Thoughts on Technology Transfer

I have been looking at technology transfer methedology of late, I have transfered technology in the past, for a selection of companies and universities, and I have assembled some thoughts on the technology transfer from academic institutes and a proposed model that I have used many times in young companies.

University technology transfer - why so difficult?

Universities produce lots of research, patents, and base technologies. Few of them ever make it to the commercial market. Yet, lots of recent college grads start companies that bring amazing innovations to market. Why the disconnect? The obvious conclusion is academic versus business thinking. Not so fast. If that were true, corporate research labs would transfer most of it's research into new and existing products. The truth is a very small percentage of corporate research ever makes it to market.

The biggest factor seems to be the fundamental differences between research and product development. Research focuses on advancing technology without being constrained by business requirements. Product development starts with examination of customer needs and business requirements, and matches existing technologies to the problems.

Technology Licensing - Most big universities have Technology Licensing Offices that handle technology transfer on behalf of the university. MIT in Cambridge has one of the best TLO's I have worked with. VCs are constantly looking at technologies from universities more so in North America, but my guess is they represent less than 5% of the companies they fund, probably much less. What are the issues with TLO deals?

• Disagreement on value of technology
• No proven customer/market fit for the technology
• Key technology researchers will not transfer with the technology
• Complicated Intellectual Property (IP) ownership issues
• Long term royalties that may not make sense for the product evolution

Its All About The People - VCs invest in people not technologies. Entrepreneurs have a balance of business sense and technology smarts that is very rare. Matching entrepreneurs to technology wizards is where VC firms add a lot of value. They have a list of serial entrepreneurs that they know and trust. Magic happens when they match these entrepreneurs to cool new research.

So how do you handle the technology transfer once you have the IP agreed, well you can use a model such as the Stage-Gate Process

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The Stage-Gate Product Innovation process is a carefully designed business process – the result of the world’s most comprehensive research into understanding what discriminates product success and failure. Pioneered and developed by Dr. Robert G. Cooper, it is the world’s most widely implemented and trusted product innovation introduction process.

A Stage-Gate Process is a conceptual and operational roadmap for moving a new-product project from idea to launch. Stage-Gate divides the effort into distinct stages separated by management decision gates. Cross-functional teams must successfully complete a prescribed set of related cross-functional tasks in each stage prior to obtaining management approval to proceed to the next stage of product development.

So I hope this has given you some things to think through when you are ready to do soem technology transfer, or you could give me a call


Regards
Gordon

I am looking for a problem to solve, a company to build..and to keep in the good books with the bank and money lenders :) at the same time

"I am looking for a problem to solve a company to build..and to keep in the good books with the bank and money lenders :) at the same time"

I would like to enlist the help of my readers in my search for a new position, I have started to look for a new role, so if you have a challenge in your business or need some help and think I can be off assistance please feel free to get in touch, or if you know someone else who could use my help then by all means let them know as well. The other thing would be if you are looking yourself for a new role then please feel free to get in touch or maybe if you are local we can meet up and maybe we can help each other out at the same time. I have inserted a personal summary and a brief synopsis of the last three years work in the Solar Industry as a starter. I hope you all have a good weekend and keep the faith.

LinkedIn Profile : http://uk.linkedin.com/in/gordonwhyte

Summary Gordon Whyte ( Cert Mgmt (Open) )

Entrepreneurial senior operations executive, who has managed multi-disciplined teams delivering complex projects worldwide in high technology based businesses, including Multinational and start up businesses. Has selected and managed sub-contract manufacturing businesses, utilizing low cost countries and mainland European organizations, (including semiconductor foundries, PCB board manufacturing, discrete active components and sub assemblies), has introduced new products from feasibility study through to commercialization with supporting cost reduction and product reliability programs in place, within an aggressive time to market and budgetary framework. I have managed multi site operations and where necessary rationalized operations to meet the businesses strategic short term and long term objectives. I have raised over $200m in investment through Venture Capital,Government funding. Areas of technology worked in, Semiconductors, Cleantech, Display, Electronics, bio-technology,Telecom

• Feasibility study of Solar Technologies as they are applied in the field, understanding the ultimate cost of energy for a variety of technologies.
• In depth review of the concentrated solar industry to pin point the competitive technologies and develop a wining strategy for the LGBC technology.
• Feasibility study of setting up a low to medium concentrator manufacturing facility in the UK, Spain and Asia.
• Developed financial models for all the above scenarios, modeling cost of product , cash flow, capital expenditure and running costs.
• Worked with the turnkey suppliers of solar cell manufacturing lines to develop project plans for the deployment of 20/40MW manufacturing lines, these are companies like Centrotherm, Rena, Oerlikon.
• Led the acquisition of an existing solar cell manufacturing line in central Europe, and developed a plan to run in-situ at its present location.
• Led on the acquisition of the equipment only of the above solar cell manufacturing line, while finding a location in the UK to support the operation.
• Developed the supply chain for the operation, working with chemical and wafer suppliers, contract negotiated with the major wafer suppliers, like REC, LDK, NORSUN and other Asian suppliers.
• Led Business development and helped secure with the team over 20 new customers.
• Developed business plans and engaged with the Investment community to raise funding
• Promoted the business at trade shows and conferences around the world

• Managed the research and manufacturing business unit that would have been the technology provider.

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Some links to help with your jobsearch:
LinkedIn http://tinyurl.com/329oyh>

The second site I'll recommend is Recruiters OnLine Network, an online network of professional recruiters. You can freely search through posted jobs and find recruiters based on their focus or what they recruit for.

Recruiters OnLine Networkhttp://tinyurl.com/32km45>

Next is career resource site that offers tools, tips and more to help you manage your career. Its name is JibberJobber and it allows you to keep track of all of the information that you collect during a job search.

JibberJobber - <>http://tinyurl.com/2svuef>

The fourth, and last web site, is SimplyHired. They are what is called an aggregator. They comb, search and gather job postings from hundreds of site and it is freely available and searchable at their site.

SimplyHired - http://tinyurl.com/drtz5