A FirstIgnite Tech Assessment scores a technology's commercial prospects, factor by factor, with the reasoning and sources behind each score. You can run one without leaving Minuet. The Tech Assessment tab on a technology record runs the assessment, shows the result, and files the PDF back to that record's Documents.
Prefer to watch? Here's a short walkthrough of running a Tech Assessment in Minuet.
Before you start:
Minuet 20.07.6 or newer. The tab ships in that build. Check yours from the logo chevron at the top left, About Minuet, then scroll to the bottom of the Help window.
Inteum also switches the tab on per site. If you're on a new enough build and a technology record still has no Tech Assessment entry under Intellectual Property, ask Inteum to enable it.
Your institution's FirstIgnite connection must be active. See Connecting FirstIgnite to your Minuet instance.
You need a FirstIgnite account in your institution's team. If you don't have one, the tab tells you how to ask for it (below).
Finding the tab
Open a technology record. In the left-hand tree, expand Intellectual Property and choose Tech Assessment. A technology that has never been assessed opens on a welcome screen. One that has opens straight on its latest result.
The Tech Assessment welcome screen on a technology record: You're set, run your first assessment, with a Run first Tech Assessment button and a sample result on the right
View assessment sample opens an example assessment in a new tab, so you can see the shape of the result before you run one.
The first time you open it
What you see depends on your account, and that turns entirely on one email address.
How FirstIgnite works out who you are
Minuet passes FirstIgnite the email address on your Minuet user. FirstIgnite looks for an account in your institution's FirstIgnite team carrying that address — either the account's main address or any single-sign-on address attached to it.
It has to match exactly one account. If none matches, or more than one does, nothing is linked and you get the request card below instead. The account also has to be verified and still active; a deactivated one isn't a match.
If your FirstIgnite address isn't the one on your Minuet user, that's common and it isn't a dead end. Don't request access you already have. The card carries "Already connected to FirstIgnite with a different email?" and a Log in with a different email link, which hands you to FirstIgnite's sign-in so you can connect with the address you actually use. That link is on the card in every one of its states, before and after you send a request.
Your account is in the team
You see You're set. Run your first assessment. and a Run first Tech Assessment button. That's the screen above, and there's nothing to set up.
You don't have an account, or it isn't in the team
You see One approval away from your first assessment with a Request access card.
The request-access card: One approval away from your first assessment, a Request access button, and the note "We'll send the request to your institution's FirstIgnite admin and email you the moment access is granted", with the Log in with a different email link beneath it
Sending it emails your team's FirstIgnite owners and admins, who add you. The card then confirms Request sent to your FirstIgnite admins and tells you an email will follow the moment access is granted.
The same card after sending, now reading Request sent to your FirstIgnite admins, with Request access again and the different-email link
You can send the request again after 24 hours, and the second time the card also offers Contact admin, which opens a pre-written email to them. There's no way to create an account from the tab itself; the request, or signing in with an address you already have, is the path.
Your institution isn't connected to FirstIgnite
The tab shows what the assessment does and a Book a call for access button, with Minuet users get a 30-day free trial. above it. If your institution does have FirstIgnite and this is a connection that was never made, Setup FirstIgnite connection in the top-right is the way in. Nothing runs until the connection in Connecting FirstIgnite to your Minuet instance is made.
The not-connected screen: what Tech Assessment does, a Book a call for access button, and Already have FirstIgnite account? Setup FirstIgnite connection in the top right
1. Choose documents
Click Run first Tech Assessment. FirstIgnite lists the documents attached to the technology, newest first, and asks which the assessment should read.
The Choose documents step: three documents listed with checkboxes, a search box, Select all and Deselect all, and Skip and Confirm buttons
Only documents linked to the technology itself are listed. Files attached to its remarks or patents aren't, which is the same rule as everywhere else in FirstIgnite. See What FirstIgnite reads from a Minuet technology.
The card says how many you can choose, 20 by default. Select all respects that cap.
Skip runs the assessment on the technology record alone.
Choose Confirm and FirstIgnite gathers the input: reads the technology record, collects patent and grant data, downloads the documents, and prepares the assessment input. This usually takes under a minute. A document that can't be read is skipped and the run continues without it.
2. Set up the assessment
Type. The default is Tech Transfer Office Assessment. Change Type offers the other FirstIgnite templates, Tech Assessment, Patent Evaluation, Invention Disclosure and Commercialization Process, plus any templates your team has made. See Assessment templates: choosing, creating and editing.
