Article
Circular Technology Roadmapping (TRM): Fostering
Sustainable Material Development
Raphael Cobra
1
, Paula Sanvezzo
2
, Marcia Branciforti
2
and Janaina Mascarenhas
1,
*
Citation: Cobra, R.; Sanvezzo, P.;
Branciforti, M.; Mascarenhas, J.
Circular Technology Roadmapping
(TRM): Fostering Sustainable Material
Development. Sustainability 2021, 13,
7036. https://doi.org/10.3390/
su13137036
Academic Editor: José
Ignacio Alvarez
Received: 3 May 2021
Accepted: 2 June 2021
Published: 23 June 2021
Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral
with regard to jurisdictional claims in
published maps and institutional affil-
iations.
Copyright: © 2021 by the authors.
Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.
This article is an open access article
distributed under the terms and
conditions of the Creative Commons
Attribution (CC BY) license (https://
creativecommons.org/licenses/by/
4.0/).
1
Department of Production Engineering, São Carlos School of Engineering, University of São Paulo (USP),
São Carlos 13566-590, Brazil; raphael.cobra@usp.br
2
Department of Material Engineering, São Carlos School of Engineering, University of São Paulo (USP),
São Carlos 13566-590, Brazil; paula.sanvezzo@usp.br (P.S.); marciacb@sc.usp.br (M.B.)
* Correspondence: jana.mascarenhas@usp.br; Tel.: +55-16-3373-9405
Abstract:
To design more sustainable products often means improving the sustainability of materials.
Currently, sustainable innovation calls upon materials to not only minimize environmental impacts
but also to become circular. That requires efforts to keep materials functional for longer, avoid
early disposal, and re-entering the cycle via recycling and other feedback processes. Those emerging
challenges for materials development and the Circular Economy (CE) are especially critical in the case
of polymers. How to develop strategies to preserve the value of polymers remains a question that
mobilizes both researchers and practitioners. Technology Roadmapping (TRM) is a tool traditionally
used for planning innovation processes and has supported the development of sustainable materials
and other sustainability-related projects. This study tests TRM’s potential to assist with the planning
of new circular polymers solutions and proposes the Circular TRM method. This proposition results
from the case study of the development of waste-based fiber-polymer materials and strategies for
getting them into the market. Our case study demonstrates how it would be possible to differentiate
the various polymer material technologies and determine the most circular strategy path.
Keywords:
technology roadmapping; TRM; technology development; circular economy; sustain-
able material
1. Introduction
The productivity of a company is not only dependent on its operational effectiveness
but is also directly associated with its strategic positioning. While the operational effec-
tiveness measures process efficiency, the strategy defines how the business can maintain
a chain of well-coordinated processes that secure profit and protect the business from
destructive competition [
1
]. Similarly to management practices that support the improve-
ment of operational performance, there are approaches dedicated to strategic planning.
One strategy method is Technology Roadmapping (TRM), which aims to identify, define,
and map strategies, objectives, and actions related to innovation [
2
]. The TRM method’s
popularization is credited to Motorola Company in the 1970s, motivated by the need for
alignment between technology development and product planning [
3
]. However, scien-
tists recently traced TRM’s origins to high technology organizations in the United States
in the 1960s, such as NASA [
4
]. TRM application necessarily culminates in a graphical
representation with the time in the horizontal axis and the strategic elements (e.g., markets,
products, and technologies) in the vertical axis [
5
]. Workshops are helpful to gather all the
information for preparing the TRM’s output and its graphical representation. This entire
process brings together different stakeholders and fosters learning, sharing information,
and ultimately communicating and disseminating the strategy built collaboratively [5,6].
Despite the benefits of TRM, the academic literature highlights some limitations and
states that it can be: more normative than exploratory; difficult to disseminate; tough to
evaluate and assess business value; challenging to express the business attractiveness of
Sustainability 2021, 13, 7036. https://doi.org/10.3390/su13137036 https://www.mdpi.com/journal/sustainability
