Overcoming the Valley of Death: An industrial case study of barriers and enablers when using the Technology Readiness Level scale

Abstract: An innovation process should take an idea all the way from research to the market. However, this is a long process in which many barriers can appear. For this thesis, a case study has been conducted, at a large Swedish industrial manufacturing company, with the purpose to examine their material innovation process. They have experienced challenges when transferring the results of the innovation from Research and Development (R&D) to a receiving department. Too often, the findings of the R&D department are left on a shelf. Therefore, the purpose of the thesis is to identify which barriers that are present in the material innovation process at the case company, as well as to investigate best-case examples. The challenges presented in the Internal Technology Transfer (ITT) literature often regard the communication between the R&D and Product Development departments. Furthermore, different ways of handling the barriers that appear in the innovation process have been found in the literature. For example, the Stage Gate (SG) process can be used to manage innovation. The case company uses the Technology Readiness Level (TRL) scale. It is a tool to define the maturity of a technology development. The most prominent barrier found in the case study is interface communication at TRL 6 when transferring technology from R&D, also known as the valley of death. This refers to the communication and interaction between different departments within the case company. The interface communication in its turn consists of three main barriers: not demanded technology, different resource prioritization, and insufficient handovers, which is in line with the ITT literature. However, the literature does not suggest if or how TRL and elements of SG could be combined. By mapping the process, barriers, and ways to address them, combining best case examples and literature findings, the authors fill this gap. A framework of how to incorporate the two concepts of SG and TRL is presented. Moreover, a recommendation of how other theoretical concepts could be added to the framework is given.