Define Scoping Criteria and Target Commercial Decision
Specify the precise research asset domain under review and articulate the explicit commercial decision this mapping exercise must enable. Outline whether the primary objective is selecting IP for spinout licensing, identifying freedom-to-operate constraints, or evaluating commercial readiness.
Defining the scope establishes clear boundary conditions for evaluating research outputs against real-world commercial viability. This prevents scope creep across broad academic domains, ensuring the resulting inventory directly informs critical spinout or licensing choices.
The founder must produce a concise scoping document that defines the specific research domain, key academic contributors, and the precise commercial decision to be made. This document must clearly state the strategic success criteria and threshold requirements for proceeding with commercialisation.
Five questions an expert would ask when reviewing your output
Use these to challenge assumptions, pressure-test your logic, and check the quality of this action's output in the context of the parent task and wider venture development.
- 1
What specific commercial decision will this inventory enable that cannot be made with your current understanding?
- 2
Why did you assume this particular academic research domain holds more commercial promise than adjacent lab outputs?
- 3
How does your definition of the target asset account for joint ownership or third-party background IP?
- 4
What evidence proves that the scope you have set aligns with current industry appetite rather than academic prestige?
- 5
If this inventory reveals the core technology is unlicensable, what is your predetermined fallback strategic pathway?