ABSTRACT
The value of technology is its worth in the market place, both now and in the future. Future worth depends on continued development and exploitation, based on understanding and responding to market needs. As harnessing the creativity of people will ultimately bring the market rewards, the human factor is just as important as the technical. Technical appraisal needs to be supplemented by enquiries in the market place and some human resources detective work. Fixing problems and keeping ahead with new releases is an important feature of product technology. Due diligence should, therefore, look at the decision making behind new product releases. Technology due diligence is not just about assessing technical issues. Just as important are the people and the market issues. It is no good having the best mousetrap if the market for mousetraps is already saturated, if potential customers do not know of its existence or if they are not really bothered about upgrading.
