There is no sure fire route to commercial success, but one can maximize the chances of selecting those ideas that are most likely to succeed. Organizations short of R & D resources must implement such processes. The Economist (2003) states that 3000 bright ideas result in 100 worthwhile projects, which are winnowed down to four development programmes. And four such development programmes are required to stand any chance of getting one winner.

So how do we value ideas? There are quite a few categories of evaluation. Some include:

a) Those types of ideas that have been most successful in the past. Franklin (2003) notes at least six types, including need spotting, solution spotting, market research resultants, random event, mental invention, trend following. Each type has it