Technology Readiness Levels in 2020, 2030 and 2050
This roadmap aims to bring research and innovation to deployment enabling their implementation over the 40
years to 2050. Considering the long cycle times in infrastructure this time span represents 2 or three investment
cycles. Starting from a 2010 baseline the R&I activities presented in this roadmap start from various Technology
Readiness Levels (TRL).
This concept is shown in the figure below and ranges from exploring the basic principles of technology (TRL = 1) up
to system/subsystem model or full-scale prototype demonstration and further to the completion and qualification
of the actual system through test and demonstration; rendering it ready for market uptake (TRL = 9). As the
guiding goal for 2030 is about enabling solutions, this implies an objective to achieve TRL = 9. However it is
recognised that part of the relevant R&I activities will have longer lead times and therefore will have lower TRLs in
2030. Hence, at the start of the R&I activities a mandatory state-of-the-art assessment (SOTA) will be made for the
themes and topics, taking into account the relevant past and present landmark projects and programmes.