Ben Thuriaux-Aleman
Partner
Head, Technology, Innovation & Digitalization Competence Center, Energy Practice
Ben delivers strategic change and process improvement to improve industry technology and innovation management.
Education
Rotterdam School of Management
Chicago Booth School of Business
MBA (Dean’s Honor List)
Open University
Postgraduate Certification in Project Management (Distinction)
Science Policy Research Unit
MSc in Science and Technology Policy
Manchester University
BSc Physics
Past Experience
Technopolis Group
Senior Consultant
Military Intelligence, Joint Chiefs of Staff, French Army
2nd Lieutenant, Desk Officer
Ben is a Partner at Arthur D. Little in the London office and leads the Technology and Innovation Management Practice and Growth Strategy. He is also affiliated with Energy Practice’s Competence Centre in Technology & Innovation.
His work focuses on:
- Strategy, technology and innovation management diagnostic and adapting innovation management best practices
- Growth Strategy
- National Innovation Systems, University and Education Strategy, Entrepreneurship Education and Innovation Hubs
- Development of innovation strategy and technology roadmaps
- Market intelligence and transaction support
Ben led Arthur D. Little’s most recent Innovation Excellence Benchmarking Study and our R&D management best practice study; he has also co-authored a number of ADL reports and viewpoints on a range of different innovation-related topics. He is passionate about the use of evidence and statistics in supporting decision-making.
Before joining Arthur D. Little, he worked at Technopolis Group on the evaluation of R&D programs and institutions and Innovation Policy for the EU and OECD.
He holds triple British, French, and Belgian Nationality. Ben trained as a Military Intelligence Officer in the French Army and holds a half blue for Judo from Sussex University.
HEI-led innovation hubs’ contribution to socioeconomic development
In an era of rapid technological evolution and increased global challenges, higher education institutions (HEIs) emerge as catalysts for development. This Viewpoint delves into the rising global interest in innovation hubs and discusses how HEI-led hubs can bolster national competitiveness and support the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) Vision 2030 goals. After identifying untapped opportunities for such hubs to advance KSA’s innovation positioning, we articulate a number of key success factors for this to be realized.
The future of higher education, Part I
Balancing new requirements for research, teaching & student needs
From good to great: Enhancing innovation performance through effective management processes
Results of the 9th Arthur D. Little Global Innovation Excellence Benchmark
Time to renew your pilot’s license?
Five technologies board members and CEOs must keep on their radar screens
Closing the innovation gaps between business units
Why is this, and what can companies do to improve the situation? Based on new research, this article explores the reasons for failure to share best innovation practices between business units and sets out strategic approach companies can take.
About the research
Having run for over 20 years, ADL’s Global Innovation Excellence Benchmark is an anonymous self-assessment best practice database, containing responses from over 500 companies to a series of detailed questions on innovation excellence. It measures two dimensions:
Technology foresight: anticipating future impact
THE GROWING IMPORTANCE OF TECHNOLOGY FORESIGHT
What is technology foresight?
Innovation management
Many organizations have created significant business benefit by decentralizing R&D and innovation functions, thus improving the contribution of innovation to business unit performance. However, this often creates a conflict of ownership, as the alignment of R&D activities with corporate strategy then needs to be dealt with at group level. Frequently, the responsibility for alignment between corporate strategy and business unit innovation and R&D lands with the CTO, who needs the right processes and tools to achieve this.
The National Innovation Ecosystem
Innovation is key in driving social and economic development and bridging the wealth gap between emerging and developed countries. Over the last 50 years, only a few countries, such as South Korea and Singapore, have succeeded in unlocking the full benefits of nation-wide innovation. Instrumental to their success is a systematic approach tackling innovation in a holistic manner that captures policy, governance, innovation engines and innovation enablers to shape their innovation ecosystem and bridge systemic and market gaps.
Driving transformation in research & technology organizations
Research and Technology Organizations (RTOs) are under growing pressure to stay abreast of rapidly evolving business or national science and technology priorities and to demonstrate greater impact. They therefore undergo continual strategic and operational change to adapt, but in some cases, transformation programs can underperform. Often this is because there is no real incentive to behave differently due to problems with how performance is measured and reported, and how incentives are created and aligned.
