> Or is scaling up the controllable elements of a lab environment for fullscale production really so difficult? It's even more difficult than that. :-) Ideas

> Or is scaling up the controllable elements of a lab environment for fullscale production really so difficult? It's even more difficult than that. :-) Ideas have negative value; lab prototypes also have negative value; pilot plants are worth a small fraction of what they cost - scrap value. You get value from full scale production, and every bit of that value is paid for in the engineering required to get to full scale.