Market Research

The Management Library has an FAQ and Recommended Databases for Market Research with subscription databases.

  1. How does one gauge the commercial potential for a patent?
    Freely-available sources include government and trade associations (click on statistics or publications) such as :
              A. US Bureau of Labor Statistics (demographic data sources) and US Census has data that can be used to figure out size of groups by demographics.

B. Health related - the Center for Disease Control. If you are looking for a fintech related invention, then maybe FRED, fred.stlouisfed.org (financial engineering)      

C. Trade associations (e.g. American Hospital Association, National Automobile Dealers Association, and The National Restaurant Association) and identity/interest associations (e.g. AARP).

D. Publicly traded company that is a competitor to your product. They will share information on their product and demographic that may be useful. Look under “investor relations.”