Readiness Levels

The iNEMI Roadmap uses two industry-standard definitions for readiness for a given technological solution:

Technology Readiness Levels (TRLs), where the focus is on technology maturity for its real-world use
Manufacturing Readiness Levels (MRLs), where the focus is on the manufacturability of a technology.

The Roadmap tables include expert estimation of what the TRL or MRL levels are expected to be for the given technology today, three, five and ten years from now.

For simplicity, the iNEMI Roadmap uses either TRLs or MRLs for any given technology:

MRLs are used where the technology is a electronics component or system to be manufactured.

TRLs are used where the technology solution is manufacturing equipment or manufacturing technology.

Technology and Manufacturing Readiness Levels (TRLs and MRLs)

Definitions are given here for TRLs and here for MRLs. For further discussion, please see iNEMI’s technical note¹ on the topic.

Readiness levels color coding

In-table color key	Range of readiness levels	Description
2	TRL: 1 to 4 MRL: 1 to 4	Levels involving research
6	TRL: 5 to 7 MRL: 5 to 8	Levels involving development
9	TRL: 8 to 9 MRL: 9 to 10	Levels involving deployment

As well as providing a quick visual means of inspecting the solution tables, this color coding sidesteps the low level of certainty with with the selection of any given TRL or MRL level and should be relatively accurate.

References

iNEMI, “Common Definitions of Manufacturing and Technology Readiness Levels,” white paper <<hyperlink needed>>, Mar 2022.