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Centre for Sustainable Agrifood Systems

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STARTProject Development Toolkit

Workshop tool

Gap analysis

Use this when you need to define what must change to get from today's state of the art to the impact you want.

Where it’s used:Step 4: Problem scoping

How to use it

Answer these questions together:

  1. What is the current state of the art, and which elements of it do you seek to change?
  2. If the elements are changed, what does the ideal situation look like?
    • Be bold: what would the perfect world look like if your idea were a huge success?
    • E.g. complete circularity in nutrients, net-zero CO₂ emissions from farming, lab-grown meat as a common choice in supermarkets.
    • Your research might not achieve this ideal state, but it should contribute significantly to the overarching vision.
  3. What is preventing the current state from being the target state? What barriers must be overcome?
    • E.g. research not far enough, societal push-back, technology not advanced enough, lack of knowledge in industry.
  4. How can you traverse the gap and reach the ideal state? What solutions or knowledge must be generated?
Gap analysisFrom the current state of the art (question 1: which elements do you seek to change?) across the barriers (question 3: what prevents the current state from being the target state?) to the ideal state (question 2: what does the world look like if your idea is a huge success?). Question 4 bridges the gap: what solutions or knowledge must be generated?1. Current state of the artWhich elements of it do you seek tochange?3. BarriersWhat prevents the current state frombeing the target state?2. Ideal stateBe bold: what does the world look likeif your idea is a huge success?4. How can you traverse the gap? Whatsolutions or knowledge must be generated?
From the current state to the ideal state, across the barriers.

Source: START Triple-I project development tool kit, pp. 17.