What are TRLs?
An introduction to another government acronym
Early stage technologies from US research institutions represent the lifeblood of the US economy. Technology Readiness Levels (TRL) — a spectrum defining stages of technology and product development — can prove to be an important tool in managing technology and market risks, investment timing, and technology transfer. This prevents early stage technologies from being blindly developed. Productization plans for technologies are managed early in development so that market acceptance is optimized.
The TRL system is a methodically structured numerical spectrum used for assessing a technology’s maturity — the range extends from TRL 1 (ideation; basic scientific observations) to TRL 9 (proven technology adopted by end user). Originally developed by NASA in 1971, TRL systems are widely used by entrepreneurs, university labs and technology transfer offices, and many investment entities in both the public and private sectors.
There is an inherent gap between the research and development stages of a technology (TRLs 1–5) and the productization stages of a technology (TRLs 6–9). This gap exists because new and enabling technologies that come from US public and private research institutions are designed using a push method. These research institutions do not serve to respond to industry needs. The US Federal Laboratory Consortium (consisting of 315 public laboratories) was purposefully designed to serve as an agent of technology transfer — the “process by which technology or knowledge developed in one place or for one purpose is applied and used in another.” This push strategy approach may appear inefficient to industry-facing entities at times, but the TRL spectrum can be used by research institutions and industry-facing entities as an effective tool for assessing technical, market, and regulatory risks. Ultimately the use of curated TRLs can aid in bridging the gap between R&D and productization by identifying and communicating all milestones at early stages so that the technology can be quickly adapted for multiple end uses.
Early TRLs
Early stage technologies are researched and developed at university and other research institutions. These institutions’ role in the technology commercialization ecosystem is to research basic scientific principles and properties relevant to a new technology. In most scenarios, inventors move to find practical applications for the science observed and explore those practical applications, and subsequently prove the basic scientific concepts on a small scale. According to NASA’s original TRL system, what has been described here, is referred to as TRL 1, 2, and 3. Technologies ranging from TRLs 1 to 5 are broadly identified as laboratory experiments and considered risky.
A Case Study: RaDEant Technologies & Oak Ridge National Laboratory
Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) is a federally funded, public research institution in Tennessee and member of the Federal Laboratory Consortium. They exchange exclusive options and licenses to their technologies for narrow fields of use to firms of all sizes in order to accelerate the adoption of their technologies in the market.
RaDEant Tech, an industrial antifouling solutions provider, acquired an option for four patents related to one of ORNL’s super hydrophobic mixtures for use in a coating application to prevent industrial fouling. The technology — SHDE — received government funding from the Department of Energy and Department of Defense in excess of $13 million for the SHDE mixture’s laboratory research and development through TRL 5. At this stage of development, the SHDE mixture had been chemically optimized for super hydrophobicity and a primitive coating had been developed to house the SHDE. The coating acted as a simulated environment for how the later productized SHDE mixture would be used.
When new and established firms approach ORNL for use of their technologies, the stage of technology development is typically at TRL 5 or below. It is common for early stage technologies to receive government funding to move a technology’s development through the risky stages to TRL 5 (proof of concept in a simulated environment). In the case with RaDEant Tech and ORNL, both the SHDE mixture and coating were very crude for the applications RaDEant Tech had optioned. This is a perfect example of the “gap” between R&D and productization because financial and labor resources would need to be expended to optimize the SHDE mixture for different applications. That is, the SHDE mixture was developed without a specific end use in mind, or a vague one at minimum (i.e. “paints and coatings,” not “paints and coatings used in [specific] environment”). The SHDE mixture works by altering the surface properties of the diatomaceous earth with a fluorinated silane solution, pinning a monolayer of air against jagged edges of diatomaceous earth. This monolayer of air creates the hydrophobic effect, blocking any particulates (including water) from adhering to the diatomaceous earth surface. However, this chemical structure does not work for high-temperature or high-pressure environments because the monolayer of air is flattened or moved. An SHDE coating used for hydraulic fracturing or certain power generation environments with high-pressured steam would require a liquid monolayer to achieve the hydrophobic effect. As RaDEant Tech continues to develop its flagship SHDE coating with specific end uses in mind, the technology readiness of the mixture is not as high on the TRL scale as it was first believed. RaDEant Tech’s SHDE coating developer and manufacturer, in conjunction with RaDEant Tech’s Chief Scientific Officer and inventor of the SHDE mixture, will have to test its chemical alternations in specific simulated environments with specific temperatures and pressures. Furthermore, to achieve specific abrasion resistance (unknown during initial research and development stages), a customized coating with specific pigments and polymers will need to be tested. If specific end users for the SHDE mixture were identified earlier in the development process, RaDEant Tech (as well as other license holders of the SHDE) may have been able to direct the development process of the mixture towards more applicable uses. That is, the SHDE mixture may have been optimized for environments for which the market required hydrophobic mixtures.
