“Innovation Pathways: The role of TRL in Technology Development”

On 03.01.2025, a seminar on “Innovation Pathways: The role of TRL in Technology Development” was organized by the Entrepreneurship Development Cell and IIC in association with the Department of MCA. The session was handled by Mr. Kannan, Associate Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering from 2.30 PM to 3.30 PM. 40 students and 2 faculties participated. The program was coordinated by Dr. M.Vijaya Maheswari, EDC Co-Ordinator Assistant Professor, Department of MCA, Francis Xavier Engineering College. This event was conducted with the guidance of Dr. Lourdes Poobala Rayen, EDC Director.

The program started with the welcome address by Mrs. D. Angeline Ranjithamani, HOD, Department of MCA, Francis Xavier Engineering College and introduced the guest speaker. The seminar began with an overview of rapid technological advancements and dynamic global markets, technical entrepreneurship as a crucial driver of innovation and economic growth. The speaker emphasized, innovation pathways as a journey from the conception of an idea to its eventual adoption as a product, process, or service. He also added TRLs provide a structured framework to assess the readiness of a technology at different stages of development. Speaker explained different levels of TRL starting from TRL 1 to TRL 9. He also explained how the fusion of technology and entrepreneurship has created a new breed of leaders, technical entrepreneurs. He explained the role of TRL in detail which includes Structuring Development Processes, Facilitating Risk Management, Enhancing Decision-Making, Promoting Cross-Sectoral Collaboration. In Structuring Development Processes, the speaker explained how to identify the current status of technology, how to plan the subsequent actions systematically. In facilitating risk management he added, how to identify mitigation technical risk at the early level, how to reduce of uncertainties before advancing to higher readiness levels, and the transparent communication of risks to stakeholders.

To enhance the utility of TRLs, the following improvements were suggested by the speaker, Integration with Market Readiness Levels (MRLs) which Combines TRLs with MRLs and provides a holistic view of both technical and commercial viability followed by Sector-Specific Adaptations that helps in developing tailored TRL frameworks for specific industries like artificial intelligence and Digital Tools for Assessment for Leveraging artificial intelligence and data analytics to standardize and automate TRL evaluations.

The speaker concluded session as Technology Readiness Levels serve as a cornerstone in guiding innovation pathways. Embracing TRLs in innovation strategies will continue to drive transformative advancements in science and technology. The interaction between the students and the guest speaker was highly motivating to all the participants. Session came to an end with the feedback of students. The program was coordinated by Dr. M.Vijaya Maheswari, EDC Co-Ordinator Assistant Professor, Department of MCA, Francis Xavier Engineering College.