Inventing. Entrepreneurs. Prof. Gerry George. Imperial College London ...
Invention of Vitamin D. •. Prof. .... Trying to get the most money on each deal. •.
There is ...
Inventing Entrepreneurs Prof. Gerry George Imperial College London
Simple facts
Scientists becoming entrepreneurs is not the smartest choice
TTOs, at their very best, aren’t equipped to champion technologies by themselves
There is a lack of entrepreneurial capacity that can understand and push technologies
Creating tensions! Universities (and their stakeholders) becoming increasingly demanding TTOs ill-equipped to handle startups and licensing because they require two different types of talent, structure…and incentives
The application of university science requires new managerial talent to push forward 3
Imperial Innovations Working with inventors you need to apply an institutionalized process….. Stage 01 Sourcing ideas Market application
Stage 02 IP Protection
Stage 03 Proof of Concept Product Development
Stage 04 Licensing
Stage 05 Formation and incubation of technology businesses
Stage 06 Investment
Stage 07 Exits
Page 4
The Challenges of Technology Transfer •
Technology getting out there • •
•
Being used! Creating value
The difficult choices are in • Finding the market – what is best use? • Appropriating value – how much? • Rights – who gets it?
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Now which market?
Biocidal Polymer Cell Membrane
O
O
O
O
O
O
O O
O O
P O
O
O
O P
O
NH P
NH O
O
O O
O O
O
O O
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Where to look?
• • • • •
Biocidal polymer Low concentration requirement High efficacy (kills everything; incl human cells) Can be modified for stability Can be modified for substrate specificity
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Complicated enough?
• • •
• •
Market (application) Industry (competition) Value (capturing and sharing)
License? Start-up?
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Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation
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Founded in 1924
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Invention of Vitamin D •
Prof. Harry Steenbock (Biochemistry) • •
Using $900 from 9 alumni of UW University should not participate in private benefit of public good
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Steenbock’s guidance
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Support excellence in research • •
•
Attract and retain high caliber scientific talent •
•
Willingly and without encumbrances Discourage complacency and encourage action
Incentives to invent
Invest in the infrastructure • • •
In people In assistance In facilities
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Pushing the Core
•
Patenting and licensing •
Performance is stellar with licensing of 2 inventions • •
•
How did these two inventions become stellar? What did WARF do to make these two runaway successes?
Non-core capabilities
Page 11
Exogenous Regulatory Events
Average time decreases
Variability decreases Page 12
Claims increase
Portfolio increases
Page 13
Graphic inferences
•
Reduction of variance in time to patent • •
Becoming better at a single core capability Inferring learning within core capability
