.
Finally, the state of the art can be a first step in a more complex Open Innovation project, such as the development of a partnership to set up a collaborative project or solving a complex problem. The platform then allows to switch to these other use cases.
Examples and to go further
The platform has shown its value in many cases of state of the art establishment. Case studies are available and can be downloaded from our resource center.