New+to+the+idea+of+Technology+Commercialization

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 * New to the idea of Technology Commercialization – or want to get a general overview? **

If you are new to the idea of technology commercialization, or want to get a general overview, here are some basic elements, good practices, and examples which are important to understand – and which apply to countries at all levels of science and technology capacity. toc

1. What is technology commercialization – how does it relate to innovation and other issues such as technology adaptation, and research and development?
A common definition of technology commercialization is that it is the process of taking an idea to market and creating financial value -- typically through licensing an invention, developing a new product or service, or creating a new business (what some refer to as “mind-to-market”). Products or services created through commercialization may be "new to the world" or "new to the region or country."

As you will see from this definition, technology commercialization does not necessarily refer to moving a specific “finished technology” to the market, but rather a much earlier stage development. This is an important difference. On many occasions attempts will be made to commercialize (market) a finished technology which simply does not fulfill any market need, or is not capable of creating a new market, or has competing products with established market presence. Also, a customer company may not be interested in a finished technology because it does not fit into their product development cycles, but may value the know-how, intellectual property, or expertise associated with the technology: “we are not interested in this particular product, but if you could use what is embedded in your product to help us solve this problem we have – then let’s talk business.”

Innovation, or a new and better way of doing something leading to positive change, may refer to incremental or radical changes in thinking, decision making, or the way in which business is conducted and products produced in an organization, and is at the heart of technology commercialization. A distinction is usually made between innovation and invention – which is the first attempt to reduce an idea to practice.

Technology adaptation is the process of “importing” a finished technology and changing it to fit the users’ environment or adapting it for a new use. Research, as typically carried out at a university or research institute, may generate ideas which can then be commercialized. Research and development (R&D) as typically carried out in a company, may generate ideas for new products and services.

Looking around us we can see the results of commercialization in almost all the products and services we use.

This is a vast topic often replete with controversy, so we will stick with the basics for now.

Intellectual property (IP) rights (IPR) are legal rights granting owners certain exclusive rights to discoveries and inventions. Familiar types of IPR are:

A __patent__ may be granted for a new, useful, and non-obvious invention and gives the patent holder a right to prevent others from practicing the invention without a license from the inventor for a certain period of time. A patent is sometimes thought of as granting a right to manufacture a certain product but in fact it is a right to exclude as you see from the definition.

__Copyright__ is a legal term describing rights given to creators for their literary and artistic works, and may also include computer programs and databases.

A __trademark__ is a distinctive sign to identify products in the marketplace.

An __industrial design__ right protects the form of appearance, style or design of an industrial object from infringement.

A __trade secret__ is an item of non-public information concerning the commercial practices or proprietary knowledge of a business.

IP strategy is an important consideration in technology commercialization and one part of the commercialization process where experienced professional help will pay off. Joint research or R&D contracts with industry, licensing for a fee or royalty, public or private investment, and new business creation all require educated IPR decisions.

3. What are the basic elements of the technology commercialization process?
The start of the commercialization process may begin with an idea or concept for a new product, service, or process, as noted above. Ideas may come from universities, businesses, or individual inventors. Few of these ideas will ever reach the market stage through the, usually lengthy, multi-step technology commercialization process. But, one important feature of this process is to weed out ideas or inventions for which there will be no market, or for which there are already competing products, or those which are just not technically feasible.

During the commercialization process many ideas are looked at to select just the few which may result in sustainable, profitable, products and services or the creation of new businesses.

The process has many stages including: > > > >
 * Carrying out “market intelligence” to look for competitor or competing products and trying to see if the resulting product will satisfy a known market demand (e.g. need for cheaper solar panels) or might create a new market (e.g. the iPhone). You will sometimes hear an inventor say that “we have no competitors” but usually this means they have not looked for any. Unfortunately, lack of market intelligence can result in a substantial waste of time, money, and commitment in developing products which will never sell.
 * Carrying out a feasibility study and/or developing a prototype or bench model to figure out if the final proposed product is likely to work and as a demonstration to potential users and investors.
 * Identifying and deciding whether and how to protect associated intellectual property (IP) – which may involve significant costs.
 * Seeking finance and expertise for each stage of the commercialization process, and the resulting licensing, sale, or new business creation (a “spinoff” company).
 * Negotiating with potential users and customers (who, in many cases, may be other businesses), and deciding on the best time to launch the product and at what price.

