Guidelines for Assessment of Inventions

1. At what stage of development is the invention?

- At the conceptual stage, not yet reduced to practice

- Early stage of development

- If further research at Penn State is required, are the resources (research funding, facilities, personnel) available? Is this a core research program or of peripheral interest? How much time is required?

- Research at Penn State is complete, further development required by company

- Completely developed, ready to be implemented commercially

2. Is the invention patentable?

- Is the patent likely to be sufficiently broad in scope to have commercial value?

- If a patent issued, would it be enforceable?

- Can infringers be identified?

3. Is the invention unique and does it meet an immediate commercial need?

- Is the invention an incremental improvement of an existing technology?

- Is the invention a breakthrough technology?

- What is the competitive advantage of the invention compared to existing products or processes?

4. Does a market for the invention already exist or does a market need to be created?

- What is the size of the market for the invention?

- What are the timelines for commercialization?

5. What are the barriers to market entry?

- Are FDA, USDA or EPA approvals required?

- What is the competition?

- How much company investment would be required to implement the invention?

- Could a company implement the invention in existing facilities?

- Would new production facilities be required?

6. What companies would be interested in licensing the invention?