Linking Science and Strategy: Challenges and Possibilities for Using Technology Mining

Science and Technology (S&T) development is a foundation for economic growth of any country and solution for many grand challenges. Strategic goals and priorities set for S&T development aim at prioritizing and concentrating country’s resources. However, high money and time cost and uncertainty of success of Research and Development (R&D), the chaotic nature of S&T advancements, technology diffusion and knowledge exchange between different research areas create the demand for periodic interlinking of S&T development with Strategy realization. Growing amount of data related to STI sphere forces new ways to handle big data and provide evidence-based Science, Technology and Innovation (STI) policy. The present study develops an approach for linking Science and Strategy through the application of Technology Mining (TM) to data sources indicating S&T development and STI policy implementation. It reviews existing TM methods and tools and suggests the processing of various STI-related data sources for identification of S&T topics and trends, and their cross-linking analysis on the timeline. Case study in the research area of “Energy & Fuels” demonstrate two types of linkages: STI policy affecting S&T development and, in turn, trends influencing further formulation of policy. Lack of linkage is also either a signal of potential breakthrough or lack of progress.