Oil, Gas & Other Natural Resources, Telecommunications, Information technology, Media & Electronics (TIME)
E&P cost reduction through technology assessment
Cost reductions achieved by adopting new oilfield technologies are critical to improve the resilience of Exploration and Production margins, especially for subsea assets. However, new cost-effective technologies can only be deployed successfully with sustained and targeted R&D efforts. In this viewpoint, Arthur D.
The NOC Technology & Innovation Management Challenge
National Oil Companies (NOCs) are spending more and more on R&D. But this has not yet had much of an impact. With the oil price currently well below the break-even point of their nations’ budgets, they are still behind Independent Oil Companies (IOCs) in terms of R&D effectiveness. IOCs have been shown to adjust faster to a new baseline price. Arthur D.
Finding your balance: Insights into world class portfolio management
In the current era of technological disruption and global competition, it is more important than ever to have a clear grip on how the full intent of corporate strategy is manifested in the R&D portfolio. Allocating resources in line with that strategy achieves better results - yet all too often, companies rely on stage gate controls at individual project or program levels. This is not sufficient to achieve the dynamic R&D portfolio management and resource allocation that global corporations need to stay ahead.
Insights into world class idea enrichment
We are entering an era that will demand unheralded levels of creativity as companies constantly innovate and reinvent themselves to succeed in the search for growth and margins. This places increasing pressure on companies to generate a steady stream of high quality ideas that can eventually deliver top and bottom line growth. This viewpoint looks best practices in developing, nurturing, and enriching ideas. Best practices identified include: time-limited ideation challenges for key strategic issues and a dedicated process to enrich and select winning ideas.
Insight into resource & competence management
The ever increasing rate of technology development and the combination of new disciplines places increasing demands on competence management in R&D and, if companies fail to develop or target the wrong areas, the consequences are greater and it’s harder to recover in time. One of the greatest inefficiencies in R&D is bottlenecks and delays in getting products to market, often due to resource constraints, hits companies hard.
Systematizing Breakthrough Innovation
It is increasingly important for companies to be able to deliver a pipeline of Breakthrough (or Radical) Innovations in order to respond to emerging competition, disruptions to core business, and increasing customer power. For example, in five years’ time, companies in our survey expect the revenue contribution of Breakthrough Innovations to be double the current levels.
Ben is a Partner at Arthur D. Little in the London office and leads the Technology and Innovation Management Practice and Growth Strategy. He is also affiliated with Energy Practice’s Competence Centre in Technology & Innovation.
His work focuses on:
- Strategy, technology and innovation management diagnostic and adapting innovation management best practices
- Growth Strategy
- National Innovation Systems, University and Education Strategy, Entrepreneurship Education and Innovation Hubs
- Development of innovation strategy and technology roadmaps
- Market intelligence and transaction support
Ben led Arthur D. Little’s most recent Innovation Excellence Benchmarking Study and our R&D management best practice study; he has also co-authored a number of ADL reports and viewpoints on a range of different innovation-related topics. He is passionate about the use of evidence and statistics in supporting decision-making.
Before joining Arthur D. Little, he worked at Technopolis Group on the evaluation of R&D programs and institutions and Innovation Policy for the EU and OECD.
He holds triple British, French, and Belgian Nationality. Ben trained as a Military Intelligence Officer in the French Army and holds a half blue for Judo from Sussex University.
HEI-led innovation hubs’ contribution to socioeconomic development
In an era of rapid technological evolution and increased global challenges, higher education institutions (HEIs) emerge as catalysts for development. This Viewpoint delves into the rising global interest in innovation hubs and discusses how HEI-led hubs can bolster national competitiveness and support the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) Vision 2030 goals. After identifying untapped opportunities for such hubs to advance KSA’s innovation positioning, we articulate a number of key success factors for this to be realized.
The future of higher education, Part I
Balancing new requirements for research, teaching & student needs
From good to great: Enhancing innovation performance through effective management processes
Results of the 9th Arthur D. Little Global Innovation Excellence Benchmark
Time to renew your pilot’s license?
Five technologies board members and CEOs must keep on their radar screens
Closing the innovation gaps between business units
Why is this, and what can companies do to improve the situation? Based on new research, this article explores the reasons for failure to share best innovation practices between business units and sets out strategic approach companies can take.
