David Sandhop

1
Introduction

• David Sandhop
• Deputy Director
• Mid-Continent Technology Transfer Center

2
From Lab To Business

• Technology Commercialization Assessments

3
Quicklook Technology Commercialization Assessments

• A snapshot look
• A focus on primary research
• Secondary research fills in the background of the
  marketplace
• Targets early interest and warning signals

4
In-Depth Technology Assessment

• A systematic attempt to foresee the consequences
  of commercializing a technology
• A look beyond the obvious at all opportunities,
  possibilities, and ramifications for the
  enterprise

5
Quicklook Versus In-depth

• Triage versus strategic decision
• Identification of issues versus exploration of
  issues
• More extensive use of same type of resources with
  in-depth assessment
• Level of investment is typically much higher with
  in-depth

6
Quicklook Research Steps

• Identify potential markets.
• Identify end users and potential licensees.
• Contact experts and companies.
• Identify the barriers and opportunities.

7
Identify Potential Markets

• Contact inventor or analogue the best source
  for original intent.
• Brainstorm with others various viewpoints yield
  viable uses.
• Identify similar products.
• Skim abstracts, internet, may conduct database
  search.

8
Identify End Users and Potential Licensees

• Contact the inventor
• Contact associations.
• Search CorpTech.
• Search Thomas Register.
• Search Dun Bradstreet.
• Search the internet

9
Contact Experts and Companies

• Call the identified contacts for their expert
  opinions.
• Emphasize inventions potential benefits.
• The best contacts usually are in marketing or RD.

10
Sample Questions for Contacts

• Would a product with these characteristics be
  important?
• Is the market large for products like this?
• Are similar products on the market?
• What is an appropriate price point?
• What would be considered proof of performance?
• What are key buying factors for these types of
  products?

11
Information Collection Tips

• Reconfirm data collected from primary research.
• When asking about potential market size, offer
  scale examples based on an educated guess.
• Usually only 7 to 10 productive calls are needed
  for a Quicklook study.

12
Identify Barriers and Opportunities

• Define the hurdles that the technology must
  overcome
• Make the case for the barriers in the body of the
  report
• Identify market and technology barriers.
• Outline potential ways to overcome the barriers

13
Quicklook Report Outline

• Technology Description
• Describe the important technical attributes of
  the invention so that a non-expert can understand
  it
• Technology Benefits
• Describe the technologys benefits to the user,
  not just the features, and the problems it can
  solve

14
Quicklook Report Outline

• Potential Markets
• What products or processes could result
• Describe the market opportunities (size, demand
  over time, health of the industry, timeliness)
• Key benefits sought by the market
• Market Interest
• Level of interest discovered in the research

15
Quicklook Report Outline(continued)

• Development Status of Technology
• Describe the status of the technology
  (prototype, paper idea or bench model?)
• Intellectual Property Status
• Describe the IP protection and ownership status.

16
Quicklook Report Outline(continued)

• Competing Technologies and Competitors
• Describe similar technologies used to solve the
  problem
• Describe sustainable advantages of the target
  technologies over competitive technologies and
  competing companies and their place in the
  market.

17
Quicklook Report Outline(continued)

• Barriers to Market Entry
• Outline barriers to market entry
• Outline keys to market entry

18
Quicklook Report Outline(continued)

• Recommendations
• State a go/no-go decision
• Outline the next steps needed to help
  commercialize or license the technology

19
Commercial Potential Rating

• Factor Weight Score (1-3)
  
• Market Potential 25
• Market Maturity 15
• Tech Development 40
• Competitors/Patents 20
• Total

20
Weighting Factors

• Market Potential
• Low score for small markets and/or very high
  barriers to entry
• High scores for larger potential and/or lower
  barriers to entry
• Market Maturity
• How ready is the market for the technology

21
Weighting Factors

• Technology Development
• Low state of development and/or high technical
  barriers - low score
• Most important in licensing situations
• Competitors
• Dominant competition and/or high competitive
  barriers to entry - low score

