the method of the inventions provides risk or opportunity evaluation for the biotechnological and pharmaceutical r & amp ; d criteria , preferably presented either digitally or hard - copy in a “ traffic light diagram ”. this tool utilizes a layout , formatting , and formulas in known spreadsheet programs such as excel ®. the template enables the client / user to easily to interpret color schemes such as of red , yellow and green and the risk and / or opportunity for each criteria . all steps in the processes described herein are operated in software installed on an apparatus capable of operating such software , including a computer , pda and the like , preferably a computer , more preferably a computer connected to a network or a server . the software necessary to execute these steps is either known or capable of being designed by those of ordinary skill in the art . alternatively , certain steps may be performed by a human . client and server may interact over the world wide web in a client - server or business - to - business model . the invention therefore provides a further embodiment featuring an online method for evaluating the risk and / or opportunity for one or more r & amp ; d projects , said method comprising the steps of : providing an online site having a server operable to provide a risk and / or opportunity scale from which one or more clients interact with said server and assess said risk and / or opportunity , said scale providing guidance for scoring a range from low to high ; a client providing to the server scores based on the provided scale of risk and / or opportunity for a plurality of pharmaceutical or biotechnological criteria ; the server calculating risk and / or opportunity data by performing a mathematical weighted - average for each criteria ; optionally calculating further risk and / or opportunity data by performing a mathematical average for each criteria across projects if more than one project is evaluated ; and further optionally converting said data to a color scale for each measured criteria ; the server issuing a response to one or more clients a plurality of data as requested by client by generating a suitable display of said data on a computer terminal or network . [ 0029 ] fig3 . depicts the basic steps by which an exchange between an internet client 104 and server 101 interact according to the invention . in this regard , the server 101 places the scale data in html or xml on a webpage 102 prompting client 104 to securely enter their information in digital medium on the webpage 102 to be transmitted to the server 101 where a database using , for example , sql , excel or ms access . the database sorts and processes the information in a computer readable html page for one or more clients in their browsers 103 . information can be entered securely with programs such as ssl . the initial scale data can be presented by the server 101 on a webpage 102 in an xml or html form with blank input spaces for the client 104 to complete the required information . the form can then be transmitted as , for example , a block of data to be processed on the server 101 . server 101 processes the scale data and transmits the processed data in an html page to be viewed on browser 103 which resembles fig1 and 2 suitable to display on a computer terminal . biotechnological and pharmaceutical citeria and parameters to be evaluated will be apparent to those skilled in the art . preferred criteria include , but are not limited to : target , nce ( new chemical entity ) or nbe ( new biological entity ). preferred parameters within the target category include : role in human diseases , mechanism related toxicity , selectivity , tracking in vitro , tracking in vivo , cellular location , generating hits , availability of structural information , amenability to rational design , competitive picture , competitor intellectual property , safety , availability of in - house expertise and availability of relevant technology . preferred parameters within the nce category include : developability and biophysical properties , molecular diversity and number of leads , chemical feasibility and rapid lead expansion , competitor intellectual property , safety , availability of in - house expertise and availability of relevant technology . preferred parameters within the nbe category include : developability , manufacturability including drug supply to market , required dose , competitor intellectual property , safety , availability of in - house expertise and availability of relevant technology .