Methods of Multi-Criteria Analysis in Technology Selection and Technology Assessment: A Systematic Literature Review

Abstract

Abstract Technology assessment and selection problems have gained importance in recent decades as the used technology often determines the enterprises’ competitive advantage. Due to the extensive catalogue of criteria that should be considered and, on the other hand, the extensive catalogue of available technologies and solutions, the decision-making process of choosing a technology becomes a significant challenge for organisations and individuals. This study aims to identify the main research directions and trends in the scientific literature on applying multi-criteria analysis (MCA) in the context of technology assessment and/or technology selection. The author conducted a bibliometric analysis of publications indexed in the Web of Science and Scopus databases. The methodology of this study also included identifying the most productive authors, countries, organisations, and journals and analysing the occurrence and co-occurrence of terms. Final analyses included 380 publications retrieved from the Scopus database and 311 documents retrieved from the Web of Science repository. The analysis of the occurrence of terms and keywords allowed distinguishing two main research directions in using MCA methods in assessing and selecting industrial and health and medicine-related technologies. Some sub-areas have also been distinguished within these two areas: energy and renewable energy technologies, waste management, biomedical and medical technologies, and drug production technologies.