One of the tools for assessing the progress of technology development in six key areas is the KTH Innovation Readiness Level method (https://kthinnovationreadinesslevel.com/). The method was developed at KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Sweden.
The method facilitates a standardised „measurement” of innovation and indicates further possible stages by means of a scale. The tool illustrates the development of innovation from an early-stage idea to innovation in the market, and indicates the next stages, but does not specify how to achieve them.
The method measures progress on six scales: audience identification, technology readiness, business model readiness, intellectual property protection, team readiness, funding readiness. Each rock has 9 levels; as the numbering increases, so does the sophistication of the technology and its proximity to market implementation.
The scale that defines the level of identification of the recipient begins with a hypothesis about possible market needs. Within the first stage of the scale, the authors mention elements such as: limited or no knowledge based on market and consumer data; no hypotheses have been made about who the customers are and what their problems/needs are, while if hypotheses exist they are only speculative with no evidence to support them; we also speak of the first stage when there is only a subjective conviction that there may be a possible need/problem to be satisfied in the market.
The second stage on the customer identification scale is the identification of specific needs in the market, defined as: having a description of the problem/need; at this stage there is a cursory knowledge of the market, potential customers, their problems/needs and also alternatives are identified; analysis of the market and the customer is carried out, usually based on publicly available reports and analyses.
In the third stage, the first market opinion is formed, hypotheses about the problem/need are made based on feedback from the market.