The Innovation Agency transferable skills workshop 1

Cambridge University Transferable Skill Workshop

Commercialising R&D

Cambridge University Transferable Skills

Welcome & Content● Introduction

● The KED Experience

● The Innovation Agency

● Transferable Skills

– Where to start

– What stage is your research at?

– Testing the pitch (gathering intelligence)

– IPR or TTM

– Building a team● The Innovation Agency


Introduction● Scientists & Engineers change the world● Scientists & Engineers build new technologies

and businesses● Even the banking system used engineers and

scientists to “improve” the system

● Systematically commercialising research has the potential to make significant, positive change


Push – PullWhat - WHY

● Technology Push● Market Pull

● Pre-conceived ideas about commercialisation

The KED Experience

Evolving PhD research to Commercialisation


The KED Experience

● At the beginning, there is nothing but problems.– Why do I even want to do something

entrepreneurial?– What is the product?– Who is the customer?– Do I understand the customer and what they

want? (probably not)– Admin issues?– More pressing issues, like “How am I going to eat?”


Better things to think about

● Why am I doing what I do?● Why might other people be interested in what

I'm doing?● Why do (or don't) I enjoy research?● What do I want from life?

Crucially:

What are the motivations? – the WHYS?


Attacking the problem

● Business is a lot like academic research, it is just a different problem space

● The right mindset just “clicks” - Like research, the individual problems can be made easily tractable.

● Why is the risk of depending on yourself greater than that of depending on others?

● Talk to everyone, all the time.


KED's solutions so far

● Knowledge Transfer Secondment● Working closely with Ian (and other people

that know what they're doing).● Finding several suppliers of ultrasound kit, and

then getting them interested.● Turning the research into a tech demo – which

took longer than expected.● Short term contract work to keep eating.


In general

● Is there any way to draw on the expertise of others?

● This is the idea behind The Innovation Agency – building on the skills and knowledge of those that have gone before.

● There is still a need to plant the seed, and understand the methodology.


Summary● The Why? of doing anything

● Building a Why? into a suitable How?: posing the question

● Technologists become entrepreneurs is a big ask. In the next section we will Introduce The Innovation Agency.

Explanations of the participants research

2 examples focussing on WHY

The Innovation Agency

A brief introduction


WHY?

● Recognising the need to help Researchers, Inventors and Innovators to develop their IPR without falling down the usual traps

● Based on an audit approach with a experienced and critical eye on the outcomes of the process

● Answering the questions partners, investors and customers will ask

● Providing a framework to develop an exploitation route without the need to become an entrepreneur

But First...... The workshopFraming the Problem

From Research to Commercialisation


Business Background

● Business is a lot like Engineering, it is just a different problem space

● Problem definition is a key part of the path to building a business

● The “Team” aspects of a business are absolutely crucial to the potential success of the business

Where to StartWhy to Start

Networking & Funding


Lets start with some reallybasic questions

● What stage is the research at?● How much effort will it take to get it to a

saleable product/service/licensable solution?● Who are your target customers?● What is your product worth?● Is it protected?● Seems like a lot of questions...........

What Stage is your Research at?Why to Start

The “Valley of Death”


The Funding Gap


Once the gap is understood how do you get across?

● How determined are you?– What lengths will you go to to get your technology

commercialised?● Too late for research funding?● Too early for Angels?● Too early for VC's?

● Where else can you go?


Challenges

● Valuation● Equity● Risk/Confidence

● Problems with taking money from investors


Equity a very contentious subject

● The earlier stage you are the more likely an investor is to want a controlling share in “your” company.

● Why would you give them that?● Why wouldn't you give them control?

● Giving away equity when you don't need to.● What about trading future earnings instead?


Valuation

● Without sales it it almost impossible to value a company and/or its IPR.– There is no formula– The owner often values far too high– The investor often values far too low

● One thing is certain: no money = no progress

● You have to decide what you are willing to give up and to whom.


Wild Optimism

● Inventors and Innovators are often wildly optimistic about their technology, product, service and how it will change the world.– Is this a good thing?– Is this a bad thing?

● A balanced view is best, thinking around the problem space is essential to get this.

● Testing the market is also critical.


Getting others to believe in you

● Evangelising about your technology.– There are probably few people who will get either

your vision or the capability of your technology better than you.

– Your challenge is to explain it in sufficiently simple terms to excite people about what it is, what it can do and the value in it.

● OK – so how do you really do this?


A believable story

A succinct message, elevator pitch, or whatever you want to call it is important. If that gets people interested then you can expand on the

description. Enthusiasm and Clarity are crucial.

Testing the pitch

Where? To Whom?


Networking

● How many Networking groups are there in Cambridge?

● General X21 Clean Tech X5 Entrepreneurs X5

Software + AppsX12

Social Enterprise X1 Mobile & Wireless

X2

Women X5 Life Science X1


Networking

● How many have you been to?– Go to find out what networking is all about– You have to work out how to find contacts and

make relationships● Contrary to popular opinion effective

Networking takes time and requires trust


Networkingworking the room

● WHY are you there?● What is the focus of networking?● How do you build trust?

– Most people don't know the answer to this!

● How long will it take to get a lead from Networking?


Networking the long term

● Selecting the right groups for you– Number of contacts versus quality– Referrers– Finding the best leads

IPR or Time to Market?

A different viewpoint


Everybody wants Patents

● This is an generally accepted view from Academia, Investors, Industry Partners.

● WHY?– Protection from competition– Something Tangible to “own” at the point of

failure– Kudos of filing a patent

● WHY Protect, does it actually help the commercialisation efforts?–


Everybody want Patents (2)

● Patents are of little value if you can't sell the technology

● Patents are of NO tangible value if you don't have funds to protect them

● Patents come into their own when (if) you are challenged for infringement of someone else's patents – then a patent is a component for negotiations

The Importance of a Team

Why outsiders believe in a Team more readily than an individual


The Importance of a Team

● Understand your own strengths and weaknesses

● Understand your position in a business– Are you a cornerstone?– Are you the Visionary?– Are you the Delivery specialist?– Are you the Financial specialist?


Famous Partnerships

● Hewlett Packard

● William (Bill) Redington Hewlett

● Dave Packard

● Founded: 1939

● Employees: 349,600

● Revenue: 127,24 B$

● Total Assets: 129,51 B$


Famous Partnerships

● Microsoft

● Bill Gates

● Paul Allen

● Founded: 1975


● Profit: 23,15 B$



Famous Partnerships

● Apple Inc.

● Steve Jobs

● Steve Wozniak

● Founded: 1976


● Profit: 25.922 B$



Famous Partnerships

● Oracle

● Larry Ellison

● Bob Minor

● Ed Oates

● Founded: 1977


● Revenue: 35.6 B$

● Total Assets: 73.5 B$

●


Famous Partnerships

● Adobe Systems

● John Warnock

● Charles Geschke

● Founded: 1982


● Profit: 3.8 B$

● Total Assets: 8.141 B$

●


Famous Partnerships

● Yahoo

● David Filo

● Jerry Yang

● Founded: 1995


● Revenue: 4.98 B$



Famous Partnerships

● Google

● Larry Page

● Sergey Brin

● Founded: 1998


● Profit: 9.737 B$


The Innovation Agency

......to take Research to Market


The next session

● Business Modelling● Building an investment proposition / Funding

from scratch● Marketing your company

Individual follow ups

TIA will take interested researchers through the whole process

Thank you

Talk to us about commercialising your research

[email protected]@theinnovationagency.org

mailto:[email protected]



The Innovation Agency transferable skills workshop 1

Business

Transcript of The Innovation Agency transferable skills workshop 1