22

Market Research Methods

23
Gathering Information

• Primary Research
• Internal Primary Research
• External Primary Research
• Secondary Data Collection
• Internal Sources
• External Private Sources
• External Government Sources

24
Primary Market Research

• Creates data through interviews and other direct
  feedback mechanisms
• Addresses the specific technology and information
  needs
• Relies on the skill of the interviewer or
  questionnaire design
• Delivers real-time feedback to the researcher

25
Listen to the Voice of the Customer

• Understand what is really important
• Understand customer motivations
• Understand the buying cycle and how decisions are
  made
• Provide a sanity check to the internal
  perceptions of the technology

26
Getting Feedback on Benefits

• Expected level of quality of the product
• Linear performance quality - the more the better
• Exciter qualities can be the real sellers
• may not be the obvious ones to the technology
  developer
• may become expected qualities over time

27
Research Stages

• Project definition
• Project execution
• Project analysis
• Project results dissemination

28
Project Definition

• Understand the internal dynamics of the
  stakeholders
• Understand the goal of the research
• Understand what decision is being made
• Understand the strengths and weaknesses of the
  company
• Understand the commercialization options

29
Internal Primary Sources

• Interview the inventor
• Brainstorm with other internal technical experts
• Brainstorm with the sales staff that have direct
  interaction with customers
• Beta test the technology with internal customers

30
Internal Primary Research

• Benefits
• Interviewees have a keen understanding of the
  technology and its possibilities
• Research is fast and inexpensive
• Researcher gains an understanding of how the
  technology fits into the internal goals and
  product mix
• Drawbacks
• Can be myopic and rely on unfounded market
  assumptions

31
External Primary Sources

• Collecting data directly from the marketplace
  through
• Phone Surveys
• Mail Surveys
• E-mail and Newsgroups
• Focus Groups
• In-depth Customer Interviews

32
In-Depth Interview Advantages

• Provides background data on the marketplace
• Answers specific questions
• Ensures the right experts are contacted
• Examines corporate buying behavior
• Identifies industry trends

33
In-Depth Interview Advantages

• Follows a theme with one respondent from
  beginning to end
• Has a flexible structure that can be modified as
  learning occurs
• Topics can be expanded upon
• Identifies other industry players to contact

34
Goals of In-Depth Interviewing

• Use open ended questions and conversations to
  uncover
• perceptions, opinions, beliefs and attitudes
• Understand the motivating buying factors
• Qualitative data that informs the quantitative
  research

35
Interviewer Qualities

• Good interviewing skills
• good listening, clear communication
• An eye for detail without getting lost in the
  trees
• Ability to appear genuinely interested
• Interest in the subject and the interview results

36
Learn the Customers Language

• Never assume you know what they are talking about
• Question every nebulous term
• Dont be afraid of asking the obvious
• They are the experts, acknowledge that and use it
  to your advantage

37
Types of Responders

• Yeasayers - only tell you the good
• Ask them to pin down why it is good
• What would a benefit mean to them?
• Naysayers - only tell you the bad
• Ask why a benefit or feature is not important
• Ask for suggestions on how to make it better
• Use them to identify barriers and improvements to
  the technology

38
Telephone Interviewing

• It can be the right tool when
• interviewing busy executives
• your interview population is geographically
  dispersed
• interviewing people for their knowledge
• speed is important
• You hear the voice of the customer

39
Internet Primary Research

• Use newsgroups to gather responses to specific
  questions
• Use newsgroups to identify industry experts that
  can be interviewed
• Send targeted e-mail questions to contacts, do
  not SPAM
• Newsgroup research works best when researching
  information technologies

40
Primary Market Research Tips

• Techniques to get responses
• Emphasize benefit to responders of their input
• Know who you want to talk to
• Offer pre-market use of the technology
• Offer beneficial items for responding
• Allow time for the research to be done
• Conversations are good

41
External Primary Market Research

• Benefits
• Tailored to company needs
• Real time feedback
• Answers specific questions
• Feedback on specific products/services
• Drawbacks
• Can be expensive and time consuming
• Strategy/product direction may be publicized

