1. A workstream refers to the progressive completion of the tasks required to complete a project by different groups within a company or organization. It is also used to regard any of the many areas of activity of the businesses of an organization or company. A technical workstream would then refer to the technical aspects of the projects or business operations of a company. A technical lead role would manage and coordinate all the activities and tasks involved in the completion and delivery of a particular project or the normal operation procedures in an organization as performed by the various teams that carry out the tasks. A technical workstream lead will have to be knowledgeable in the project or task to be achieved (having a holistic view of the projects) and also a knowledge of the technical aspects of the subtasks that need to be accomplished by the various teams as measured by the deliverables. One position that fits the role is that of a production manager. A production manager will oversee all aspects of the production of a particular product or service, interacting with the various teams or units involved in the production.
2. Science is the endeavour that seeks to create, build, manage and organize knowledge in a manner that it can be used to understand and predict the universe. It can be broken down into the social sciences, which focuses on the study of people and societies, the natural sciences, which studies natural phenomena and the formal sciences such as mathematics.
Technology refers to the collection of methods, processes, skills and techniques as well as the products of these in terms of goods and services and accomplishment of objectives. Technology is broad as it can refer to both tangible and intangible products.
Science and technology share similarities in the goal of solving problems – science by providing knowledge, technology by using the knowledge to create the tangible and intangible solutions. The difference can be perceived in the fact that science is geared towards solving problems by understanding the universe, while technology aims at solving problems by designing methods, skills and hardware to solve real life problems. The major connection between the two is that science provides the tools for technology in terms of the knowledge available through science.
3. An invention describes a new device, method or process that is unique and not existed before. The first battery by Alessandro Volta was an invention.
Innovation entails a deliberate application of initiative, imagination and information to resources in order to derive greater values and processes leading to new ideas are generated and translated into useful products. An example of an innovation is an automatic transmission car as against a manual transmission system. The automatic transmission is the innovation.
The link between an invention and innovation lies in the fact that an invention is an innovation whereas an innovation is not necessarily an invention. An invention entails creating a process or product for the first time while innovation involves improving on an existing process or product.
4. A technology roadmap is a coherent plan that states the short-term, medium-term and long-term goals to be achieved by an organization and the specific technologies required to meet those goals. The roadmap clearly outlines links among the tasks and the priorities for action in the short-, medium- and long-term as well as the metrics and milestones to allow for the regular tracking of the progress of the tasks towards achieving the ultimate goals of the roadmap (International Energy Agency, 2014).
The components of a roadmap include goals, milestones, gaps and barriers, action items and priorities and timelines. Goals are a clear and concise that need to be achieved to give a desired result. Milestones are the interim performance targets needed to be achieved in order to achieve the ultimate goal. Gaps and barriers refer to a set of potential knowledge gaps or technology limitations and other barriers that might prevent achieving the set goals. Action items are the actions to be taken to overcome any such barrier identified. Priorities and timelines refer to the list of the most important actions that need to be taken in order to achieve the ultimate goal.
An example of a technology roadmap is a roadmap on energy efficiency. The goal of the roadmap is to improve the energy efficiency of an office building by 10% in three years and by 25% in 5 years by 'going green' (i.e. using ecosystem friendly sources of energy to power the building). The milestones to be achieved will be a progressive increase of the efficiency by 3% within the first three years and increase of 9% after the first three years. The potential barriers to achieving this might be the prohibitive initial cost of investment in the green sources of energy technologies needed to achieve the milestones. A useful source of green energy would be solar power technology, which could be capital intensive. Action item to overcoming the barrier would be to conduct an extensive research and survey to seek alternative sources of energy to achieve the set goals. A comparative analysis of the alternatives would help to decide the technology to use to achieve the goal. Priorities and timelines on the steps to be taken will entail itemizing the actions according to the most important and setting a time frame for its achievement.
REFERENCES
International Energy Agency (2014). Energy Technology Roadmaps: A Guide to Development and Implementation. PDF. Retrieved from http://www.iea.org/publications/freepublications/publication/TechnologyRoadmapAguidetodevelopmentandimplementation.pdf
