www.FITT-for-Innovation.eu

1. Marketing of the Innovation:
Segmenting non existing markets
Paul Millier
Professor
EMLyon Business School
FITT
– Fostering Interregional Exchange in ICT Technology Transfer –
www.FITT-for-Innovation.eu
Except where otherwise noted, this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.

2. What is segmentation?
In cas of innovation, knowing the targeted market is essential but remains difficult because
the market does not exist yet!
Segmentation is a solution to find trade off between simplifying the reality and displaying the
market complexity and heterogeneity
When the market does not exist the so called Segmentuition™ must be used in place of the
segmentation (method developed by Paul Millier)
The Segmentuition™ is a mix of intuition and rationalization allowing to shift from an
intuitive and unstructured vision to a logical construction of the market
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3. How to use Segmentuition™?
Assuming that relevant data has been collected, the Segmentuition™ follows 4 main steps:
1. Technical segmentation defining the
applications i.e. the technical problems to be
solved.
2. Behavioural segmentation which means
defining the clients’ behaviours i.e. what
explains that the clients are interested (or not)
in the innovation to be launched
3. Crossing the applications and the
behaviours as to get a segmentation matrix.
The segments are in the non empty boxes of
the matrix.
4. Naming and quantifying the segments.
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4. Why?
The context for which it was developed is the context of innovation. The
problem addressed is the lack of information. This was a problem
because usual methods of segmentation do not work.
After the implementation of the segmentation we can expect to build a
relevant marketing strategy to break into the market.
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5. When? Who?
When?
The method should be implemented when the information is rare and the clients few. It
should be implemented on demand before rolling out a new product or service in the market.
Who?
The different stakeholders who could use the method are:
• Technology Transfer Officers (TTO’s)
• Researchers
• Marketers
• Innovators
• Start-up managers
• External Consultants
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6. Suggested Readings
Links to glossary:
Marketing, Value Creation, Segmentation, market
Suggested reading
• MILLIER Paul : Développer les marchés industriels. Principes de segmentation Paris. DUNOD
1995
• MILLIER Paul : Marketing the unknown. Chichester J; Wiley & Sons 1999.
• MILLIER Paul : "Intuition can help in segmenting industrial markets" in : Industrial marketing
management, may 2000.
• MILLIER Paul - L’étude des marchés qui n’existent pas encore, Editions d'Organisation, Paris,
2002
• MILLIER Paul : Stratégie et marketing de l'innovation technologique Paris. DUNOD 2005
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