Technology Foresight for Regional Economies: A How-to-Do Guide

This study presents a how-to-do-guide on technology foresight for regional economies to orient future investigations on this under-investigated topic. Through quantitative and qualitative methods, the study identifies a list of 24 relevant technologies in mechatronics, which has been chose for its relevance in the regional economy that is addressed by the present study. The prioritization of
these technologies is based on both the attractiveness index and dynamism index. The attractiveness index is calculated by a triangulation of data (patent and patent citations, EU’s 7th framework, venture capitalists' investments, and interviews) collected through multiple databases. The dynamism index measures the increase of patent intensity through time. A ranking of 24 technologies is identified according to these two indexes.