This is a question we’ve contemplated quite a bit recently in preparing for last week’s Stop Reacting, Start Proacting webinar. (BTW, if you missed the live event, you can buy the video.) We’ve blogged some about our two-phase process for making good technology commercialization decisions via rapid screenings and market-based assessments of intellectual property (IP). But given the plethora of terminology that tech transfer offices (TTOs) and others in the industry use to name their evaluation and/or prioritization processes, I feel it’s important to be crystal clear. Because sometimes the same term can be used to describe two very different things, creating the classic apples-to-oranges comparisons. Continue reading →
I was recently asked for my insights about technology transfer office (TTO) use of external advisory boards or committees. Such boards have been frequently cited in reports and the press as a useful tool — or even a required element — for improved tech transfer operations. The thinking is that external boards provide a means to obtain objective industry/market opinions about new technologies and/or to tap into technical expertise not available within the TTO. I am all in favor of… 
Last week, a tech transfer professional at a university asked me which patent analysis tools Fuentek uses in our market-based technology assessments. Our conversation then evolved into a discussion about how we use patent mapping as well as the value patent maps provide in evaluating a technology’s commercial potential. I’d like to share with you the perspective that I shared with him. Let me begin by being crystal clear: I firmly believe that analysis tools providing visual maps of the patent landscape play a useful role in… 
As I’ve blogged about previously, it is essential that you determine the market’s interest in a new technology before marketing it. In pursuing that information—be it through a market-based assessment like Fuentek’s or some other market research activity—one must not underestimate the value of the technology overview. Whether it’s to ensure your own understanding of the innovation or whether you use it to explain it to industry experts, a strong technology overview is paramount. Without a clear understanding of the technology, how can its market potential be understood? Fuentek has found that an effective technology overview includes… 
Before you pick up the phone to gather industry opinions as you assess a technology’s commercial value, do some homework to identify the right experts to call. Who are they? Target those who are most likely to influence or have a viable interest in adopting the technology. How do you find them? Consider the value chain. In doing hundreds of assessments for our clients, Fuentek has found the value chain to be an essential tool to identify target markets and prospective licensees. Basically, the value chain is… 
Our latest poll asked:What is the primary way your TTO determines market interest in technologies available for licensing?