Introduction

Now that you know how to identify an innovative opportunity and you may have already identified one or more, you need to know which ones are worth exploring. It’s worth investing some time in advance to evaluate an opportunity before you explore it in depth as the exploration can be a lengthy process. This is because you should be sure you’re going to explore an opportunity that has the potential to create value, whether that’s for yourself, society, the economy, or the environment.

This topic will cover the different categories of value that exploring an opportunity can create across four areas: personal, social, economic and environmental. It will then guide you through how you can evaluate the potential value in each area. Personal value is about the value that addressing the opportunity creates for you, whilst social is about the broader value for society. The economic value is about the value that is created for you, your country’s or the international economy. Finally, the environmental value is about the impact the opportunity could have on the global environment - whether that’s directly through your organisation’s mission or indirectly through the methods and materials you use to address the opportunity. An opportunity for innovation that is worth addressing should have the potential to create value in one or more of these areas.