Technology Readiness Levels (TRLs) in the Era of Co-Creation

Abstract

Technology readiness levels (TRLs) is a well-established and widely used approach for defining the readiness of new technology. It assesses technology maturity against specific benchmarks, ranging from level 1 (concept) to level 9 (market solution). Although this is a useful classification service that allows us to establish a common language, there are cases where we find that this conceptual approach cannot adequately highlight the maturity of certain innovative endeavors and effectively steer their development to higher TRLs. We will present an empirical case where the TRL approach presented a critical shortcoming in highlighting the true and effective readiness of a specific technological development and could not suggest the next natural step in ascending the maturity ladder. We will seek to generalize for the case of co-creation at large, analyze why co-creation may be poorly serviced by the current TRL model, and suggest an amendment that would allow the observed shortcomings of the traditional TRL approach to be overcome and its use extended into such co-creative settings, thus allowing stakeholders to enhance the effectiveness and impact of their collaborative innovation efforts.