Through the whole commercialization process resources are needed such as materials, equipment, people time, and of course money. One function of this process is to reject unfeasible ideas as early as possible to avoid spending resources on ideas which are dead ends. Also, the costs of commercialization usually rise dramatically as the process moves closer to producing a marketable product or process to be used by other businesses or sold to the public.

So, the process is not easy – but the rewards can be worth it!

4. How can technology commercialization contribute to economic development?
Technology commercialization helps create new businesses (start-up companies) and expand the product lines of existing companies. Commercialization increases business-to-business transactions as commercialized technologies are frequently used in manufacturing processes rather than sold to the consumer (e.g. new catalysts for chemical processes). As the typical university scientist is not usually the best person to run a newly created company, commercialization creates expanded opportunities for entrepreneurs and the development of support networks. It is these supportive ecosystems we see in successful regions of the world. All this cannot happen overnight, but requires the dedicated commitment of regional and national governments, educational institutions, business, and the investment community.

During the early stage of technology commercialization in the USA it was believed by many universities that this would become a significant source of additional income. With some notable exceptions, this did not happen. Figures complied annually by the Association of University Technology Manager (AUTM []) show that most Technology Transfer Offices produce little net income. Therefore in deciding to develop a technology commercialization program it is important to think about what results are expected. Is the purpose to:
 * Generate income?
 * Move technologies from universities and research institutes to the market?
 * Enhance public good?

5. How can I assess the potential of my organization or my country for successful technology commercialization?
The purpose of a technology assessment or perhaps the better name “opportunities review” is to discover not only the commercial potential of intellectual property (IP) at organizations (e.g. a university, research center, or company) to be assessed, but also the expertise of the organization’s staff. There are many available procedures for conducting such assessments using well-tested data collection forms and interview methods. A technology assessment may be the basis for accessing the technology capacity and potential for commercialization of a country's science and technology institutions. Benefits of technology assessments may include: improved university-industry relations, more efficient use of resources, new opportunities to work on intellectually stimulating problems, and expanded opportunities for small businesses.

Technology assessments should be conducted with the full cooperation of all levels of an organization. On the one hand an assessment may encounter resistance as being too intrusive, while on the other hand they may raise unjustified expectations that change is coming. IP identified as having commercial potential needs to be assessed in terms of its competitive potential and path to market. In some cases a “technology roadmap” will be developed to identify, select, and develop technology alternatives to satisfy product needs and investment decisions. A technology roadmap helps to bring together a team of experts to organize the technology development process and performance targets, and make decisions regarding trade-offs among different technology alternatives.

6. How can the World Bank Technology Commercialization Handbook help?
The Technology Commercialization and R&D Management Handbook is intended to serve as a practical, “how to” guide. Its primary purpose is to help countries, and academic, government, research, and private organizations understand what technology commercialization is, how it has been applied and with what results, and how to assess if technology commercialization is an appropriate strategy to reach defined goals in terms of benefits, feasibility, and likelihood of success.

The Handbook will contain detailed “how to” instructions, based on global best practice lessons of experience, along with check lists, model documents, and case examples showing how specific countries or institutions addressed a specific problem. Initial Handbook content is summarized in the left hand side **__Navigation__** panel on this page. The Handbook will also (i) create one central repository for all reference materials and (ii) considerably expand and deepen the pool of lessons of experience easily available to the target audiences.

The Handbook in its wiki format will enable you to share your experience with others. Please continue by reading the Technology Commercialization Handbook at: Introduction and Background.