A TOOL FOR TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER EVALUATION:TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER READINESS LEVELS, (TTRLs)

摘要

Technologies resulting from research are generally speaking not suitable for direct use in an application. Technologies are subjected to experimentation, refinement and testing before practical use. A tool for managing this process was developed at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). The tool, Technology Readiness Levels (TRLs) has proven to be effective in managing technology development towards applications and has been widely adopted by government programmes seeking to use the latest technologies in their systems. This paper explores how the concept of Technology Readiness Levels can be used for managing the transfer of technologies developed as part of European Space Programmes to non-space commercial applications. It uses the TRL concept developed for the management of incorporating technology spin-in to space programmes for the management of the spin-off of technology from space programmes. This leads to the introduction of Technology Transfer Readiness Levels, TTRL. Index Terms-technology transfer, technology readiness levels, commercialisation, spin-off, spin-in, ESA, NASA.