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Introduction

Technology Readiness Level or TRL is used to assess how mature a technology is. It uses standard descriptions linked to a scale from 1 to 9 that assess the relative maturity of a given technology. It is typically used to assess the commercial readiness of any given technology. More recently it has been used to assess workflows for research derived machine learning:

s41467-022-33128-9 (1).pdf

To help researchers develop more impactful research resulting from computer code based tools we provide a framework and roadmap that can help identify both good work practices and roadmaps for research insights developed from computer code. We provide practical tools and tips that facilitate work practices that can connect a broad range of insights to a broad range of endpoints.

What is Technology Readiness Level

• The TRL describes the state of the system and was developed by NASA:

  

  NASA Technology Readiness Levels

• Assessing the TRL for a technology or system determines current and future steps that will deliver impact

• Defined measurable outputs enable systems and sub-systems to be assessed

Research computer code and links to impact

• Researchers and research organisation deliver impact in lots of different ways these include:

  • Research data collections
  • Journal publications
  • Teaching material
  • Commercial products and services
  • Consultancy and advice
  • Large scale meta analyses

• Researchers and research organisations increasingly rely on computer code to deliver impact.

• Historically researchers have used computer code for data analyses, however, researchers are increasingly looking to expand impact through a broader range of more sophisticated software outputs.

• Researcher and research organisation outputs differ from software companies; they focus on computer code that delivers robust insights, builds on previous research and collects evidence through data to validate an idea or hypothesis. These insights are captured in tested models that can be physical for example a new drug or a description of relationships for example a new climate model.

• The largest form of output from research organisations are descriptions of relationships and this is captured in the around two million annual journal publications.

An assessment framework for research computer code

• Professional software companies use a range of tools to ensure they deliver robust and efficient software products. Some of the tools and processes they use include:

  • Formal user engagement to ensure user needs are defined and the software meets the user needs
  • Clear description of features that the user requires
  • Definition of what is technically possible i.e. what we know now versus what might happen in the future
  • Version control via tools such as Git linked to source repositories
  • Data validation and data consistency
  • Authorisation and authentication
  • Tools to ensure continuous integration and continuous development (CI/CD)
  • Micro-service provisioning to ensure software updates don’t result in breaking changes
  • Clear easily understood documentation and code comments
  • Reported documentation on testing protocols with results and automated checking
  • Software bill of materials to ensure packages are safe, secure and licensed appropriately

• The tools and outputs ca