METHODOLOGY OF ASSESSING THE INVESTMENT ATTRACTIVENESS OF INNOVATION PROJECTS

Innovative projects at the early stages of the life cycle have a high degree of uncertainty, and therefore require specific approaches to their evaluation. It is especially important for such projects to support the actors of the innovation ecosystem and assist in their development. The capabilities of the entity that selects projects to compensate for negative scenarios should be taken into account when ranking. The existing quantitative valuation methods based on the cash flow forecast do not yet give correct estimates at this stage, and the existing qualitative methods based on expert assessments reflect a high proportion of subjectivity. In the process of selecting the most investment-attractive projects at the early stages of the life cycle, there is an acute issue of smoothing out the information asymmetry that arises between a startup and a venture investor or another actor in the innovation ecosystem that supports projects (technoparks, accelerators, business incubators, etc.). In our opinion, the key to solving the problem of reducing information asymmetry can be a practice-oriented methodology that captures the most effective signals coming from projects at the early stages of the life cycle. We offer an author's technologized solution based on the analysis of signals coming from the team and their correct interpretation, consisting in a balanced analysis of the three most important areas for evaluating a venture project: «market and entry strategy», «team» and «product». The parameters of the methodology were selected according to the frequency of mention in 37 analyzed articles and interviews with actors of innovation ecosystems from different countries, expressing their point of view on what criteria should be used when evaluating startups in the early stages of the life cycle. The software product allows the investor to analyze and compare all evaluated projects in one window.

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