If the research is successful, the result is likely to be an invention. In the course of other University research, inventions may or may not be a likely result. However, an invention could result if, while studying the radiation effects, the researcher discovered that a specific radiation frequency-applied at a particular period of plant gestation increased the size of the mature plant by an average of 5 percent. The technological process of applying that radiation frequency at that moment in a plant's life could be an invention. Sometimes identifying which part of a complex research effort might constitute an invention is very difficult.
History is replete with examples of inventions buried in scientific studies focused on other issues.
Frequently, new tools or processes are developed to meet a particular research objective but are overlooked once the objective is reached. These tools, themselves, may constitute valuable inventions. This example illustrates that the scope of possible inventions can be very broad.