Sometimes, performance capability with specific characteristics outweighs the priority for efficiency based on a specific or class type of mission. I think for your concepts, maybe don't restrict your development strictly to energy efficiency and consider other potential performance benefits. Even Gyroplane Jump Takeoff, is not energy efficient as compared to runway takeoff. But it serves a function when there is no runway. VTOL as far as I know is never energy efficient, but it serves a purpose that outweighs the interest in energy efficiency.
Thinking outside the box on the wild side, your concept could potentially be applied with a computer to provide a flat spin with lift, to act as an emergency measure to arrest a fall like a ballistic parachute without the parachute. An airliner instead of doing an emergency landing along a long stretch of obstacles, might land vertically at an acceptable sink rate. This is just an example of thinking of how energy efficiency is of lesser importance than the applied mission.
Maybe make a long and wild list of missions that you think your concepts might apply to, and add to it every few days (the brain needs 3 days to correlate 75% of what we previously considered). Then after a while, see if anything jumps out at you and/or your associates as a direction to apply efforts.
Something about "Moments of Inspiration" (genius). Everyone has moments of inspiration many times every day. However, they only last about 3 seconds and then they are forgotten. Keep a pocket notepad and pencil with you every moment of every day. When your brain correlates momentarily vast relationships to provide you with an inspiration, write it down as fast as you can in detail. This will help you remember the details of your inspiration so you can come back to it later. If you do not capture your moment of inspiration, it is gone forever; until someone else has a similar inspiration to explore. For the Moments of Inspiration you do not plan to develop, create a blog and write them down for humanity to explore. These become part of other people's inspirations and you become part of progress.