The birth of a new industry is heralded with its first product commercialization – but this process doesn’t happen overnight. Prior to product commercialization, firms typically invest efforts in developing and understanding the underlying technology, experimenting with alternative trajectories and transforming the technological opportunities to commercial value.
UNC Kenan-Flagler professor Mahka Moeen calls this the incubation period of an industry – the critical period between the introduction of a technological discovery and the first product commercialization.
Check out this video to learn about characteristics of the incubation period, based on Moeen’s forthcoming article in Strategic Management Journal co-authored with Rajshree Agarwal.