Innovation Radar: Field Trends & Idea Validation

Analyse a technology field or validate a product idea from open research and patent data: growth and momentum, leading countries, institutions and funders, rising sub-topics, standout and closest work, related patents. Optional AI opportunities on your own key. $0.03 per analysis.

$0.03 each analysis+ Free-to-use patent $0.01 eachupdated 2026-11-01

Run it on Apify Build the input See the output

Try it

Build the input, get the call

Change any field; the code on the right follows. Copy it, or run the same input on Apify.

What to do

Landscape: size, growth, leaders, funders and rising topics of a field. Validate: how new or crowded an idea is, and the closest prior work.

Fields or technologies

For landscapes, e.g. `solid state battery`, `CRISPR base editing`, `retrieval augmented generation`. Multi-word fields are searched as a phrase.

Ideas to validate

For validation, in plain words, e.g. `a window that generates solar power with perovskite tandem cells`.

Years of history

How far back the trend goes.

Works listed per analysis

Standout recent works (landscape) or closest works (validation).

AI analysis (optional)

AI insight

Add opportunities (what to build, for whom, why now, capital needed, who to talk to) or an idea assessment, written by the AI below. Without it you still get every score and signal, plus an AI_BRIEF you can paste into any assistant.

Insight language

Language of the AI insight. Default English.

terminal

curl -X POST \
  "https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/tacps126~innovation-radar/run-sync-get-dataset-items?token=YOUR_APIFY_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"fields":["solid state battery"]}'

$0.03 each, analysis.

Output

What you get back

The fields every row has.

Field	What it holds
`type`	Type
`field`	Field
`idea`	Idea
`rank`	Rank
`scores`	Scores
`growth`	Growth
`industry`	Industry participation
`crowdedness`	Crowdedness
`topCompanies`	Top companies
`topCountries`	Top countries
`risingTopics`	Rising topics
`insight`	AI insight

Download as JSON, CSV, Excel or XML from the run, or have it sent to Google Sheets, Slack or a webhook.

Guide

How Innovation Radar works

Inputs, options and tips, from the tool's own documentation.

Point it at a technology field or describe a product idea, and get an analysis instead of a pile of links:

Field landscape - how much is published per year, how fast it is growing (and whether it's speeding up or cooling down), which countries, institutions and funders lead it, which sub-topics are rising, the standout recent work, related patents, the worldwide patent filing trend, and older European patents that look free to use (expired, or lapsed because fees weren't paid).
Idea validation - how many works already cover the idea, how many in the last two years, whether the space is open, early, active or crowded, the biggest neighbouring space (so a niche inside a crowded field is called out), who is working on it, the closest prior work, related patents, the patent trend and possibly free-to-use patents.
Scores you can compare - an opportunity score (0-100) with the reasons behind it, plus momentum, lab-to-market gap (research racing ahead of products) and geographic concentration. Analyse several fields in one run and they come back ranked.
Who is in it - industry participation (share of recent work with a company author, and whether companies are moving in or out), the top companies, key researchers, institutions and funders: partners, hires, licensors and competitors.
Opportunities (optional AI) - product ideas with why now, a capital bucket (under $50k / $50k-$1M / over $1M) with the reasoning, who to talk to, risks and next steps. Use Apify's built-in AI (no key; a fraction of a cent per call, billed to your Apify account) or your own Anthropic, OpenAI, Gemini, OpenRouter, Groq, Mistral, DeepSeek or local model.

Every run also saves a readable report (Markdown) and an AI brief: the analyst rubric plus the run's evidence, ready to paste into any assistant you already use.

Built for founders looking for what to build, R&D and innovation teams scouting a technology, investors and consultants sizing a field, IP professionals, and AI agents that need a quick read on a domain.

How to use it

Landscape: choose Analyse fields, enter one or more fields (solid state battery, CRISPR base editing, retrieval augmented generation), press Start.

Validation: choose Validate ideas, describe each idea in a sentence (a window that generates solar power with perovskite tandem cells), press Start.

Turn on AI insight for opportunities and an assessment written for you. Apify (no key) bills the model's tokens to your Apify account through Apify's AI gateway (about $0.001 per analysis with the default model); with your own key you pay your provider directly. The Actor charges nothing extra for AI either way.

json

{
  "mode": "landscape",
  "fields": ["solid state battery", "sodium-ion battery"],
  "years": 10
}

Example: three battery chemistries, one run

fields: ["sodium-ion battery", "solid state battery", "perovskite solar cell"] ranked sodium-ion first (opportunity 79: fast growth, a wide lab-to-market gap, companies such as CATL and Faradion moving in), solid-state second (62) and perovskite third (46). Each score lists the signals behind it.

Use your own AI, or none

The analysis - counts, trends, scores, companies - needs no AI at all. For the written part you have three options:

AI insight in the Actor - Apify (no key) or any supported provider on your key.
AI_BRIEF - paste it into ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, Copilot or a local model. Every model gets the same rubric and answer shape, so results stay comparable.
From an AI agent - the webdata-tools MCP server exposes analyze_field and validate_idea plus ready-made field-opportunity-analysis and idea-validation prompts for Claude Desktop, Cursor and other MCP clients.

Data

Scholarly data from OpenAlex (250M+ works, CC0); worldwide patents, patent trends and legal status (INPADOC) from the European Patent Office. The patent checks follow the EPO's fair-use limits, so each field or idea takes up to a minute longer.

Pricing

$0.03 per analysis (one field or one idea) plus a small start fee per run. AI insight costs the model's tokens: about $0.001 per analysis with the built-in AI (billed to your Apify account by Apify's AI gateway), or your provider's price with your own key. A free OpenAlex key is recommended for frequent runs.

Good to know

Trends reflect published research, which leads products by years. Patent notes are not legal advice: an expired patent can have related patents still in force - check before building. AI notes are estimates.

Questions

Questions about Innovation Radar

How much does Innovation Radar cost?

$0.03 each, charged only for analysiss returned; a run that finds nothing costs nothing. It runs on Apify, whose free plan includes monthly credit, so you can try it without paying.

Do I need to write code?

No. Fill in the form on Apify and press Start, schedule it, or send the results to Google Sheets, Slack or a webhook. For code, the input builder on this page writes the API call in curl, Python or JavaScript.

What does Innovation Radar return?

Every row has the same fields, including type, field, idea, rank, scores, growth, industry, crowdedness. Download as JSON, CSV, Excel or XML.

Can an AI agent use it?

Yes. The webdata-tools-mcp server exposes it to Claude, Cursor and other MCP clients as analyze_field and validate_idea.

Pairs well

Pairs well with

Also in reviews and research

What people use Innovation Radar for

Check if an idea is new before building it
Map a field's growth, leaders and gaps
Brief investors or R&D teams with data

Also searched as

technology landscape patent landscape research trend analysis idea validation prior art search innovation intelligence emerging technology tracking