Primary and Secondary Market Research - Defining the Value Proposition

OTD seeks to answer one important core question in this process: "Does the invention have enough commercial potential for a company to pay the University for the rights to it and further invest to commercialize it?" To be short: "Why would someone buy it?"

The case manager, typically assisted by a student intern, has available a plethora of resources to help him or her better understand the nature of the value proposition for the products and/or services that might be related to the invention.

Starting with the companies or contacts you provide, and including members of an extensive and growing network of industry experts, the case manager uses a non-confidential summary of the invention to perform a preliminary marketability survey. Then, using a variety of publicly available and paid proprietary research tools, the case manager makes an evaluation of the existence, emergence, growth trend, relative magnitude, competitive landscape, distribution channels, nature of technology adoption, and other characteristics of the markets in which the invention could potentially play a role.