The role of innovation in modern society is growing systematically. Innovation is the main driver of the economy. In fact, the introduction of innovations is becoming vitally important in all fields. Nowadays, the existence of an organization may be questioned if they are not innovative enough and cannot successfully lead the process of commercialization of innovations.
Modern society develops on the basis of innovations that lead to technological revolutions, and experiments are the main factor of creativity and innovation. Experimentation is a necessary precondition for innovation. An incremental, evolutionary type of innovation is also achieved through experimentation. The main thing is the constant, permanent use of the trial and error method. The models presented in the article highlight the importance of experimentation and emphasize the necessity of the continuous use of the trial and error method to successfully manage innovation processes.
The ability to adapt to the environment and make changes is crucial for maintaining the existence of the organization. In today's world, commercialization is a way for an organization to both survive and succeed in the market. The real value of innovations is created by commercialization (Schendel & Hill, 2007). Commercialization of innovations refers to the process of turning scientific discoveries and inventions into marketable products and services (Mohannak & Samtani, 2014). "Commercialization of science - this is the so-called marketing of the product obtained as a result of scientific research and the value added from it. The process of receiving added value" (Gegeshidze 2020, 50). Through the commercialization of new products - goods and services, organizations receive income, financial benefits, maintain competitiveness in the market, and the most successful firms even manage to gain a competitive advantage.
The paper presents different tools, methods, and models of commercialization of innovations, including: a three-stage model proposed by Olefirenko & Shevliuga (2017) in the work "Commercialization of Innovations: Peculiarities of Sales Policy at Innovation Active Enterprise"; an eight-step model for the manufacturing industry proposed by Caldwell (2019) in the work "The Eight Steps to Commercialize Innovation"; and a five-step approach to successful commercialization of an innovation.
The paper discusses each of the above-mentioned models in detail. The article also covers a detailed consideration of the tools for successful commercialization of innovations using the examples of the US and China.
The article presents the results of primary, quantitative research conducted by the authors in the Georgian leather industry. The goal of the mentioned research was to determine the rate of involvement of entrepreneurs working in the leather industry in innovative activities, to assess the level of their preparedness to manage innovative processes; determining the level of commercialization of innovations in the leather industry of Georgia, revealing the challenges arising in the process of commercialization of innovations, identifying the main hindering and facilitating factors.
The paper ends with conclusions and recommendations based on the research carried out by the authors, including:
• The process of technology transfer between scientific circles, research centers, and
business should be activated.
• The level of competence of the workforce employed in the field should be raised; they
should be retrained and equipped with modern and practical knowledge.
• The production infrastructure should be updated, and modern technologies should be
introduced in the production process.
• Interest in eco-leather and products made with eco-leather (as shown by the research
conducted within the project) is growing both in the local and global markets. Entrepreneurs who would like to remain competitive in the market should follow the trend and actively start using eco-leather in production.
• Firms should actively engage in research and development (R&D) to commercialize
innovations - bring innovations to the market.
• The most important role of the state in terms of the development of innovative potential
of the country, encouragement of innovative activities is: development of infrastructure, encouragement of technological capabilities, formation and development of human capital, etc.
• It is important to create venture capital funds in Georgia as an instrument of state policy supporting intellectual creativity and innovation (Chiladze 2020, 39).
• The formation and use of so-called technological platforms are essential. For example, the European Union has determined that the technological platform is the main actor that promotes innovation, knowledge transfer, and increasing competitiveness (Gegeshidze 2020, 50).

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Keywords: Innovations, generation of innovations, experiments, commercialization, commercialization of innovations.
JEL Codes: O30, O31, Q55