Vigilancia tecnológica y análisis del ciclo de vida de la tecnología: Evaluación del potencial comercial de un prototipo de guantes biodegradables a partir de almidón termoplástico de yuca

The article presents the results of an analysis about the life cycle of a technology applied to three other technologies; related with the manufacturing of biodegradable gloves made out thermoplastic starch from cassava. Regarding the aforementioned technologies, search equations were formulated for the items and patents that were used in specialized databases. S curves were used to analyze the information, which help to determine the state of the technology within its life cycle. As a result, uncertainty can be diminished when it comes to making decisions with a reference point or an inflection point. The selected technologies were extrusion blow molding, reactive extrusion and co-extrusion. Afterwards, the search equations for items and patents were determined. Lastly, the data was accumulated using the two chosen performance parameters. The aforementioned was the input needed to apply thirteen models that the specialized software for SigmaPlot S curves offers. The thirteen models are: Sigmoidal 3 parameters, Sigmoidal 4 parameters, Sigmoidal 5 parameters, Logistic 3 parameters, Logistic 4 parameters, Weibull 4 parameters, Weibull 5 parameters, Gompertz 3 parameters, Gompertz 4 parameters, Hill 3 parameters, Hill 4 parameters, Chapman 3 parameters and Chapman 4 parameters. Working with thirteen models aims to find inflection points, which indicate the stage or phase in which the technology is. After applying the thirteen models to all three technologies in the data of accumulated items and patents, we select the model that presents the best fit according to the established statistical parameters: T-Value: greater than 2 and less than -2; P-Value: less than 0.005; Durbin Watson: between 1.8 and 2.2; Adjusted R2: leaning towards 1. Finally, the analysis of the technology was performed.