Technological scouting

We worked with the R&D team of a leading medical device manufacturer who wanted to identify and evaluate smart sensors to develop a new connected object.

After having discussed with our client’s team to identify the state of internal knowledge and to frame our scope of investigation, we first predefined the evaluation criteria (level of maturity of the technology, technical performance, partners involved, scope of development capacities, etc.) for our investigation. Once this first step was completed, we identified and analyzed potential technologies and associated players on the market in a broad way, and then characterized a final selection of the most relevant players and technologies.

In the end, we were able to recommend 3 possible solutions to our client through this technology scouting, according to the criteria we defined together.

For an industrial client in the healthcare sector, we identified connected technologies adaptable to medical gas cylinders, in order to optimize logistics flows and offer new services, such as the monitoring of patients’ physiological parameters for example.

After having precisely defined with our client the filter criteria of the technologies to be explored (maturity level, price, competitive intensity, freedom to operate, …), our team made a first selection of technologies relevant to our client. Then, after having defined and chosen a finer selection, our team analyzed for each technology the types of data that could be obtained, their value as well as their limits (connectivity, remote communication, autonomy, …).

In fine, we recommended to our client 3 key technologies for his project and introduced him to the developers of these technologies to establish a partnership or discuss a potential acquisition.

For a leader in the beverage sector, Alcimed carried out an exhaustive mapping of technologies for 4 key processes: pasteurization, deaeration, mixing and filling.

One of the missions of our client’s R&D team was to stimulate upstream innovation and feed the project pipeline for all business units worldwide. In this context, our client wanted to have an overview of key technologies and to open up to key external players to increase their performance level, be more innovative and improve product quality and integrity.

Through a scouting exercise, our team identified 26 technologies around the world, evaluated 8 of them in depth and finally selected 6 of them as priorities for our client.

In light of the clean label trend, one of our customers in the food industry was facing a growing demand for natural ingredients from its customers and called upon our team to better understand alternatives to synthetic emulsifiers and identify potential partners.

Using a three-step approach, our team first defined the scope of the project with our client and predefined key evaluation criteria, before mapping and characterizing natural emulsifier alternatives and associated partners. We then tested the receptivity of potential customers to the short-listed alternatives.

Finally, we recommended to our client two potential solutions to be considered and prioritized the players to be favored.