Commercialization

Commercialization or commercialisation is the process of introducing a new product or production method into commerce—making it available on the market. The term often connotes especially entry into the mass market (as opposed to entry into earlier niche markets), but it also includes a move from the laboratory into (even limited) commerce. Many technologies begin in a research and development laboratory or in an inventor's workshop and may not be practical for commercial use in their infancy (as prototypes). The "development" segment of the "research and development" spectrum requires time and money as systems are engineered with a view to making the product or method a paying commercial proposition. The product launch of a new product is the final stage of new product development - at this point advertising, sales promotion, and other marketing efforts encourage commercial adoption of the product or method. Beyond commercialization (in which technologies enter the business world) can lie consumerization (in which they become consumer goods, as for example when computers went from the laboratory to the enterprise and then to the home, pocket, or body).

Commercialization is often confused with sales, marketing, or business development. The commercialization process has three key aspects: