# How do you find a commercial use for a new technology?

By Sean Everett · October 6, 2026

Connect a technical capability with a specific customer problem, a buyer and a feasible path to delivery. Use demonstrations and partner conversations to resolve distinct commercial questions.

Topics: Technology commercialization · Product strategy · Partnerships

## Translate the capability into a customer task

A new technology needs a customer situation in which its distinctive capability matters. Describe the task, the current approach and the constraints the customer faces. Then identify what the technology could change and what still needs to be proven.

Compare possible applications using the same questions: who experiences the problem, how important is it, who can buy a solution and what would adoption require? A technically impressive use can still be a difficult first market if deployment requires many dependent changes.

Evergences’ emerging-AI commercialization work connected an invention with venture formation, potential industrial applications and a commercial-development pipeline. The work illustrates the range of decisions between a technical concept and a customer offering.

## Give each demonstration a commercial question

Choose a demonstration that helps a potential customer evaluate a relevant task. Agree on the input, expected output and conditions before running it. Make clear which parts operate today and which depend on further engineering or integration.

Ask what the customer would need to take the next step. That may include access to a system, an internal sponsor, an operating requirement or a purchase process. Record those dependencies rather than treating interest in the demonstration as a commitment.

Use partner conversations to test delivery as well as demand. A partner may contribute distribution, implementation expertise or a complementary product. Specify the work each side would own and the assumptions that remain unresolved.

## Build the offer around the next feasible commitment

Define a bounded next step that both sides can evaluate, such as a scoped pilot or a paid development phase. Set the work, responsibilities and decision point. Keep exploratory conversations, proposals and signed commitments separate in commercial reporting.

Bring product, engineering and commercial planning together before offering a delivery date. Account for the work needed to make the technology reliable in the customer’s setting, including support and integration. Narrow the first use when that produces a clearer path.

Preserve flexibility while learning. The strongest initial application may differ from the first idea. Use what customers actually need and what the team can deliver to choose the next investment of effort.

## Related reading

- [Building a commercial path for an AI invention](https://evergences.com/case-studies/emerging-ai-commercialization/)
- [Developing a spatial-platform product and partner ecosystem](https://evergences.com/case-studies/spatial-platform-product-partnerships/)

Source: https://evergences.com/insights/technology-invention-commercial-path/