Dr. J. David McDonaldAssociate Provost for Research and Director of the Office of

Research Administration

Dr. Tim PettDirector, Center for Entrepreneurship

Commercialization of TechnologiesMidwest Deans Meeting

October 11, 2007

WSU Commercialization of Technology

ResearchersCenter

for Entrepreneurship

Office of Research

Administration

CommercializedTechnology

Licensing fees Royalties Equity Sales revenue

Reinvestments to WSU

Sign DisclosureAgreement

New Technology,

Potential Product or

Service

Idea Disclosure

Initial Screening

ResearchersOffice of

ResearchAdministration

Office of Research Administration

College of Engineering College of Fine Arts College of Health ProfessionsW. Frank Barton School of Business College of Education Fairmount College of Liberal Arts and Sciences

NIARUniversity Centers

Should we proceed?

Go/No-Go Decision

Center History

Founded in 1977 by Fran Jabara, former accounting professor and dean of the College of Business.

Devlin Hall, one of the first buildings in the country to be dedicated to entrepreneurship, was completed in 1990.

The principal gift to build Devlin Hall came from Tom and Myra Devlin. Mr. Devlin is a former WSU business student and was founder of Rent-A-Center.

Entrepreneurship Degrees

Bachelor of Business Administration in Entrepreneurship Approved by Kansas Board of Regents in 1990, only such

program offered by Kansas Regents schools. There are currently 175 declared entrepreneurship majors.

The MBA—Entrepreneurship Concentration The entrepreneurship concentration builds on the MBA

curriculum to enhance one's ability to cope with the full range of issues in evaluating markets, developing business ideas, new product and process innovation, or writing business plans.

Center for Entrepreneurship

Center for

Entrepreneurship

CommercializedTechnology

How should we proceed?

Evaluate Commercial Potential

Protection of IP• Patent• Copyright• Trade Secret• Trademark

Market Feasibility• Characteristics• Market Size• Industry Growth• Competitors

Go/No-Go Decision

Commercialization Strategy• License• Startup• Joint Venture• Sell of to Existing Businesses

ENT 890*Managing Emerging Technologies

Interns*

EMBA – Business Model

Commercialization Process

•Technology Assessment•Venture Assessment•Elevator Pitches•Guest Speakers

•Market Research•Technology Transfer Process•Company Valuation

•Market Analysis•Market Potential•Determine Investment Needs•Long-term Strategic Business Plan

Center for Entrepreneurship

* Partially funded by a grant from the Coleman Foundation

Learning organizations are characterized by total involvement in a process of collaboratively conducted, collectively accountable change directed

towards shared values or principles (Watkins and Marsick 1992: 118).

OutcomesStudentsResearchers

Learning Organization – Wichita State University

Value-Added Process

Single LoopDouble Loop

Lessons Learned

Faculty involvement earlier on from across the university is critical and very important!

Students will put forth phenomenal effort when provided with a challenge.

Class instructors learned what worked effectively and what needed more attention.

The intern coordinator gained significant insights on how better to structure the internship element of the process.

Bringing community resources into the program is key component of learning.

Multi-disciplinary teams are is critical to have technical students (e.g., engineers, scientists) in the same group as business students to better bridge the invention divide.

Front-end due diligence is key to student's ability to move the technology forward effectively depends on receiving a clear, understandable, relatively non-technical invention disclosure.

Early exposure to the inventor and controlled access to them during the process will greatly diminish roadblocks.

Deliverables from each step of the program can be improved.

Lessons Learned

Lessons Learned

Students need a structured learning process when doing internship.

The internship processes gives students a challenging and empowering experience with many expressing a desire to become entrepreneurs.

The internship experience must be followed by a method of allowing student desires to become true!

The structure of the course and follow-up internship program provided a solid foundation on which to build.

WSU Commercialization of Technology

Thank you, Questions?