Technology Briefing Report: Impact of [chosen technology] on [chosen industry sector]

Challenges and Opportunities Facing the Industry

Your task is to prepare a technology briefing report for non-technical managers. The target readers are managers who may not have a technical background but are keen to know how recent technologies may impact the industry and therefore their business. You must:

• Select an industry sector of your choice;

• Select a technology or a family of technologies of your choice. You should:

• Focus on one technology (such as “data analytics” and “cloud computing”), a family of technologies (such as “artificial intelligence”) or technology-enabled concepts (such as “Industry 4.0” and “additive manufacturing”) rather than a collection of multiple unrelated technologies (such as “autonomous vehicles and 3D printing”);

• Consider technologies that depend on IT in a broad sense, which may include, for example, bioinformatics but would exclude gene technology;

• Specify in your title the technology and the industry sector, e.g., “AI in Accountancy”, “Data Analytics in Healthcare”, etc.

• Demonstrate a critical appreciation of a wide range of sources that should include academic sources, and not rely on a single source.

Your report must start with a one-page Executive Summary (not included in the word count) followed by a well-structured report not exceeding 2500 words excluding the references. The Executive Summary page must have a minimum font size of 10, a minimum line spacing of 1.0 (single space), and at least 2.5cm margin on all sides. There are no formatting restrictions for the rest of the report but it will be subject to the word limit.

The report should be structured as follows with appropriate section numbers and headings. Each section may have subsections as appropriate to clarify the structure and flow of the report.

Executive Summary – The Executive Summary should be a self-contained one-page document that can be read on its own without referring to the main part of the report. It may contain, but not limited to, the purpose and targeted readers of the report, summary of findings, list of recommendations, etc., that effectively communicates to the readers the key messages of the report. It may contain tables and diagrams, where appropriate, but does not normally include references.

1. Introduction – This section should include the purpose of the report, motivation for selecting the topic, how the topic was approached, and how the rest of the report is structured.

2. Challenges and Opportunities Facing the Industry – This section should analyse the challenges in opportunities the industry sector you chose is facing at the moment and/or will be facing in the near future; here, it is encouraged that a framework or theory is applied to guide your analysis which should support a systematic approach to the analysis and provide a focus.

3. The Technology – This section should succinctly describe the technology that you chose and recent as well as future developments expected of the technology. Here, be reminded that the due to the word limit, this section should be focussed and unnecessarily lengthy – the target audience are non-technical managers which should determine the appropriate level and amount of technical detail.

4. The Impact of the Technology on the Industry Sector – This section should critically assess the impact of the chosen technology in the chosen industry sector; the analysis is expected to reveal both positive changes and potential issues that might arise; again, the use of framework or theory to guide the analysis is encouraged.

The work will be assessed using the following criteria

• Evidence of Knowledge

1. Detail and depth of subject knowledge

2. Relevance of the knowledge to the topic

3. Level of understanding of the knowledge

• Evidence of Scholarship

1. Critical scrutiny of the evidence/literature

2. Ability to integrate theory and practice

3. Ability to make logical and coherent arguments

4. Ability to use examples to illustrate arguments

5. Reasoning and balance in reaching judgement

• Originality & Independence

1. Evidence of original, creative approach and independence

2. Ability to challenge and question existing approaches

• Evidence of Presentation, Structure and Style

1. Clarity of organisation & structure

2. Fluency, grammar and spelling

3. References – Must follow the author-year style