Building a strategic partnership

1
Building a strategic partnership

• CRDF STEP Innovation Marketplace
• Idea to Market Workshop
• Kazakhstan, June 2007
• Alistair M. Brett
• Oxford Innovation Ltd
• Washington DC, USA
• alistair.brett_at_gmail.com

2
How to present your expertise

• Strategic partners
• Present your technology
• Show what problems it solves
• Know the partners needs
• Know their existing products
• Know the technologies in their products
• Show strength of your management and scientific
  teams

• Investors
• Present the business opportunity (90) and the
  technology (10)
• What need is satisfied?
• Who are your competitors?
• How will you gain market share
• Show strength of your management team
• Business model or business plan

3
Strategic partners (and investors) are coming
to make money not give moneyOne success story
is worth more than pages of spreadsheets
4
International RD Trends

• RD, products, becoming more complex
• Reputation and track record in managing projects
  are more important than low cost
• Build long-term strategic partnerships with
  networks of specialists across borders
• Stimulate methods development
• Access to specialized resources rather than
  finished technologies

5
International RD Trends

• Motorola
• We are moving more and more of our research off
  shore because of unavailability of the top
  researchers that we needed in growing our
  research efforts
• Survey (2003) of 104 large US/European companies,
  90 said innovation is integral to our current
  strategic goals
• Nokia
• We have 18,000 engineers at 69 sites worldwide
• Infineum (Exxon-Shell)
• We want access to networks of scientists

6
Why Kazakhstan?

• Why should a company look to Kazakhstan to access
  research expertise or outsource RD?
• Is Kazakhstans research of any value, is it
  innovative?
• How can we overcome barriers of language,
  culture, distance?
• Will the cooperative RD be carried out
  efficiently?
• Will our companys IPR be protected?
• How can investors make a return on investment?

7
What do partners want to see in Kazakhstan?

• Entrepreneurs
• Entrepreneurial companies
• Deal flow
• Success stories
• Efficient communications
• Clear and stable IP regulations
• Stable tax regulations
• Support services
• Manageable level of corruption

8
Strategic drivers of RD outsourcing

• New markets
• New technologies
• Access to IP
• Access to new specialist expertise
• Filling capability gaps
• Resources flexibility
• Management of risk
• Time to market
• Focus on core activities
• Build on core strategic assets

9
Communicating with strategic partners Problems

• Lack of trust between partners
• Wrong expectations
• Preconceptions and stereotypes
• Language barrier
• Lack of business communication skills
• Fear of punishment for open communication of bad
  news

10
Solutions

• International team-style communication skills
• Social networking skills
• Expectation management skills
• Negotiation skills
• Business communication etiquette

11
Example of strategic partnership

• Ultrasonic welding
• Research
• Prototype
• Evaluation
• Strategic partner
• Sales
• Investment
• Development
• Sales

12
Example of strategic partnership Kazakhstan

• Development of sulfur technologies in Kazakhstan
  and principles of stable sulfur composite
  materials production
• The large resources of petroleum and sulfur
• Necessity of the large road construction and
  repair in the regions with lack of natural rubble
  and bitumen
• Necessity of a large special construction in the
  metallurgical, chemical and mining industry
• Necessity of development of manufacturing a
  building material without use of water and cement
  in the regions with lack of these components

13
Commercializing Innovation (From Tom Nastas, IVI)

• Individual Event
• Company has enough money
• Management Capable Focused
• PD Successful
• Manufacturing Component Sourcing Successful
• Competitors Behave as Expected
• Customers Want Product
• Pricing is Correct
• Patents Issued Enforceable
• Combined Probability of Success
• Low Success Rate Invest 1 of every 100 deals

• Probability
• 80
• 80
• 80
• 80
• 80
• 80
• 80
• 80
• 17

14
Thank you!
Alistair BRETT alistair.brett_at_gmail.com