Innovation Prioritization Matrix

Most research groups, technology transfer offices and early-stage companies have more promising ideas than people or money to develop them. This matrix gives you a consistent way to compare them. You score every opportunity on the same five criteria, decide how much each criterion matters, and the tool ranks the list and plots it on a value versus feasibility chart.

1. Set the weights. Start with the defaults or move the sliders to reflect your priorities. A seed-stage startup with little cash might raise the weight on resource ease; a technology transfer office focused on licensing might raise IP strength.
2. Add each opportunity. Give it a name, a short note on the evidence, and a score from 1 to 10 on each criterion. The helper text under each slider says what a 10 means.
3. Read the chart and the table together. The table ranks by the overall weighted score. The chart shows whether that score comes from value, feasibility or both.
4. Edit as you learn. Use Edit on any row to change scores. Your list stays in this browser between visits, and Download CSV exports it for a spreadsheet or a review meeting.

If you want to see the tool working before entering your own projects, click Load example. The example items are invented and labelled as such; Clear all removes them.

For each opportunity the tool calculates three numbers. All of them are weighted averages, so they stay on the same 1 to 10 scale as your inputs.

• Weighted score = Σ (weight × score) ÷ Σ weights, across all five criteria. This sets the rank.
• Value = the same calculation over commercial potential, IP strength and strategic fit only. This is the vertical position on the chart.
• Feasibility = the same calculation over technical feasibility and resource ease only. This is the horizontal position.

The quadrant lines sit at 5.5, the midpoint of a 1 to 10 scale. They are a convention for splitting the chart, not a benchmark. An opportunity at 5.4 is not meaningfully different from one at 5.6, so treat items near the lines as borderline and look at the underlying scores.

These four opportunities are hypothetical and match the Load example data in the tool. Scores are listed in the order commercial potential / IP strength / strategic fit / technical feasibility / resource ease, using the default weights of 30 / 20 / 15 / 25 / 10.

A weighted matrix is only as good as the scores that go into it. A few habits make the output more trustworthy.

• Anchor the scale. Agree what a 3, a 6 and a 9 look like for each criterion before you score anything. For technical feasibility, technology readiness levels are a useful anchor; the TRL assessment gives you a level to translate.
• Score one criterion across all items at a time. Comparing every opportunity on commercial potential in one pass is more consistent than scoring each opportunity on all five criteria in turn.
• Write down the evidence. Use the notes field for the customer interviews, prior art search or test result behind a score. When someone challenges a number, you can point to the reason.
• Score independently, then discuss. If several people are involved, have each person score alone first, then compare. Large disagreements usually point to missing information, which is more useful than an averaged number.

• Treating the score as the decision. The matrix organizes judgment; it doesn't replace it. Use the ranking to structure the conversation, not to end it.
• Tuning weights to get the answer you wanted. Set the weights before scoring, or at least before looking at the ranking, and keep them for the whole review.
• Scoring on enthusiasm. A favorite project tends to get generous scores. Ask what evidence would justify a 9 and whether you have it.
• Mixing directions. Every criterion here is scored so that higher is better, including resource ease. If you track cost elsewhere, convert it before entering a score.
• Comparing unlike things. A platform technology and a single product feature are hard to score on the same scale. Group similar opportunities and run the matrix on each group.
• Never rescoring. Scores go stale as experiments succeed or fail and markets move. Revisit the list at every portfolio review.

Once an opportunity is in the Prioritize quadrant, the next questions are about the route to market. The GTM readiness assessment checks team and market readiness, and the market sizing calculator helps you put numbers behind a commercial potential score.