A Feasibility Study can provide valuable insight for entrepreneurs or start-ups by allowing a new technology idea to be developed and evaluated in outline form before making a commitment to an in-depth development programme. Feasibility Studies can yield important pointers that can channel follow-on design efforts into the most productive directions, helping to create new products that have the highest chance of market success.
TDI projects address a wide mix of client commissions and product requirements. Some clients are already well established in a particular market and may well be a leader in their field. These clients are usually able to draw up a comprehensive specification for a new design, fully defining its operational features and any unique benefits, based on a sound appreciation of end markets and customer needs.
By contrast, where a client comes to us with a fresh idea but no previous experience or track record in a market; or where a proposed product is so novel that it is hard to relate to existing technology solutions, then the first phase of development we would recommend is a Feasibility Study.
In all these cases – and others – it may not make sense to launch immediately into the design of a custom prototype. Instead, a more measured approach that carefully assesses the feasibility and viability of a new idea marks a sensible first step.
Feasibility Studies can take various forms. Sometimes a purely desk-based research study will be undertaken, culminating in the preparation and delivery of an enlightening and probing technical report. In other cases, off-the-shelf hardware kits can form a powerful platform on which to build basic software applications that allow the main functions of a new product idea to be properly assessed. Such an approach can help identify the most demanding and critical technical aspects of a design, allowing for a comprehensive platform specification to be developed. An optimised custom prototype design can then be tackled with confidence as a follow-on exercise.