About the research
Having run for over 20 years, ADL’s Global Innovation Excellence Benchmark is an anonymous self-assessment best practice database, containing responses from over 500 companies to a series of detailed questions on innovation excellence. It measures two dimensions:
Technology foresight: anticipating future impact
THE GROWING IMPORTANCE OF TECHNOLOGY FORESIGHT
What is technology foresight?
Innovation management
Many organizations have created significant business benefit by decentralizing R&D and innovation functions, thus improving the contribution of innovation to business unit performance. However, this often creates a conflict of ownership, as the alignment of R&D activities with corporate strategy then needs to be dealt with at group level. Frequently, the responsibility for alignment between corporate strategy and business unit innovation and R&D lands with the CTO, who needs the right processes and tools to achieve this.
The National Innovation Ecosystem
Innovation is key in driving social and economic development and bridging the wealth gap between emerging and developed countries. Over the last 50 years, only a few countries, such as South Korea and Singapore, have succeeded in unlocking the full benefits of nation-wide innovation. Instrumental to their success is a systematic approach tackling innovation in a holistic manner that captures policy, governance, innovation engines and innovation enablers to shape their innovation ecosystem and bridge systemic and market gaps.
Driving transformation in research & technology organizations
Research and Technology Organizations (RTOs) are under growing pressure to stay abreast of rapidly evolving business or national science and technology priorities and to demonstrate greater impact. They therefore undergo continual strategic and operational change to adapt, but in some cases, transformation programs can underperform. Often this is because there is no real incentive to behave differently due to problems with how performance is measured and reported, and how incentives are created and aligned.
Oil, Gas & Other Natural Resources, Telecommunications, Information technology, Media & Electronics (TIME)
E&P cost reduction through technology assessment
Cost reductions achieved by adopting new oilfield technologies are critical to improve the resilience of Exploration and Production margins, especially for subsea assets. However, new cost-effective technologies can only be deployed successfully with sustained and targeted R&D efforts. In this viewpoint, Arthur D.
The NOC Technology & Innovation Management Challenge
National Oil Companies (NOCs) are spending more and more on R&D. But this has not yet had much of an impact. With the oil price currently well below the break-even point of their nations’ budgets, they are still behind Independent Oil Companies (IOCs) in terms of R&D effectiveness. IOCs have been shown to adjust faster to a new baseline price. Arthur D.
Finding your balance: Insights into world class portfolio management
In the current era of technological disruption and global competition, it is more important than ever to have a clear grip on how the full intent of corporate strategy is manifested in the R&D portfolio. Allocating resources in line with that strategy achieves better results - yet all too often, companies rely on stage gate controls at individual project or program levels. This is not sufficient to achieve the dynamic R&D portfolio management and resource allocation that global corporations need to stay ahead.
Insights into world class idea enrichment
We are entering an era that will demand unheralded levels of creativity as companies constantly innovate and reinvent themselves to succeed in the search for growth and margins. This places increasing pressure on companies to generate a steady stream of high quality ideas that can eventually deliver top and bottom line growth. This viewpoint looks best practices in developing, nurturing, and enriching ideas. Best practices identified include: time-limited ideation challenges for key strategic issues and a dedicated process to enrich and select winning ideas.
Insight into resource & competence management
The ever increasing rate of technology development and the combination of new disciplines places increasing demands on competence management in R&D and, if companies fail to develop or target the wrong areas, the consequences are greater and it’s harder to recover in time. One of the greatest inefficiencies in R&D is bottlenecks and delays in getting products to market, often due to resource constraints, hits companies hard.
Systematizing Breakthrough Innovation
It is increasingly important for companies to be able to deliver a pipeline of Breakthrough (or Radical) Innovations in order to respond to emerging competition, disruptions to core business, and increasing customer power. For example, in five years’ time, companies in our survey expect the revenue contribution of Breakthrough Innovations to be double the current levels.
More About Ben
- Rotterdam School of Management
- Chicago Booth School of BusinessMBA (Dean’s Honor List)
- Open UniversityPostgraduate Certification in Project Management (Distinction)
- Science Policy Research UnitMSc in Science and Technology Policy
- Manchester UniversityBSc Physics
- Technopolis GroupSenior Consultant
- Military Intelligence, Joint Chiefs of Staff, French Army2nd Lieutenant, Desk Officer