Technology watch in the construction sector: Why and how?

'Technology watch', like 'innovation', is a process term. Large corporations in high-tech industries use technology watch regularly to facilitate the adoption of innovations, where it is associated with parallel 'watch' activities in social, legal and environmental areas. The information (yielded by technology watch) is either unrefined to give it added value for decision making. The technology watch process involves steps of collection, analysis and dissemination, implicating a watch team and domain experts. In small and medium enterprises (SMEs), particularly in the construction sector, special problems arise because of the lack of interest in innovation and because of the shortage of resources, suggesting the creation of 'relay stations' in the technology watch process. Current changes in the organization of the construction process, however, are changing the industry's structure, suggesting that there may be a new need for the kinds of information that technology watch can provide.