7 Technology Readiness Available to Purchase

When the development of a new innovation is believed to be complete, an audit of the innovation to determine its state of readiness saves much subsequent expenditure of time and money. Is the innovation ready to be selected and transferred into commercial product development programs?

WHY YOU WANT TO DO A TECHNOLOGY-READINESS AUDIT

Historically, many new innovations have been integrated into a product before they were ready. This has caused a great waste of time and money during the subsequent commercial development and deployment into the field.

Figure 7.1 shows one facet of the advantage of technology readiness. The headcount that is required for the effective innovation (on the left side of Figure 7.1) is very small relative to the headcount for commercialization. If the technology is not ready, then the commercialization headcount is traditionally ramped up immediately after technology transfer. However, if the technology is ready, then the ramp-up can be delayed. The resulting Technology Readiness Efficiency is very large. The Technology Readiness Efficiency directly translates into reduced financial expenditure. It also compresses the schedule.