Research Opportunity Recognition

---
name: research-opportunity-recognition
description: "Assess whether a research result has real commercial potential before building a commercialisation strategy — distinguishing genuine market pull from technology push."
---

# Research Opportunity Recognition

## Purpose

Assess whether a research result has real commercial potential before
building a commercialisation strategy — distinguishing genuine market pull
from technology push.

## Based on

the owner's published commercialisation guide (owner, 2025). Chapter "Spotting
Real Opportunities" (pp. 18-20).

- Kirzner (1973/1979) — entrepreneurial alertness (see also the
  opportunity-recognition core pack)
- VC investor evaluation criteria: market signal often outweighs the science
  alone

## Method

1. State the problem in a single sentence: what problem does the invention
   solve, and for whom?
2. Map the current alternatives / status quo — why do they fall short?
3. Do a value proposition mapping and competitor analysis: what is the genuine
   edge (price, performance, new capability)?
4. Test early: customer interviews, surveys, a landing page, proof-of-market
   funding.
5. Assess TRL and freedom to operate side by side — is the idea at a point
   where a prototype is possible without unreasonable cost or regulatory
   barriers?
6. Assess timing and the competitive landscape — look for the "sweet spot":
   not too early, not into a crowded market without differentiation.
7. Treat the whole assessment as a testable hypothesis: strong signals
   (enthusiastic industry partners, positive user feedback, clear market gaps)
   → move forward aggressively; weak signals → redirect or preserve resources.

## Gotchas

- Step 5 deliberately pairs TRL with freedom-to-operate — a high-TRL
  prototype blocked by someone else's patent is not "ready," and this
  skill doesn't perform that legal FTO analysis itself (see
  `ip-disclosure-and-ownership-check` and TTO/IP counsel); treating step 5
  as satisfied because TRL alone is high skips half the check.
- Step 7's "strong signals → move forward aggressively" is easy to
  over-read from a thin sample — one enthusiastic industry contact (see
  `industry-partner-engagement`) is not the interview/survey/landing-page
  evidence step 4 asks for, and shouldn't single-handedly upgrade the
  signal strength.
- Step 1 asks for the problem in one sentence, but researchers tend to
  describe the technology's capability instead of the pain point — if the
  sentence names a technique rather than a problem for a named "who," that
  is the technology-push pattern this skill exists to catch.
- This skill explicitly does not make the go/no-go call — a "weak signal"
  result should route to redirecting or preserving resources per step 7,
  not get silently escalated into `spinout-vs-licensing-pathway` without
  first re-testing.
- Step 6's "sweet spot" timing judgment is a point-in-time hypothesis (step
  7), not a one-time verdict — an opportunity assessed as well-timed months
  ago shouldn't be treated as still valid without re-scanning the
  competitive landscape.

## What this skill does NOT do

- Does not make the final go/no-go decision for you.
- Does not assess patentability in a legal sense — see
  `ip-disclosure-and-ownership-check` and your own TTO/IP counsel.
- Does not replace real customer conversations — it structures what to ask and
  how to interpret the answers.

## Continue from here

- Next in this pack: `../spinout-vs-licensing-pathway/SKILL.md` — Choose the
  right commercialisation pathway for a research result: spin-out
  (equity-based), licensing (royalty-based), or hybrid.
- Related skill in another pack:
  `../../../../opportunity-recognition/skills/opportunity-evaluation-and-judgment/SKILL.md`
- Related skill in another pack (the owner's productised follow-on assessment
  of market attractiveness and feasibility):
  `../../../../opportunity-recognition/skills/opportunity-value-assessment/SKILL.md`
- Pack's shared guardrails: `../../CLAUDE.md`
- Overview of the full journey: `../commercialisation-journey-roadmap/SKILL.md`

## References

- `../../references/case-studies.md` — 7 spin-out examples from different
  industries and regions
- `../../references/terminology.md` — the handbook's glossary
- `../../references/sources.md` — the handbook's own source references
- `../../CLAUDE.md` — the pack's shared guardrails