"Demand Readiness Level" (DRL), a new tool to hybridize Market Pull and Technology Push approaches. Introspective analysis of the new trends in Technology Transfer practices

Analyzing the evolution of the innovation models, from the linear process ("concept" for Schumpeter, "R&D push" for Abernathy, Utterback, "co-innovation" for Shapiro), integrated and systemic process ("coordination process" for Hardy, Iansiti, Chen, "innovative management" for Tucker) to total innovation management (3 totalities for XU) we could understand the evolution of the practices and actors of innovation. This paper identifies the importance of new tools in order to favor the technology transfer process. The author introduces the concept of "Demand Readiness Level", an additional scale to Technology Readiness Level, which will relate to the degree of maturity for the expression of a need by a potential innovation actor on a given market including the lead markets for eco-innovation. The case of SMEs it will be in particularly addressed with the identification of specific "asymmetries in the innovation process" (Paun, F., 2009): risk asymmetry, cultural asymmetry and technology asymmetry that need to be managed (reduced or compensated) in order to favor value creation through innovation. This research work has been presented during the ERA-Net Workshop on Eco-innovations and has been selected for publication in Springer Encyclopedia 2011.