Spotlight on SPARK – Selecting the Right AI Solutions for Use in New Product Development

Businesses seeking to adopt AI for new product development (NPD) are faced with a tough decision: making the go/no-go decision on any one of a number of AI applications and software solutions for NPD.

How does one choose from so many options? There are over 40 different proven applications for AI in NPD, from generating novel product ideas, designing and testing the product, to designing the launch strategy, and over 400 different AI solutions offered from vendors, each promising great results. It’s overwhelming! With so much at stake, and so many options available, AI project evaluation and selection becomes critical in AI deployment.

?Added to that is the risk – the fact that up to 80% of AI acquiring and deployment projects fail! Most are for dumb reasons, according to? Harvard Business Review article.

?So, proceed carefully… but to move forward! For a start, get up to speed on AI and “AI for NPD”. Being “AI literate” is mandatory for today’s managers.

Next before you start out on your AI journey, get a map… like RAPID! Some firms have even modified their existing NPD “process map” to adapt it to internal AI acquisition and deployment projects. A good move! But do look at RAPID too… it’s a little better fit to an AI project than a standard NPD gating process.

If you have read about the RAPID model for AI-Deployment projects on PDMA’s kHUB, you likely noticed that there are gates or go/no-go decision points in the process, not unlike a traditional gated model.

If not, first, read about RAPID here: Adopting Artificial Intelligence for New Product Development: The RAPID Process - Knowledge Hub 2.0 (pdma.org)

You’ll note that is a great process map, and based on decades of experience with implementing new technologies within firms. But there’s not much detail on the gates – how to make those tough “go” or “no go” decisions on an AI-Deployment project. And there’s so much uncertainty about AI -- whether the solution will work, or if that application will even create value for you. You know that most AI projects never even get past the pilot stage (it’s called “pilot paralysis”)!

The linked article below provides some solutions for the gates—a new AI project evaluation & selection model which we call SPARK. Using SPARK together with a solid business case helps you make the right decisions when it comes to choosing which AI applications to elect.

Selecting the Right AI Solutions for Use in New Product Development - Knowledge Hub 2.0 (pdma.org)

Getting up to speed on AI for NPD? More articles on the author’s website (safe, free download) at:

Robert G. Cooper - Artificial Intelligence in NPD (bobcooper.ca)