What is technology watch?

How is technology watch defined?

The most cited definition in Spain comes from the study by Fernando Palop and José M. Vicente for the Fundación Cotec (1999): watching is ‘the organised, selective and permanent way of capturing information from outside, analysing it, and turning it into knowledge to take decisions with less risk and to anticipate changes’^[1]. The same study specifies it as the systematic effort of observing, capturing, analysing, disseminating and retrieving information about facts in the economic, technological, social or commercial environment that may represent an opportunity or a threat^[1].

The reference standard is UNE 166006:2018, ‘R&D+i management: watch and intelligence system’, published on 18 April 2018 by UNE’s technical committee CTN 166 and in force in October 2026^[2]. Its purpose is to formalise and structure the process of listening to and observing the environment, to support decision-making at all levels of the organisation^[3]. Internationally, the guidance ISO 56006:2021 addresses the same function under the name strategic intelligence management, within innovation management^[4].

How does it differ from a one-off search?

A search answers a question at a specific moment. Watching keeps that question open, reviews the same sources with the same criteria, and keeps what it finds. That continuity is what makes it possible to see trends, not just news.

Which areas of the environment does it cover?

Palop and Vicente, following Martinet and Ribault, distinguish four areas of watching, which in practice are combined^[1]:

• Technological: advances in the state of the art and the opportunities or threats they create. Typical sources: patents, scientific publications, R&D projects.
• Competitive: current and potential competitors and substitute products.
• Commercial: customers and suppliers.
• Environmental: social, legal, environmental and cultural aspects that condition competition, such as regulation.

In 2018 UNE 166006 removed the adjectives ‘technological’ and ‘competitive’ precisely because economic, political, social and environmental factors weigh as much as technology^[5].

How does a watch system work under UNE 166006?

The standard adopts the common structure of ISO management system standards and, in its operation chapter, asks that these activities be defined and documented for each watch product^[5]:

1. Source control: which sources are used, and on what criteria they are maintained.
2. Search: how information is captured, with which queries and filters.
3. Processing: cleaning, classification and removal of duplicates.
4. Value-adding: interpreting the information and explaining what it means for the organisation.
5. Distribution: what reaches whom, in what format and how often.
6. Storage: keeping it for later consultation.

Before all of this come the information needs: the decisions the watch must support, the early warnings worth receiving and the players worth following^[6]. Without that definition, the system captures a lot and serves little.

Which decisions does it support?

• Before starting an R&D project: checking whether the solution already exists. Espacenet, from the European Patent Office, gives free access to information on inventions since 1782^[7].
• When choosing a technology: seeing who is patenting in it, since when and in which countries.
• Facing a regulatory change: knowing the text when it is published in Spain’s Official State Gazette (BOE) or the Official Journal of the EU, not when it is already binding.
• When following a competitor: bringing together its patents, tenders won, appointments and changes on its website in a single history.

Basic public watch services exist. The Spanish Patent and Trademark Office publishes free quarterly bulletins with the most relevant patents in six sectors^[8]. They are a good starting point; an in-house system adds what no generic bulletin offers: your organisation’s questions, sources and judgement.

What does Innguma do in this process?

Innguma is a technology watch and competitive intelligence platform that continuously monitors news and websites, patents, regulation and the BOE, tenders, competitors’ websites and specialist sources. Its AI filters, groups duplicates and classifies each signal by category, technology, entity, type of event, place and tone. People review in Factory, the space where Innguma processes and structures signals, and decide what is published; what has been validated is kept in the Library with its source and distributed in newsletters. You can do it with your team or with ours. Innguma’s technology watch and intelligence system is certified under UNE 166006:2018.