Let’s explore case studies of both successful and failed projects involving emerging technologies to gain insights into the factors contributing to their outcomes.
Successful Projects:
- Project: SpaceX’s development of the Falcon 9 rocket with reusable first stages.
- Success Factors: Innovation in rocket design, engineering, and manufacturing; successful reuse of rocket stages; cost reduction in space travel; opening new possibilities for space exploration and satellite deployment.
- Project: Development and distribution of a COVID-19 vaccine using mRNA technology.
- Success Factors: Rapid vaccine development using mRNA technology, collaboration with governments and research organizations, global demand for vaccines during a pandemic.
- Project: Tesla’s production and sale of electric vehicles, including the Model S, Model 3, and Model Y.
- Success Factors: Innovation in electric vehicle technology, battery efficiency, supercharging network, consumer demand for sustainable transportation, and Elon Musk’s vision and leadership.
- Project: Development of the AlphaGo AI system to play the board game Go.
- Success Factors: Advancements in artificial intelligence and machine learning, reinforcement learning techniques, AlphaGo’s victory over human Go champions, and subsequent applications of AI.
- Project: Launch and growth of Amazon’s cloud computing division, AWS.
- Success Factors: Pioneering cloud computing services, scalability, cost-effectiveness, and a large customer base including startups, enterprises, and government agencies.
Failed Projects:
- Project: Development of a blood-testing device claimed to revolutionize healthcare.
- Failure Factors: False claims, lack of transparency, regulatory violations, and technology that didn’t meet expectations, leading to the downfall of the company and legal issues.
- Project: Development of a high-tech juicing machine with proprietary juice packs.
- Failure Factors: High cost, limited value compared to traditional methods, and a lack of consumer demand led to the company’s closure.
- Project: Development of Google Glass, a wearable smart glasses device.
- Failure Factors: Privacy concerns, high cost, limited use cases, and social discomfort contributed to its discontinuation as a consumer product.
- Project: Creation of a short-form mobile streaming service, Quibi.
- Failure Factors: Mismatched content and audience preferences, timing (launch during a pandemic), and competition from established streaming platforms.
- Project: Development of the Segway personal transportation device.
- Failure Factors: High cost, limited practicality for daily use, and a lack of widespread adoption led to Segway’s struggle in the market.
Key Takeaways:
- Successful projects often involve breakthrough innovations, strong leadership, market demand, and effective collaboration.
- Failed projects can result from overhyped claims, lack of market fit, regulatory issues, and inadequate understanding of consumer preferences.
- Lessons from both successes and failures are valuable in guiding future projects involving emerging technologies.
Key terms in plain language
Open a term for a concise explanation of language used on this page.
Cloud Computing
Computing resources—such as applications, servers, storage, or databases—delivered from remote infrastructure and scaled as requirements change.
Artificial Intelligence (AI)
Software designed to perform tasks involving prediction, classification, generation, reasoning, or decision support. Business use still requires clear data, governance, security, and human accountability.
Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)
Cloud-based servers, storage, and networking that customers configure and manage without owning the underlying data-center hardware.
Software as a Service (SaaS)
Software accessed as an online service instead of being installed and maintained entirely on the customer’s own computers or servers.
Disaster Recovery (DRaaS)
A plan and service for restoring applications, data, and operations after an outage or disruption. DRaaS provides recovery infrastructure through a managed cloud service.
Identity and Access Management (IAM)
The systems and policies that determine who a user is, what resources they may access, and how that access is authenticated and reviewed.