IIT Madras Newsletters

Many technologies perish in this chasm straddling the challenging field of work beyond the initial proof of concept which is often exciting with many funding options and disruptive advances with scope for high-impact publications.

However, at higher technology readiness levels (TRLs), the scientific advances may not be as significant as those required to productize the solution and make it deployable on the field.

At this stage, typically funding from traditional academic or research sources dries up: but even industry or the market may not step in immediately until the technology reaches maturity.

However, if the solution is well crafted in terms of its innovation quotient vis- -vis the customer requirement, elegant and cost-effective to implement, and scalable in its realisation, it is sure to attract the funding and support to reach the market.

It is not enough to create something afresh or recreate it ‘here’, but to make it in a way that is mindful of the market needs, costs, and scalability.

Thus, innovation must be seen as the inherent ability of a solution to organically overcome challenges and outcompete other possible approaches addressing the same problem, racing away to productization and field deployment.