Research and develop ideas, new products and services

Successful new product development starts with identifying good product or service ideas. You will have to carefully evaluate each idea to determine which are worth pursuing and which you should discard.

Idea screening

When screening or selecting your ideas, it might help to assess them against an objective set of criteria. For example, the criteria may include:

• the needs of your market and your customers  
• details of your customer behaviours and expectations
• the affordability of your idea, including resources needed for research and development
• the technical feasibility of your idea
• the market potential of your idea
• the profitability of your idea and the return on investment
• relevancy and desirability of your new products or product improvements
• your competition and their existing products

You may also want to consider doing a SWOT analysis for each of your ideas to identify their strengths and weaknesses.

Find detailed guidance on idea selection from Innovate NI and watch their short animation to learn how to complete the selection process correctly.

Once you determine which ideas are viable, take time to refine them further to maximise their chances of success. Read more about researching new product and service ideas.