Research and develop ideas, new products and services

A new idea is often the basis for starting up a business. Many entrepreneurs spot a gap in the market and start businesses that provide a product or service that fills it. Others come up with ways to improve an existing product.

Idea generation

The development of a new product or service usually starts with an initial idea. There are many ways to come up with an idea. To begin with, you can ask yourself the following questions:

• Is there a gap in the market in the industry that you currently work in?
• Are there gaps in your existing product range?
• Are there weaknesses in existing products that you may be able to address?
• Can you adapt, modify or improve your existing products?
• Can you use customer's feedback to enhance your existing products or services?
• Can you identify a need for a particular service or product that nobody else provides?

Ideation, or generating a good product or service idea, is your starting point in any new product or service development. Find ideation guidance from Innovate NI or watch their short animation to learn how to run an effective ideation workshop.

New product development

New product development is the process of bringing a new product to the market. You may want to develop new products due to:

• changing customer needs or preferences
• increased competition
• advances in technology
• new opportunities

A quality idea lays the foundation for all other stages of product development. Once you've come up with a list of product or service ideas, you should carefully screen or assess each one to determine whether you should pursue or discard them.

Read more about screening new product or service ideas.