ABSTRACT
Technology deployment, or transitioning innovation into use, is the natural objective of any technologist who develops an innovation. Despite the old saw that “build a better mousetrap, and the world will beat a path to your door,” the particular power, or utility, of a technological innovation is just one of the criteria for successful technology deployment. Technology deployment takes places within a human society, which may (or may not) adopt the innovation. The economic circumstances of that society, as well as its mores (formal or informal moral attitudes), also play important roles in the success (or failure) of a technological deployment. Furthermore, the ongoing advance of technology, independent of the technology in question, as well as evolving demands from consumers in society, create forces that affect a society’s adoption choice. Figure 26.1 illustrates the many forces affecting the success (or failure) of deploying a technological innovation.
