Taking the leap from the world of research into the world of business can be a daunting step that holds many academics back from taking their innovative ideas and translating them into a product or service that can provide tangible value to customers in the marketplace. A big part of this is not knowing where to start, and having to look inward to answer various questions such as the potential value and applications of the idea and even the motivations and interests of the researcher themselves.
Entrepreneurship can be described as the search to identify an opportunity that is valuable to users and can be delivered by a business model that is scalable and repeatable. In this sense, the effective identification of opportunities in the marketplace is a crucial entrepreneurial skill that can determine whether a business will succeed or fail and is essential to research commercialisation.
This article on Investopedia recognises the key characteristics of an entrepreneur as someone who is versatile, flexible, money savvy, resilient, focused, business smart and a good communicator, but it is hard to know what all of this means in practical terms, or in the context of research commercialisation.
The prospective entrepreneur has to deeply assess opportunities and think clearly about what they are able to offer. The entrepreneur has to ask themselves: am I delivering some new technology to the market? Is it something that could not be done before, for a market that does not yet exist, or am I answering an existing and clear need that customers have?
Asking the right questions is an essential part of primary market research, and one has to evaluate:
a) what can my offer do better than existing alternatives?
b) who’s problem will my solution solve and how urgent is this problem for users?
c) why are current solutions not good enough according to users?
The latter two questions can be answered through the formulation of a value proposition canvas. Here we can consider two approaches, the first starting with the technology, and the second starting with the user.
For this reason, we’re now going to be taking a look at a number of good practices that can greatly facilitate the research commercialisation process.
Entrepreneurship can be described as the search to identify an opportunity that is valuable to users and can be delivered by a business model that is scalable and repeatable. In this sense, the effective identification of opportunities in the marketplace is a crucial entrepreneurial skill that can determine whether a business will succeed or fail.
The prospective entrepreneur has to deeply assess opportunities and think clearly about what they are able to offer. The entrepreneur has to ask themselves: am I delivering some new technology to the market? Is it something that could not be done before, for a market that does not yet exist, or am I answering an existing and clear need that customers have?
Asking the right questions is an essential part of primary market research, and thus, research commercialisation as a whole. With this in mind, one should always ask themselves the following questions:
a) what can my offer do better than existing alternatives?
b) who’s problem will my solution solve and how urgent is this problem for users?
c) why are current solutions not good enough according to users?
The latter two questions can be answered through the formulation of a value proposition canvas. Here we can consider two approaches, the first starting with the technology, and the second starting with the user.
Value Proposition Canvas (Osterwalder et al., 2014)
On the left we can see the aspects concerning the technology (the value proposition), and on the right we can see the aspects concerning the user (the customer profile).
1) Starting with the technology
Here we can ask questions to better understand the value of our innovation, such as:
- What are the specific characteristics of our technology or solution that are new and not included in current existing solutions?
- How can these characteristics eliminate existing problems that users face?
- Who faces these problems and can I ameliorate these and increase the value for users instead?
- Which elements of my solution are better than competitors?
2) Starting with the user
Here we can ask questions to better identify research commercialisation opportunities in the market place. We can start by assessing the jobs or tasks the user has to undertake in their day-to-day lives and what they seek to achieve by doing so. Can this process be improved (provide them a gain) or can the user do their job in a way that could not be done before (solve a pain)?
To ensure that our innovation truly creates value we have to truly focus on the user and assess the context in which this users perform a job or task that our solution addresses. Here we can ask ourselves:
- Is the problem my solution solves real? How urgent is the problem?
- Does my solution create value for our users?
- Is my advantage superior and sustainable?
Focus on the user, the context in which the user performs a job.
Asking the right questions is just the first step in identifying an opportunity in the marketplace. To comprehensively evaluate the value of our innovation, we need to assess the value of the idea in the eyes of the user, conduct an initial estimation of the increased value the solution offers the user and compare the current situation against the potential solution. A deeper analysis can be constructed by formulating a value curve, to compare products or services on a range of factors that provide value. We will further need to evaluate the size of the market, and estimate the total market potential, the opportunity for growth and attractiveness of our research commercialisation proposition.
In the preparatory courses offered to participants of the Entrepreneurial Residency Programme® we discuss all these topics and more, including how to establish a beachhead market and create a sustainable value proposition for customers. These courses are intended to prepare participants to pursue collaborations across academia and industry through the Venture Alliances collaboration platform, and to stimulate new opportunities for research commercialisation.
To find out more about this programme and how you can benefit from these courses, click here: https://venturealliances.eu/