Sub-function
Technology Scouting
Owns candidate work end to end inside Research & Development. more
Estate rating
A
80 / 100
Landscape scanning and screening are continuous and touchless. more
Agents
7
Lines
3
Units / wk
3,124
Timetable vs actual
11.8h → 15.0h
Cost / unit
$13
was $46
Run-rate saving
$5.3M
annualized at this volume
The 7 agents running this sub-function
Grouped by what they are for, not by where they sit. more
Technology Scouting Orchestrator
Owns the technology scouting lane end to end. Sequences the other agents, holds the timetable, and decides what surfaces to a human.
ceiling A3 · escalates to Escalates to Director, Technology Scouting when the unit falls outside the decision envelope or confidence drops below the floor.
Landscape Monitoring Agent
Watches technology scouting continuously. Detects drift, quantifies it, and routes what matters without waiting for a reporting cycle.
ceiling A3 · escalates to Escalates to Director, Technology Scouting when the unit falls outside the decision envelope or confidence drops below the floor.
Startup Screening Agent
Executes the technology scouting step it owns, posts its evidence, and hands the unit to the next stage.
ceiling A3 · escalates to Escalates to Director, Technology Scouting when the unit falls outside the decision envelope or confidence drops below the floor.
Capability Match Agent
Executes the technology scouting step it owns, posts its evidence, and hands the unit to the next stage.
ceiling A3 · escalates to Escalates to Director, Technology Scouting when the unit falls outside the decision envelope or confidence drops below the floor.
Diligence Support Agent
Executes the technology scouting step it owns, posts its evidence, and hands the unit to the next stage.
ceiling A3 · escalates to Escalates to Director, Technology Scouting when the unit falls outside the decision envelope or confidence drops below the floor.
Build-Buy-Partner Agent
Authors positions on technology scouting. Frames the question, models the options, and writes a recommendation a human can ratify or reject.
ceiling A3 · escalates to Escalates when two options sit inside the confidence band and the evidence cannot separate them.
Technology Scouting Challenger Agent
Adversarial reviewer for technology scouting. Argues the opposite case on every position and flags where the evidence does not carry the claim.
ceiling A3 · escalates to Escalates when a ratified position is still running against a break condition it flagged.
Estate rating breakdown
Seven control dimensions. Judgment readiness runs against autonomy on purpose.
People
What the humans stopped doing, and what they do now.
Roles held flat; released hours absorbed volume growth rather than headcount reduction.
Lines running in this sub-function
Each line is a workflow. more
Strategy positions this sub-function holds
An agent that only executes is a robot. more
Build-Buy-Partner Position
Ratifiedv4Is the current cost per candidate defensible against external comparators once inference spend is counted in full?
Hold the ceiling at A3 for technology scouting. more
confidence
73%
The challenge — Technology Scouting Challenger Agent
Technology Scouting Challenger Agent argues the recommendation leans on 4 quarters of data from a period with no volume shock. more
Break conditions
- ·Override rate rises above 16 percent for two consecutive months
- ·Cost per candidate stops falling while volume keeps rising
- ·A control failure in this lane reaches a customer or a regulator
Evidence gaps
- ·No external comparator on a like-for-like unit definition
- ·Exception cases under $17k are sampled, not fully measured
| Alternative considered | Cost | Risk | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hold the current position | $572k run rate | Known and priced. Cedes ground if comparators move faster. | not selected |
| Raise the ceiling one level now | $170k to build controls | Override rate is 7 percent; raising the ceiling before that settles imports the error into production. | rejected on evidence |
| Move the exception tail to the spine | $285k transition | Loses local context. Rework risk on the cases that are hardest to recover. | selected |
Ratified 9 months ago. Measured since: cost per candidate rose 5 percent against a forecast that it would fall 34 percent.
Technology Scouting Operating Position
Supersededv2Which parts of technology scouting should deliberately stay human, and how do we defend that against a cost argument?
Keep the repeatable candidate volume in the spine and pull the exception tail back into the function. more
confidence
84%
The challenge — Technology Scouting Challenger Agent
Technology Scouting Challenger Agent argues the recommendation leans on 3 quarters of data from a period with no volume shock. more
Break conditions
- ·Override rate rises above 8 percent for two consecutive months
- ·Cost per candidate stops falling while volume keeps rising
- ·A comparator publishes a materially lower unit cost on a like-for-like basis
Evidence gaps
- ·No external comparator on a like-for-like unit definition
- ·Exception cases under $32k are sampled, not fully measured
| Alternative considered | Cost | Risk | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hold the current position | $182k run rate | Known and priced. Cedes ground if comparators move faster. | live |
| Raise the ceiling one level now | $448k to build controls | Override rate is 7 percent; raising the ceiling before that settles imports the error into production. | rejected on evidence |
| Move the exception tail to the spine | $1036k transition | Loses local context. Rework risk on the cases that are hardest to recover. | under review |
Policy register
The rules the agents above are bound by. more
| Ref | Rule | Scope | Owner agent | Approved by | Version | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| RD10-POL-200 | Technology Scouting Decision Envelope Agents in this lane may act without a human when the candidate sits inside the stated value, risk and confidence envelope. more binds 3 agents · Global · EU | envelope | Technology Scouting Orchestrator | Director, Technology Scouting | v4.9 | Active |
| RD10-POL-201 | Technology Scouting Evidence Standard Every autonomous decision writes inputs, the rule version applied, the model and prompt version, the output and a reversal path. more binds 3 agents · EU · UK | evidence | Technology Scouting Orchestrator | Director, Technology Scouting | v4.3 | under review |
| RD10-POL-202 | Technology Scouting Escalation Rule Escalation is mandatory when confidence falls below the floor, when two options sit inside the confidence band, or when a break condition on a ratified position fires. more binds 3 agents · LATAM · US | escalation | Technology Scouting Orchestrator | Director, Technology Scouting | v1.5 | Active |
| RD10-POL-203 | Technology Scouting Autonomy Ceiling The ceiling for this lane is 84 on the platform scale. more binds 3 agents · EU · UK | ceiling | Technology Scouting Orchestrator | Director, Technology Scouting | v2.1 | Active |