|
The technology life-cycle (TLC) describes the commercial gain of a product through the expense of research and development phase, and the financial return during its "vital life". Some technologies, such as steel, paper or cement manufacturing, have a long lifespan (with minor variations in technology incorporated with time) whilst in other cases, such as electronic or pharmaceutical products, the lifespan may be quite short. The TLC associated with a product or technological service is different from product life-cycle (PLC) dealt with in product life-cycle management. The latter is concerned with the life of a product in the marketplace with respect to timing of introduction, marketing measures, and business costs. The ''technology'' underlying the product (for example, that of a uniquely flavored tea) may be quite marginal but the process of creating and managing its life as a branded product will be very different. The technology life cycle is concerned with the time and cost of developing the technology, the timeline of recovering cost, and modes of making the technology yield a profit proportionate to the costs and risks involved. The TLC may, further, be protected during its cycle with patents and trademarks seeking to lengthen the cycle and to maximize the profit from it. The "product" of the technology may just be a commodity such as the polyethylene plastic or a sophisticated product like the ICs used in a smartphone. The development of a ''competitive product'' or process can have a major effect on the lifespan of the technology, making it shorter. Equally, the loss of intellectual property rights through litigation or loss of its secret elements (if any) through leakages also work to reduce a technology's lifespan. Thus, it is apparent that the ''management'' of the TLC is an important aspect of technology development. In the simplest formulation, innovation can be thought of as being composed of research, development, demonstration, and deployment. Most new technologies follow a similar technology maturity lifecycle describing the technological maturity of a product. This is not similar to a product life cycle, but applies to an entire technology, or a generation of a technology. Technology adoption is the most common phenomenon driving the evolution of industries along the industry lifecycle. After expanding new uses of resources they end with exhausting the efficiency of those processes, producing gains that are first easier and larger over time then exhaustingly more difficult, as the technology matures. ==The four phases of the technology life-cycle== The TLC may be seen as composed of four phases: ::(a) The research and development (R&D) phase (sometimes called the "bleeding edge") when incomes from inputs are negative and where the prospects of failure are high ::(b) The ascent phase when out-of-pocket costs have been recovered and the technology begins to gather strength by going beyond some Point A on the TLC (sometimes called the "leading edge") ::(c) The maturity phase when gain is high and stable, the region, going into saturation, marked by M, and ::(d) The decline (or decay phase), after a Point D, of reducing fortunes and utility of the technology. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Technology life cycle」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|