Stages of Technology life cycle with examples.

Stages of Technology life cycle with examples.

Answer:
The life span of various technologies can be conveniently identified as consisting of four distinct stages, all of which taken together form the ‘Technology Life Cycle’. The four stages are of technology life cycle are:

· Innovation stage: 

This stage represents the birth of a new product, material or process resulting from R&D activities. In R&D laboratories, new ideas are generated depending on gaining needs and knowledge factors. Depending on the resource allocation and also the change element, the time taken in the innovation stage as well as in the subsequent stages varies widely.

· Syndication stage: 

This stage represents the demonstration (pilot production) and commercialization of a new technology, such as, product, material or process with potential for immediate utilisation. Many innovations are put on hold in R&D laboratories. Only a very small percentage of these are commercialised. Commercialisation of research outcomes depends on technical as well as non-technical, mostly economic factors.

· Diffusion stage: 

This represents the market penetration of a new technology through acceptance of the innovation, by potential users of the technology. But supply and demand side factors jointly influence the rate of diffusion.

· Substitution stage: 

This last stage represents the decline in the use and eventual extension of a technology, due to replacement by another technology. Many technical and non-technical factors influence the rate of substitution. The time taken in the substitution stage depends on the market dynamics.

Example of technology life cycle :

Research and development is an important part of an organisation to research new ideas and for launching new products in the market. R&D is where new ideas are born. This is the innovation stage. After R&D, the new ideas are put into pilot test production. 

This is the syndication stage. A model or prototype is built to study the feasibility, shortcomings and further improvements. After things are well at the syndication stage, products are introduced in the market – the diffusion stage. 

Various means of communicating the new technology is adopted to make the customer aware of the new product launched. Then comes the substitution stage when the product becomes obsolete or unpopular due to existence of new and superior technology. This is when an organisation needs to go back to innovation stage to refine or come up with better products.