Preliminary evaluation

At what stage of your project should you conduct this study? As soon as possible, from the moment you sense that your results have potential for practical application. 

In practice, an economic feasibility study is often launched immediately after the invention has been identified, and an invention disclosure has been filed with your technology transfer office. This generally corresponds to a stage where you have obtained initial proof of concept in the lab (your initial results validate the idea) without having yet entered into advanced industrial development. There’s no need to wait until you have a finalized prototype: the assessment is specifically intended to guide your next steps. 
On the other hand, if your project is still purely theoretical or too exploratory (with no experimental validation at this stage), it may be a bit too early: there isn’t enough data to credibly estimate the economic potential. In this case, it’s better to conduct a few additional tests to reach a sufficient level of maturity before launching the study. 

Good timing: As soon as your innovation has a tangible result or a lab prototype, and before committing to significant expenses (patent filing, investment in prototyping, etc.). The study will help you determine the appropriateness of these investments. Note that it can be conducted in parallel with intellectual property protection efforts: your commercialization department will ensure that market research and patent protection are coordinated in a coherent manner, as one does not preclude the other. 

An economic potential study is used to determine whether your research findings can be transformed into concrete and useful applications in the marketplace. In other words, it assesses whether your innovation addresses a real need and what value it could generate. This approach offers several benefits for researchers:

• Maximize the impact of your work: It allows you to explore the potential of your discoveries, showcase your project, and turn your ideas into concrete opportunities. In other words, the study takes your innovation beyond the laboratory to envision its applications in society or industry. 
• Guide your transfer decisions: By assessing the commercial potential of your inventions, the study provides objective criteria for choosing the next steps. For example, depending on the results, you might choose to license the technology to a company, launch a technology maturation project, or create a startup or spin-off. It serves as a decision-making tool to determine the most appropriate commercialization strategies (licensing, industrial partnerships, incubation, etc.). 
• Save time and resources: It’s best to make sure right from the start that your idea has a market. Assessing the economic potential helps you avoid investing in a patent or an expensive prototype if the target market doesn’t exist or is already saturated. Conversely, if the potential is confirmed, you can focus your efforts and funding with full knowledge of the facts, and more easily convince partners and investors with solid data. 
• Facilitate the transition to industry: By identifying interested sectors and stakeholders, the study paves the way for partnerships or licensing agreements with companies ready to adopt your innovation. This lends credibility to your discussions with industry representatives, as you approach them with a clear understanding of the market and the competition.  

In short, this study validates the value of your invention beyond academia and paves the way for its transition into the socioeconomic sphere. 

Specifically, the economic potential study analyzes your project from several complementary angles: 

• Target applications and needs: What specific problems does your invention solve? What are the potential use cases, and who are the end users? The goal is to define the need that the technology addresses and to identify the relevant industry sectors. 
• Potential market: What is the size of the addressable market (order of magnitude, growth trends)? We identify relevant market segments, growth prospects, and any regulations or standards that must be taken into account in these sectors. This section is supplemented by a subsequent market study. 
• Competitive environment: What alternative solutions or competing technologies already exist? The study provides a state-of-the-art overview of the industry: who are the established players (startups, large companies, competing research labs), and where does your innovation stand relative to existing solutions (degree of novelty, competitive advantage)?  
• Positioning and value proposition: By combining the previous points, the study evaluates how to position your innovation in the market. What unique value proposition does it offer (more effective, less expensive, more sustainable, etc.)? 
• This section helps refine the pitch for future partners by highlighting the technology’s strengths in addressing identified needs and competing with rivals.  
• Transfer strategies and target stakeholders: Finally, the study proposes concrete scenarios for transferring the invention. For example, it may recommend licensing the technology to an existing company, in which case it lists potential companies that are interested. It may also suggest a maturation project, which is additional funding for a proof of concept, if technical barriers remain. If the context is conducive to it, it may also suggest creating a startup. In each case, it highlights the conditions for success (required level of maturity, necessary investments) and the target partners (manufacturers, investors, incubators, etc.) to approach.  

Note

These analyses cover both the technical and economic feasibility of the innovation and its market appeal. For example, we assess potential uses and applicable sectors, then conduct an in-depth market analysis (user needs, existing competitors, and how the solution differentiates itself). The study does not delve deeply into legal aspects, but it may include an overview of the patent landscape (e.g., whether the innovation is already protected or not, and freedom to operate) to inform the overall transfer strategy. 

The economic potential study is generally conducted in collaboration between you (the researcher) and commercialization experts. To get the most out of it, here’s how you can prepare: 

• Gather key information about your invention: Be prepared to describe in simple terms what your invention is, how it works, and what problems it solves. A detailed technical description (operating principles, technical advantages, performance results) will be necessary, but you must also be able to explain it in a way that is accessible to non-specialists in the field. 
• Identify potential uses: Think about the possible applications of your technology. In which sectors could it be used? For what type of end user (industry, general public, local governments, etc.)? This preliminary list of uses will serve as a basis for analysts to guide their market research. Don’t hesitate to think outside your discipline: an innovation developed for the aerospace industry could have potential in healthcare, for example. 
• Identify the known state of the art and competition: From a scientific perspective, you are familiar with what already exists—your state of the art. If possible, indicate which current solutions already address the problem you are tackling, and how your approach differs from them, including the benefits and drawbacks of those solutions. Mention any academic or industrial competitors you are aware of. This competitive context will help the study get off to a faster start.  
• Consider potential stakeholders: Have you ever been approached by a company or discussed your project with an industry representative at a conference? Even without direct contacts, try to imagine which companies or organizations might be interested in your results. Your technology transfer office will ask you to identify industry sectors and, if possible, a few potential target companies. For example, if you’ve developed a new material, list the industries for which this material would be valuable (transportation, construction, electronics, etc.) and a few names of leading companies in these fields. 
• Clarify your objectives and constraints: Finally, discuss with the experts what you expect from the study. Are you looking to assess the feasibility of filing a patent? To gather arguments for applying for pre-development funding? Or to quickly find an industrial partner? Depending on your objective, the study may be tailored slightly differently. Also mention your constraints (deadlines, specific confidentiality requirements, etc.).