Technology watch and competitive intelligence: a new challenge in Education for Information

Competition between nations and companies remains the key to success in the world. Since eco- nomic conflicts cannot be "solved" on a world-wide basis by international wars, the ground of competi- tion is now mainly scientific, technical and economic. The recent fallout of the Soviet Union clearly sup- ports this position. It is evident that Intelligence will follow the same trend, and that the objectives and the methods will change with this new orientation. Technology Watch and Competitive Intelligence is one of the key fac- tors. This means that information in scientific and technical areas will be subjected to new treatments, validations and presentations to match this new trend. How to move from classical documentation, to this new field, and what will be the place of the teaching institutions? The present paper will try to emphasize several aspects of these problems in close relationship with sever- al years' experience of research and education.