42
Secondary Market Research

• Collects information that already exists
• Provides comprehensive data that can be further
  analyzed
• Provides industry quantitative data
• Provides general industry data rather than data
  specific to the technology or business
  proposition being researched
• Provides historical or trending data

43
Internal Secondary Sources

• Mine past internal research reports
• Collect secondary sources that are already
  in-house
• purchased reports and subscription data
• customer lists and contacts
• collected competitor information
• reports and directories of associations that the
  company belongs to

44
Internal Secondary Research

• Benefits
• Fast and inexpensive
• Internal secondary sources could uncover good
  internal primary sources
• Information may already be tailored to the
  company or product line
• Drawbacks
• Data may be out of date
• Sole reliance on past reports may compound past
  biases

45
External Secondary Private Sources

• Collect research reports that already exist on
  the web or in libraries
• Purchase existing research reports from market
  research firms
• Gather compiled company data, e.g.
  DunnBradstreet (US and Europe)
• Gather trade group compiled data
• Visit competitor Web sites
• Mine university libraries for sources

46
Fee Databases

• General sources can provide clearinghouses
• Dialog, www.dialog.com
• CorpTech, CD-ROM database
• OneSource, www.onesource.com
• Specific industry sources can provide difficult
  to find or unique information
• www.vlsiresearch.com
• www.imshealth.com

47
Web Surfing Shortcuts

• Use compiled Web resource lists from universities
• http//www.ci.austin.tx.us/library/databases.htm
• http//www.lib.utexas.edu/
• Use compiled Web resource lists from
  organizations
• http//computer.org/internet/links.htm
• Use private search tools
• http//www.delphion.com

48
External Secondary Private Research

• Benefits
• May be inexpensive
• Accumulates quantitative data
• Gives a macro view of the market
• May give insight into competitors market and
  financial positions
• May answer specific questions about market
  share, demographics, and buying habits

49
External Secondary Private Research

• Drawbacks
• Data can be out of date
• Data categories may be overly broad
• Information usually cannot address specific
  technology questions
• The most interesting data can be expensive

50
Surfing Tips

• Develop a search plan
• Who else would be interested in the information
• If an agency regulates it, they probably collect
  information on it
• If you think the information should exist, it
  probably does

51
Searching Tips

• Slow down and read what you find
• Go to the source when you find interesting
  information
• Pick up on new buzzwords and phrases and search
  using them
• Bookmark when you find good sources

52
External Secondary Government Sources

• Trade bureaus for international trade assistance
• Census Bureau for business and company
  demographic information
• Federal agencies for data and reports on relevant
  industries
• Patent databases for competitive technology
  information

53
Trade Bureau Secondary Data

• US Bureau of Industry and Security
• Trade regulations and assistance
• http//www.bxa.doc.gov/
• US International Trade Administration
• Excellent source of industry information from
  across the globe
• Country and region primers on business practices
  and opportunities
• http//www.ita.doc.gov/

54
US Bureau of the Census

• Source for demographic and business statistical
  information
• Source for hundreds of compiled industry reports
• U.S. Business reports are more prevalent than
  population reports
• Most publications are free and on the Internet
• http//www.census.gov/

55
Individual Agencies

• More than 70 US federal agencies collect data and
  issue reports in relevant industries
• Identify agency interest areas and search the
  agency sites
• Use the US federal clearinghouse site of
  http//www.fedstats.gov/

56
US Patent Office

• Search for competitive technologies using
  advanced search capabilities
• Download full text patents with pictures
• Search the trademark database
• Link to other nations patent sites
• Link to international patent treaties
• http//www.uspto.gov/

57
Government Secondary Data

• Benefits
• Data can be trusted and pedigree is clear
• Data is usually free and Internet available
• Data may be very detailed
• Data can be found for most industries in most
  countries or regions
• Drawbacks
• Data can be out of date
• Data categories may be overly broad

58
The Internet Factor

• Access to secondary information has become much
  easier and cheaper with the explosion of the
  internet.
• The old paradigm was library research with paper
  reports and books
• The new paradigm is electronic library research
• Learn by surfing, find sites, techniques, and
  information that is critical to you