A model for technology assessment and commercialization for innovative disruptive technologies

Disruptive technologies are scientific discoveries that break through the usual product/technology capabilities and provide a basis for a new competitive paradigm. This paper reviews the literature on disruptive technologies presenting a model of the progression from scientific idea to mass production for disruptive technologies contrasted to the more copious incremental technologies. The paper then describes Sandia National Laboratories' involvement in one of the disruptive technology areas, namely micro-electromechanical systems (sometimes referred to as microsystems or MEMS) and surveys a number of companies that have investigated Sandia's technological discoveries for potential use in an industrial capacity. The survey focuses on the movement of the research findings from the laboratory into the marketplace and all of the problem areas that disruptive technologies face in this arena. The paper then states several hypotheses that are tested. The data is described with results and conclusions reported.