Open 2013: Innovation Commercialization and Licensing
description
Transcript of Open 2013: Innovation Commercialization and Licensing
Innovation Commercialization and Licensing in Entrepreneurial
Business Education
March 23, 2013 NCIIA 17th Annual Conference
Darian Unger Associate ProfessorHoward University School of
Business [email protected] 202-806-1656
But after presentations like “Can You Milk a Rhino?” “Spreading the Fire,” and “Purple Dragon”….let’s try:
Innovation Commercialization: Unicorns in flames!
But after presentations like “Can You Milk a Rhino?” “Spreading the Fire,” and “Purple Dragon”….let’s try:
Innovation Commercialization and Licensing in Entrepreneurial
Business Education
March 23, 2013 NCIIA 17th Annual Conference
Darian Unger Associate ProfessorHoward University School of
Business [email protected] 202-806-1656
Research Topic• Purpose• To test the utility of incorporating
university innovation commercialization projects into graduate coursework
• Methodology• Application of innovation lessons to
university-owned intellectual property• Tracking commercialization results• Feedback from inventors, professors, and
innovation-oriented MBA students
Research Topic
• Literature Review• Tech transfer efforts enhanced by key
variables (Friedman and Silberman, 2003)• Location, compensation, tech transfer
experience• Cultural barriers between universities and
firms (Siegel, et. al., 2003)• Industrial responsiveness to university
innovations (Breznitz, 2011)
Research Drivers
• Wealth of university inventions and intellectual property
• Lack of a Technology Licensing Office (TLO) or Technology Transfer Office (TTO)
Research Drivers
• Meanwhile, we’ve got classes of students studying innovation and entrepreneurship • Seeking actual examples and case studies
Key Course Skills: Commercializing Innovation• Creating value through innovation• Technology and market S-curves• Delivering value through new product
design and development• Appropriating value through • Patents• Standards and dominant design• Time to market • Licensing
Application
• Work applied with graduate students from a mid-size (5,000-10,000 students) university
• Students were in-person students rather than EMBA students
• Students self-selected from a menu of university-owned intellectual property• Patents already applied for or granted
Results and discussion
• Each class resulted in multiple commercialization plans• Classes were not identical in size• Groups of two students per invention
Results and discussion
• Each class resulted in multiple commercialization plans• Classes were not identical in size• Groups of two students per invention
Results and discussion
Consider both• Academic (student and pedagogical) outcomes • Institutional (commercialization) outcomes
of student teamwork dedicated performing tasks normally performed by TTOs/TLOs
Results and discussion
• Student and pedagogical results included assessments of• Business planning• Market surveys• Prototyping• Patent value assessments
• Practical project grade variance was significantly greater than conceptual exam variance, and served to better distinguish
Results and discussion
• Innovation commercialization results• Student work had created value• Reduced administrative workload• Improved expected time to market in 40% of
cases, as evaluated by technology transfer contract staff
• Some groups recommended patent exploitation while others advocate time to market as more important
Guarded Observations
• Future research will measure the efficacy of the revised teaching methods• Requires additional years and greater sample
sizes• Still useful as a baseline
• Common metrics also occur on time scales much longer than the courses themselves• Number of patents• Level of licensing revenue
Final thoughts
• Demonstrates that introduction of these projects can spur a dual benefit:• Educating students with practical examples • Aiding the commercialization of
commercialization of university-associated IP
• Prospect of symbiosis between innovation-oriented educational programs and university technology transfer and licensing efforts
Questions?