Proposal for TRL Adjustment in the Maturation of Agroindustrial Technologies

Resumo

Technology Readiness Levels (TRL) measure the maturity of technologies and are traditionally applicable to physical products and engineering systems. Although widely adopted by governments and industries, their use presents limitations when applied to areas such as agroindustry, which often rely on descriptive and methodological processes without tangible technological deliverables. In this context, it becomes necessary to adapt TRL to include methods that, although not resulting in a physical product, directly contribute directly to technological development. This study proposes an adaptation of the TRL scale for application in conceptual projects, especially in agroindustry, focusing on the maturation of protocols, planting methodologies, and technical processes. A systematic literature review, with searches carried out in the ScienceDirect and Scopus databases, revealed a lack of approaches that consider processes without a final product in the agricultural sector. As an example, the project at Cimatec Sertão focused on the production of bioethanol from Agave sp., where the TRL scale is used in the maturation of processes and methods involved in Agave cultivation. The adapted proposal redefines TRL levels to include stages such as ideation, scientific validation, proof of concept, and tests at different scales, culminating in commercial application. This new approach provides greater clarity, uniformity, and applicability in agroindustrial projects, ensuring effective communication among researchers and facilitating the evaluation of maturity levels for descriptive technological processes.