The identification of technology applications is a crucial step in the technology push process, following the understanding of the technology's core features and capabilities. This step involves exploring and pinpointing potential application areas where the technology can provide significant value. By aligning technological capabilities with unmet market needs or problems, innovation teams can uncover opportunities for innovation and growth. After identifying the technology features, TRIZ and mind mapping can be used to explore a broad spectrum of potential application areas by leveraging their unique approaches to problem-solving and idea generation. ### Using [[TRIZ]]: 1. **Contradiction Analysis**: - Identify contradictions inherent in the technology or its current applications. - Use TRIZ principles to resolve these contradictions, which can lead to innovative applications by overcoming limitations that are currently accepted as constraints. 2. **40 Inventive Principles**: - Apply the 40 inventive principles of TRIZ to the identified technology features. - Each principle can inspire different ways the technology could be adapted or applied in new contexts, leading to novel application areas. 3. **Trends of Evolution**: - Analyze how similar technologies have evolved over time using TRIZ’s trends of technological evolution. - Predict future developments and potential applications by aligning your technology with these evolutionary trends. 4. **Function-Oriented Search**: - Focus on the primary functions that the technology can perform. - Use TRIZ tools to explore how these functions could solve problems in various industries or domains, thereby identifying new application areas. See the example of [[using TRIZ for identifying IoT technology applications]] ### Using Mind Mapping: 1. **Central Theme Expansion**: - Start with a central node representing the core technology feature. - Branch out into related ideas, concepts, and potential uses without judgment or filtering at this stage. 2. **Divergent Thinking**: - Encourage free association and brainstorming among team members. - Allow each branch of the mind map to represent different industries, user needs, or environmental contexts where the technology might apply. 3. **Visual Connections**: - Use visual connections between branches to identify synergies between different application areas. - This can highlight unexpected relationships or combinations that suggest new markets or uses for the technology. 4. **Prioritization and Clustering**: - Once a wide range of ideas is generated, cluster similar ideas together. - Prioritize clusters based on criteria such as feasibility, market size, strategic fit, or alignment with company goals. See the example of [[using mind mapping for identifying IoT technology applications]]. By following these steps systematically, innovation teams can identify promising application areas for their technology before deciding on one opportunity to pursue further. Next: [[decision for one opportunity]] Back to [[Technology Assessment]]