Drives cost savings

Information Analysis Centers (IACs) -- US government sponsored

• http://iac.dtic.mil/
• Use for: Covers 13 technical areas of interest to US government agencies such as the Department of Defense and the Department of Energy. Topics include Advanced Materials, Modeling & Simulation, and Carbon Dioxide. Good level of detail for US R&D activities

MarketResearch.com

• MarketResearch.com

• http://www.marketresearch.com/
• Use for: Table of contents of thousands of market research reports

• Electronic Engineer Master

• http://www2.eem.com
• Use for: Tables of contents of market research reports. With a subscription you can combine this with a news service

• Thomas Net

• http://www.thomasnet.com/
• Use for: Tables of contents and summary descriptions of market research reports. The descriptions include a few quotable statistics for the industry or sector

• Online Yellow Pages

• http://www.yellowpages.com
• Use for: Simple search engine for finding businesses by category and location

Google Advanced Search

• Google Advanced Search

• http://www.google.com
• Use for: Locating similar products. Limit to the .com domain to find company sites. Use search terms for the problem as well as the product. Also search “buyers guide” and your product sector

• Thomas Register Online

• http://www.thomasregister.com
• Use for: Finding similar products and prices. Search by category; look for product specs and catalogs. Excellent for looking at a list of many companies in a sector and seeing which ones have online product catalogs. Site sign-up is required the first time you access the site

• US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO)

• http://www.uspto.gov/patft/
• Use for: Alternate solutions to the same problem. Use the advanced search to specify fields within the patent. (spec/”material handling” finds the term in the description/specification field)