The Change Type list showing the assessment templates
Input check. While you're on this step FirstIgnite reads what it gathered and reports how much each dimension has to work with. It takes 30 to 60 seconds and finishes with Ready to go. View details breaks it down: Already covered, Could add more, Needs more input. The check never blocks you. If gaps remain you can still generate, and FirstIgnite asks you to confirm with Generate anyway. See Pre-flight checks: preview before you spend a run.
The Ready to go card with details open: a legend for Already covered, Could add more and Needs more input, then one row per dimension
Mode. Three depths. Quality, about 20 minutes, is recommended for a report you'll share. Fast, about 10 minutes, suits an initial screen. Rapid, about 5 minutes, is for quick prospecting only.
Select Assessment Mode: Quality, about 20 minutes, recommended; Fast, about 10; Rapid, about 5
Patent offices to search. All offices, or Only selected offices from eight: United States (USPTO), Europe (EPO), Germany (DPMA), United Kingdom (IPO), France (INPI), Canada (CIPO), Australia (IP Australia), Brazil (INPI).
Patent offices to search: All offices, or Only selected offices with eight checkboxes
Choose Next.
3. Name it and generate
Assessment Title is prefilled according to your team's Tech assessment names setting in FirstIgnite, which a team admin sets to one of: generated from the assessment input, the Technology ID, the technology name, or the ID and name together. Edit it if you like. Internal Reference ID is optional, prefilled with the Tech ID, and is for your own tracking.
The Details step: Assessment Title prefilled with the Technology ID and name, an optional Internal Reference ID, and the Generate Assessment button
Choose Generate Assessment.
While it runs
The panel shows the stage, Initializing, Processing files, Researching, Finalizing, and the documents as they're read. On Premium plans it also lists each evaluator and what it's doing. See Basic and Premium: what changes.
A running assessment: the stage bar, the documents read so far, and the evaluators at work
You don't have to wait. Close the panel, leave the record, or leave Minuet. The run continues. FirstIgnite sends an email when it finishes, with the score in the subject line, and the Tech Assessment tab shows the result the next time you open the record.
Reading the result
The result opens with a Conclusion, the overall score out of 100 with a posture word, the Weakest factor and why it matters, then Factor by factor with a score and a sentence for each. The footer says how many searches and sources went into it and rates the input quality. For how to read the scores, see Read your assessment results.
A completed assessment: conclusion, score out of 100, weakest factor, and the factor-by-factor list
Four actions sit at the top of a result:
Download PDF saves the report to your computer.
Save PDF to Documents files it onto this technology in Minuet (next section).
View full assessments in FirstIgnite opens the complete report, with every source, in FirstIgnite.
Run a new assessment starts again from step 1.
Earlier runs lists this technology's previous assessments with the change in score between them. You only see runs you have access to in FirstIgnite; sharing is per assessment.
Saving the PDF to Minuet Documents
Save PDF to Documents sends the report to Minuet and attaches it to the technology. You'll see Sending to Minuet Documents… while it saves. Once it's saved, you're taken to the technology's Documents tab, where the PDF is at the top of the list.
The technology's Documents list in Minuet with the assessment PDF at the top
Two things to know:
While a save is still going through, a second click is refused rather than queued, so you can't file the same PDF twice by accident.
Once it has landed, saving again creates another document. Minuet's API has no delete, so tidy duplicates in Minuet.
The upload needs the document-writing endpoint granted to FirstIgnite. See Uploading FirstIgnite files to Minuet Documents.
Quick answers
What you see | What it means |
No Tech Assessment entry under Intellectual Property | Inteum hasn't enabled the tab for your site. Ask Inteum |
Book a call for access | Your institution's Minuet isn't connected to FirstIgnite yet. See Connecting FirstIgnite to your Minuet instance |
One approval away from your first assessment | Your Minuet email doesn't match a FirstIgnite account in the team. Use Request access |
Documents you expected aren't in the picker | They're attached to a remark or a patent, not to the technology. See What FirstIgnite reads from a Minuet technology |
The input check says Needs more input | It will still run. Add inventor detail to the record or its documents first if you want a stronger result |
You closed the panel mid-run | Nothing was lost. The run continues and you'll get an email |
Save PDF to Documents did nothing the second time | The first save is still in progress. Wait for it to finish saving |
Learn more about Tech Assessments
The tab runs the same assessment as FirstIgnite itself, so the FirstIgnite help centre applies:
If something isn't working with the Minuet side, see Troubleshooting the Minuet integration.