“Valleys of Death” in Creating, Commercializing, and Diffusion of Key Enabling Technologies

New technologies have been recognized as key drivers for corporate profitability and growth in today’s fast-changing environment. Technical and technological progress has made innovations and new technologies a tool used by developed and emerging economies to achieve growth and improve competitiveness. Not all companies, R&D institutes, and universities creating new technologies are successful in their commercialization. In most cases, the reason is a “valley of death.” Some new technologies are enablers. Their diffusion allows to create innovative products, processes, services in different industries. Not all technologies of this type, even if commercialized, spread to different industries. Some, more than others, influence the economy’s development and innovativeness of different industries. A group of such technologies, recognized by the European Union as pivotal for increasing Europe’s competitiveness, is known as Key Enabling Technologies (KET’s). The aim of this article was to identify the theoretical and research gaps in the area of “valleys of death” in creating, commercializing, and diffusion of KETs. Examples of different approaches to KET’s research and the “valley of death” problem are mentioned in this article. The methodology used was the literature review and desk research. The result of the conducted analyses is the identification of new research areas in technology commercialization and diffusion.