Each stage, from idea, through design and prototype, to actual production and marketing absorbs more investment than the previous stage. It is a very useful if very rough approximation that each major stage will cost ten times the previous stage. We will discuss later how you can reduce the cost. However, you need to be realistic about the level of investment required for the whole process, and about the way that each stage will cost more than the last one. There can be no guarantee that a new technology, or a combination of existing technologies, will work in the way that is planned.
Technical risk is in the nature of technology.
However, as technical information and experience is built up it is possible to make use of it to add to your own experiences. This is also where various forms of collaboration are better than trying to develop a project alone. They bring a range of expertise and experience that may be able to spot technical weaknesses before you do, and save a lost investment. Some European projects co-financed by the Commission have even developed modelling and simulation software specifically in order to reduce the risks involved in companies developing new products. On the non-technology side, there is of course market risk.