The ninth goal of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal (SDG 9) aims to support domestic technology development, research, and innovation in developing countries. While the successful development of an innovation system is believed to be driven by its thorough management approach, the Technology Readiness Scale (TRL Scale) originated in the measurement of a technology’s readiness. It allows managers to have a good grasp of the technical applicability and provides them with the basis for budgeting decisions to prioritize subsequent investments and avoid duplication.

Biotech usually lies between TRL 1 and 3 due to its huge investment and long development time. TRL 4 to 6 refer to the stage of technology transfer in which a more practical action may be required such as clinical trial and provision of prototype. When a product enters the mass production stage, it has already reached TRL 7 to 9. Funds tend to be more willing to invest in mature technology at this stage for its stability and standardized repetitive production.

Learn more from the full article (in Chinese only) written by Kenny Siu, Senior Advisor of AEC Group, published on Sing Pao on 23 May.