Following up on my last post discussing best practices for using events as a form of technology transfer marketing, today I’d like to discuss the specifics of hosting your own event.

Putting on a tech transfer–focused event can be challenging. Even relatively small events require significant planning, not only from a content perspective but also all the logistics. Here’s what we have learned in helping a range of technology transfer offices (TTOs) put on a variety of events.

Structure Strategically

The best format for your event will depend on:

• The goals and outcomes you hope to achieve
• The breadth of technologies/research to be included
• How many attendees you expect
• The needs of the target audience

Be strategic in the numerous decisions you’ll make for your event. As a single example, we helped a client focus an automotive workshop by identifying the industry’s crucial needs. The agenda and featured technologies were set to align with those areas—lighter weight vehicles, electric cars, manufacturing, design tools, etc.

Invitations with Impact

Fuentek helped Georgia Tech Research Corp. develop this email inviting industry targets to an AUTM Partnering Forum.

Use market research to identify the right people at the right companies. Then use a variety of mechanisms to reach out to these prospective attendees, including email and social media tools. Keep in mind that some people won’t want to commit to attending your event until they know who’s going. So, if you can get a few key partners to commit early on, you can promote their attendance to build the credibility of your event.

Noteworthy Networking

Most events include a combination of presentations and networking. The University of New Hampshire (UNH) event I mentioned in my last post did this particularly well:

• Everyone there—both UNH researchers and companies—was invited to come to the podium to give a 1-minute overview of their areas of interest.
  Advantage: Giving more people the chance to let others know what they need and/or have to offer increases the chances of finding a match.
• Each batch of 1- to 2-dozen intros was followed by several 5-minute “speed dating” blocks that used a bell to indicate it was time to switch to another attendee.
  Advantage: It created a sense of urgency (i.e., you only have 5 minutes to determine whether you want to have more detailed discussions later) and made it easy to talk with multiple prospects.

I found this structure extremely effective. Not only did it make it very easy for attendees to identify whom they wanted to talk to. It also provided plenty of structured opportunities to interact with them.

Virtually Valuable

Don’t forget that web-based activities, such as virtual conferences and technology briefings, require the same attention for invitations and preparation, though they can be more cost effective because they exclude the travel and time away from the office.

Hosting vs. Attending

As I said, hosting a tech transfer event can be a daunting task. So, I hope you find this advice helpful. Plus, Fuentek can provide your TTO with substantial support in planning, executing, and following up on such an event. (Contact us to learn more.)

In some cases, an industry event might be the better path to achieving commercialization success for a particular set of technologies or even a single innovation. So, in my next post I’ll provide some best practices for attending industry conferences.

Many university technology transfer offices (TTOs) use events as a key tool for marketing their innovations to potential licensees. They attend industry conferences, host technology showcases, and even go to the tech-specific level with web-based briefings. Events such as these can provide a valuable opportunity to engage with potential licensees and sponsored-research partners. For offices that are also charged with assisting their startups, this is a chance to engage with potential investors as well. And when done effectively, events can help take a major step forward in securing a deal.

For more than a decade, Fuentek has helped TTO clients—not only universities but also government clients, like NASA and the Department of Energy (DOE)—get the most out of the events they attend and host. Today is the first in a three-part series sharing the best practices and lessons we’ve learned along the way.

Before You Start…

The first step is to identify where your intellectual property (IP) portfolio aligns with the industry you’re trying to engage. This is a relatively easy task if you have organized and optimized the IP portfolio, which shows you:

• Your organization’s core competencies
• The industries that may have interest in each invention
• Closely related technologies that can be marketed (or even licensed) together

The University of New Hampshire hosted a Marine Innovation Day in July 2017, promoting the event on the football stadium scoreboard.

If you have a range of technologies that support a single industry with a strong presence in your region, consider hosting your own event. I attended an excellent event this past summer: Marine Innovation Day at the coastally located University of New Hampshire (UNH).

If your IP portfolio has a particularly strong core competency, a more technology-focused approach may be warranted. You could attend a conference, like Sensors Expo, AdvaMed’s MedTech conference, or CAMX, or you could host your own event, perhaps on automotive or medical technologies.

An excellent example of the latter is the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Transition to Practice program. Focused in the area of cybersecurity, DHS’s program brings together the top technologies from a range of federally funded R&D sites—from DOE labs to universities with National Science Foundation funding. These technologies are then showcased at Technology Demonstration Days. Some of these events are broadly focused, while others have been specific to industry sectors such as energy and financial services.

Remember: It’s Not Just About IP

If your organization has facilities or capabilities of interest to industry, include information about those as well. Think big: What does your organization have to offer that is of interest to industry?

Event Essentials

Regardless of whether you host or attend an event, the following guidance will help your TTO maximize the impact of your involvement.

Selecting Technologies and Research

Rather than bombard people with too much information, be selective. Choose the innovations that will be of greatest interest to the attendees. If you have faculty conducting relevant research who want (or need!) R&D partners or sponsors, include them as well. Be sure to consider market fit when making these selections.

Fuentek helped Georgia Tech Research Corp. prepare handouts like this for an AUTM Partnering Forum on Smart Power & Energy Storage Solutions.

Preparing Handouts

As with any piece of marketing collateral, prepare eye-catching pieces that focus on the AMMO: Audience, Message, Mechanism, and Outcome. Focus on the value proposition. And group closely related technologies or research together. Here’s an example from Georgia Tech. (Read more about the Georgia Tech events experiences here.)

Coaching Researchers

If the event involves researchers—whether in formal presentations or informal networking—help them prepare. For example, in supporting a NASA technology showcase, we helped 35 inventors develop presentations that described their technologies in ways that were meaningful to attendees. We worked with them on being able to answer the “What’s in it for me?” question for the anticipated audience. We helped them focus on their technology’s practical applications and benefits rather than on how their technology was created or worked. Attendees found their presentations to be exceptionally useful.

An Oak Ridge National Laboratory researcher presents his technology at a DHS Transition to Practice program event (posted at https://www.ornl.gov/division/projects/situ).

Again, DHS’s Transition to Practice provides a useful example. The program provides participating researchers with intensive “pitch training” to prepare them for the Tech Demo Days. They learn how to structure an elevator pitch and to describe how a product incorporating their technology fits into the market landscape. This training has greatly contributed to the program’s success.

We have loads of practical advice in Fuentek’s “Pitching for Innovators” webinar as well as in this webinar we did for Tech Transfer Central.

Following Up

In the spirit of striking while the iron is hot, reach out to the contacts you made within 1–2 weeks of the event. Whether it’s been a technology briefing or a networking interaction at a conference, we have consistently found that early follow-up is most effective.

Looking Ahead

If you find these tips useful, stick around. In the next few weeks I’ll be blogging even more advice that is specific to achieving tech transfer success by:

• Hosting tech transfer events
• Attending industry events

And in the meantime, feel free to contact us to discuss how Fuentek can help your TTO put these recommendations into practice.