Uses of Technology Readiness Levels
The primary purpose of using Technology Readiness Levels is to help management in making decisions concerning the development and transitioning of technology. It should be viewed as one of several tools that are needed to manage the progress of research and development activity within an organization.
Among the advantages of TRLs:
- Provides a common understanding of technology status
- Risk management
- Used to make decisions concerning technology funding
- Used to make decisions concerning transition of technology
Some of the characteristics of TRLs that limit their utility:
- Readiness does not necessarily fit with appropriateness or technology maturity
- A mature product may possess a greater or lesser degree of readiness for use in a particular system context than one of lower maturity
- Numerous factors must be considered, including the relevance of the products’ operational environment to the system at hand, as well as the product-system architectural mismatch
Current TRL models tend to disregard negative and obsolescence factors. There have been suggestions made for incorporating such factors into assessments.
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