Technology Commercialization
Sunday June 1, 2008, 8:00 am - 6:00 pm, Boston, Massachusetts
Summary:
The subject of the course is the innovative transformation of knowledge
into commercial products and services with a specific focus on the
commercialization of new technology. The course begins by examining
concepts associated with technology commercialization and then takes a
deeper dive into intellectual property, new venture creation, valuation,
and assessment methodology. Concepts are introduced that improve and
accelerate the commercialization process, from decisions made by
scientists at the research bench, through the development, patenting,
and licensing of new technologies, to the formation of entrepreneurial
enterprises.
Objectives:
The course has the following objectives:
- To understand the key concepts and options in technology commercialization.
- To understand how to assess technologies for their commercialization potential.
- To understand the steps that a technology goes through in the journey from the laboratory to the marketplace.
- To explore the roles that intellectual property protection, and licensing play in the commercialization process.
Course Contents:
1. What is Technology Commercialization?
2. Intellectual Property
Every new technology entering the market needs some breathing room from
competition, to allow it time to develop and gain acceptance.
Technologies usually rely on Intellectual property protection to provide
this room to grow. This section will discuss two of the most important
barriers to competitive entry, copyrights and patents.
3. Licensing
In addition to the protection of intellectual assets, the successful
management of intellectual property also involves prowess in trading
intellectual assets. This section examines this topic by reviewing the
basic legal and managerial dimensions of licensing intellectual
property. Topics covered include: introduction to the legal framework
for licensing in the United States and internationally; procedures for
licensing out intellectual property; procedures for licensing in
intellectual property; cross-licensing, cooperation and competition;
linking licensing strategy to intellectual property protection; and,
linking licensing strategy to overall corporate strategy.
4. New Venture Creation
Established companies can be very resistant to new technologies that
threaten to make their existing investment in plant, people and patents
irrelevant. History is full of examples of existing companies that were
put out of business by new technologies that they had the opportunity to
control and rejected. Often the inventor’s only option is to start a
new company to develop the technology. Start-ups are exciting and can
make a lot of money for the founders, but the road can be fraught with
pitfalls.
This section will provide insight into the
primary components of new venture creation including finding the right
business model, the management team and financing.
5. Valuation
How do you know how much to ask for a technology? This section will
discuss standard methodologies and will provide participants with
practical tools for valuing technologies.
6. Assessment
This section will focus on a process for confirming (or, equally
important) disproving the initial ideas of where a technology will find
acceptance in the market and how much “breathing room” from competition
it can expect the market to give it.
Who Should Attend:
The course is intended for scientists and engineers who are interested
in translating their research into the commercial marketplace, for
professionals who are responsible for intellectual property management,
in-licensing or out-licensing, and/or early stage venture creation or
fore executives interested in broad introduction to technology
commercialization.
Instructors:
Michael Pratt is Director of Corporate Business Development of
the Office of Technology Transfer at Boston University.
Mr. Pratt joined Boston University’s Office of Technology
Development in May 2000. He spent five years in Office of Technology
Transfer, responsible for the transfer of technologies from the fields
of physical, engineering, and computer sciences. As Director of the
Office of Corporate Business Development, Mr. Pratt is responsible for
building long term partnerships with a special focus on technology
development between Boston University/Boston Medical Center and
industry.
Prior to OTD, Mr. Pratt was the Global Support Manager at NESLAB
Instruments, Inc. of Portsmouth New Hampshire. His duties included
management of the Application Engineering and Technical Support
departments, P&L responsibility for the field service operation, and
maintaining relationships with their International Dealer network.
Mr. Pratt holds a Bachelor of Arts in Physics from Holy Cross College.
He is a member of the Licensing Executives Society and the Association
of University Technology Managers (AUTM).
Sean Lee, Ph.D is Licensing Associate, Physical Sciences at the
the Office of Technology Transfer at Boston University.
Dr. Lee joined OTD in October of 2005. He has held various positions in
corporate research and business development within the biomaterials and
medical device field. Dr. Lee has worked at two university start-ups, as
a consultant and at Schott AG. At Schott AG he directed the company’s
overall scientific and business activities in bioactive glass. Dr. Lee
began his career at his own start-up within the University of Florida
incubator system.
Dr. Lee received his Ph.D in theoretical physics from the University of
Florida, his Diplom Physik degree from the University of Karlsruhe,
Germany and a BS in physics from the University of Alabama in Huntsville.
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