Genomic and other revolutions—why some technologies are quickly adopted and others are not

Animal breeding is technology driven. However, by far not all technologies that have been and are being developed were fully adopted by the industry. It is argued that innovations only will be fully and rapidly implemented if four criteria are met: they must be suitable for daily use, must provide an added breeding value, should be cost efficient, and society must accept their application in the food chain. If one of these criteria is critically missed, there is a high risk that a technology may fail. Societal acceptance seems to be the most critical of these four criteria, and more and earlier consideration should be given to this aspect in the future development of technologies.