Alan L. Porter & Scott W. Cunningham 
Tech Mining 
Exploiting New Technologies for Competitive Advantage

Tech Mining makes exploitation of text databases meaningful to
those who can gain from derived knowledge about emerging
technologies. It begins with the premise that we have the
information, the tools to exploit it, and the need for the
resulting knowledge.

The information provided puts new capabilities at the hands of
technology managers. Using the material present, these managers can
identify and access the most valuable technology information
resources (publications, patents, etc.); search, retrieve, and
clean the information on topics of interest; and lower the costs
and enhance the benefits of competitive technological intelligence
operations.

About the author

ALAN L. PORTER’s major concentration is technology
intelligence, forecasting, and assessment. He has led the
development of ‘technology opportunity analysis’–mining
electronic bibliographic data sources to generate intelligence on
emerging technologies. He holds a BS in chemical engineering from
the California Institute of Technology, and a Ph D in engineering
psychology from UCLA. He is currently Director, Research &
Development, for Search Technology, Inc., in Norcross, Georgia.

SCOTT W. CUNNINGHAM worked for the Technology Policy
& Assessment Center at the Georgia Institute of Technology. He
has worked in industry as a data mining and machine learning
consultant, working chiefly in the e-commerce and retail
industries. He holds a BEng in engineering science and mechanics
from Georgia Tech and a DPhil in science, technology, and
innovation policy from the University of Sussex, UK. He currently
serves as an assistant professor on the Technology, Policy, and
Management faculty of TU Delft.