When asked during an interview about working through TRLs 1–5, the inventor of this technology, Dr. John Simpson, described the following: “TRLs for material science are named differently than for hardware/software applications, but essentially follow the same trajectory. When we were researching the SHDE back in 2004, we accidently observed a phenomenon that led to the exploration of a silica-based material used to produce hydrophobic effects. When validating this, cost was the major obstacle…and ultimately sent us back to TRL 1.”
Dr. Simpson is describing the “trajectory” of his technology’s research as nonlinear. That is, often in laboratory environments random occurrences in experimentation lead to huge leaps in a technology’s development. Once technologies reach TRL 5, technical risks have been greatly mitigated. However, there is a risk inherent in technology development that is not assessed by NASA’s original TRL system: product cost (raw materials, production, and distribution). Fortunately for RaDEant Tech, the expensive silica-based mixture was exchanged for an inexpensive, easily mined raw material diatomaceous earth. From 2006–2008, the diatomaceous earth coating went through TRLs 2–5.
Later-stage TRLs
TRLs 6–9 represent statuses most interesting to public and private sector investors. Once the initial concept is validated in a laboratory environment, small-scale prototypes are developed in order to replicate the technology’s use in relevant and operational environments. This stage is crucial to potential investors because the technology’s features and performance factors are linked to a relevant environment. In the case of RaDEant Tech’s SHDE, the mixture’s performance factors (hydrophobicity and durability) could be quantified using industry-relevant tests (American Society of Mechanical Engineers — ASME). In order to productize a technology, it must be manufacturable. In order to determine a technology’s manufacturability, the technology’s performance factors are assessed. This is also relevant to the product’s end users. Features and performance factors are identified and measured in order to assess the end product’s competitive advantage. The productization stages of the SHDE mixture (transforming it into a coating) required RaDEant Tech and its manufacturing team to step back to TRL 4 in order to optimize environmental friendliness (there is a regulatory threat against fluorinated silanes which may result in regulated use by the Environmental Protection Agency in the near future), durability, and hydrophobicity for use in submerged, high-pressure, and high-temperature environments.
TRLs 6 and 7, representing the technology’s transition into a product, can sometimes go through several development iterations. When working with the potential product’s end users, product features can be added to increase consumer surplus and entice adoption. This is becoming a growing method of development today. Rapid development in TRLs 6 and 7 allow firms to develop, test with end users, and pivot in order to produce minimum viable products suitable for the end users’ needs. Optimizing research at TRLs 2–5 would make this productization process smoother.
NASA’s original TRL system used TRLs 6 and 7 to conduct similar activities — develop and test — before ultimately completing a demonstration. TRLs 8 and 9 represent the technology’s final productization and acceptance by their markets.
The Lasting Benefit of TRLs and BRLs
In order to remain globally competitive, the US must have a clearly defined technology commercialization path. The US currently produces an enormous amount of intellectual property with most of it underutilized (a mere 3% of all US patents become revenue-generating assets). Although it is impossible to prove any causal relationship, it is important to acknowledge that using Technology and Business Readiness Levels may improve the efficiency of transferring technology from research institutions to companies ready to productize. TRLs and BRLs help companies create focused launch strategies, keep products competitive with changing market landscapes, and reduce the overall product development timeline and time to market. Allied Minds is truly one of the pioneers in efficient technology commercialization because they have optimized investment timing, product development, and funding allocation using TRL and BRL spectra. They are able to “form, fund, manage, and build” efficiently by investing in technologies early and driving development towards products end users are willing to accept — the essence of technology transfer.
