[2] The chain-linked model is an attempt to describe complexities in the innovation process.
This drives research and design, then redesign and production, and finally marketing, with complex feedback loops between all the stages.
There are also important feedback loops with the organization's and the world's stored base of knowledge, with new basic research conducted or commissioned as necessary, to fill in gaps.
It is often contrasted with the so-called linear model of innovation,[4] in which basic research leads to applied development, then engineering, then manufacturing, and finally marketing and distribution.
The Kline model was conceived primarily with commercial industrial settings in mind, but has found broad applicability in other settings, for example in military technology development.