A renewal is when the support period on a license is extended. The serial number for the product remains the same, but the expiration date within the license file is changed. A renewal extends the support period for your existing product.
A product upgrade is a rare event in which an entirely new serial number is granted, and the old serial number is deactivated. It can be a free upgrade or a paid upgrade for a different product. For example, you can upgrade from Intel Parallel Studio XE to Intel oneAPI Base & HPC Toolkit or from Intel System Studio to Intel oneAPI Base & IoT Toolkit.
These events occur when changes to the license are required, such as:
When Intel makes changes to the licensing model. Customers with active support will be offered a free upgrade.
When a product is approaching its end-of-life date. Existing customers with active support may be offered free upgrades to a different product to replace it.
When a promotional offer is made to offer customers with active support a discounted upgrade to a superior edition of their product with additional capabilities.