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articles
Effectively
Sourcing Commercialization Grant Opportunities for Technology Companies Research and
development is critical to the success of technology-based companies.
However, investment capital to fund R&D is not always available
for small businesses. Federal grants and contracts can be a reliable
source of non-dilutive capital to fund R&D for small businesses.
The federal government has 26 grant making agencies that have over
900 individual grant programs. This translates into over $350 B
awarded annually. Knowing which program will fund your needs and
how to locate these opportunities is necessary to tap this pool
of money for your company.
Tips
on Collecting Market Intelligence Whether you’re writing a business plan for an unfamiliar market or simply keeping abreast of the markets you already live in, you should routinely monitor selected information sources for the latest developments. Here are some of BBC’s favorite sources of market intelligence.
Everything the Academic Entrepreneur Needs to Know About Market Research By Mickey Katz-Pek Managing Partner, BBC If you're an academician who conducts research, you follow a very specific process to collect data to prove your theory. If you're an academician who wants to be an entrepreneur, you must follow an equally rigorous process to determine if your technology can be successfully launched into the marketplace. An important part of that process is called market research. And conducting well-planned, carefully implemented market research can make the difference between floundering around aimlessly and soaring into the market. What is market research? Market research collects and analyzes data about the marketplace. Through market research, you learn in-depth about — and evaluate — your competitors and competitive products, the people and organizations who will be using your product, pricing strategies and your product's limitations. Through market research, you gather as much information as possible from a variety of sources, both internal and external. The more information you have upfront, the more you will know about the commercial potential of your technology. Is there a market need for your potential product or service? Market research will help you determine how your product fits into the current market. For example, if you have a medical device, it will answer these questions: What is the current method of collecting the same information or achieving the same objective that your new device would do? What are the advantages of your medical device? Are these advantages significant enough to justify the high cost of market research, product development, regulatory requirements and commercialization? Are you ready to move forward? Once you have conducted extensive market research, you are ready to develop a set of assumptions about launching your product or service. When you develop your assumptions, you ask — and answer — some basic questions.
When you can answer these questions clearly and effectively, you are ready to look at such areas as management, production, operations and financing. Remember, just like it took a lot of time and effort to get your technology from the research lab to this point, getting your product to market won't happen overnight. But good market research gives you the basic tools and information you'll need to move your great idea forward through the commercialization process.
Lessons
Learned Vascular surgeon William Fry, M.D., had a great idea. Using his 40-plus years of surgical experience, he and a team of researchers devised a high-tech system for moving surgical instrument management into the next millennium. In 1992, Dr. Fry, who is now retired from surgery, established Lynn, Ltd., to develop his Surgical Instrument Inventory System (SIIS) as the first fully-automated method for tracking surgical instruments. The SIIS process is simple: each surgical instrument is coded with a special mark, enabling a computer to scan and track a hospital's entire inventory of surgical tools. SIIS can help hospitals track costs, find surgical instruments that need routine maintenance, pack operating room trays correctly and reduce the time surgical staffs spend counting instruments before and after surgical procedures. Dr. Fry's system gained much initial interest— not only from hospitals, but also from the nuclear fuel industry and a surgical instrument manufacturer. BBC is helping Dr. Fry — who has served as the chief of the Department of Surgery at St. Joseph Mercy Hospital, the University of Michigan Medical Center and the University of Texas— to either seek an opportunity to license the technology or sell his company. His great idea is still great — but has never taken off. Why? Dr. Fry gives three main reasons:
We sought advice from several consultants, all of whom recommended hiring a CEO and developing an organization for marketing, sales and installation. It seemed we must have a good product because all of the potential candidates for either financing or management wanted equity in the company. But we didn't do this — we didn't want to give up equity in the company or control of our development to someone who previously had nothing to do with the project. We thought we could do it ourselves. Despite the
setbacks, Dr. Fry believes in his company
—
and the growth of new start-ups. The world of academics and research
exists in an entirely different setting than does the world of business.
The liberal mixing of the two worlds surely will enhance the chances
for success in the development of new materials and systems.
Working
Successfully with Your Technology Transfer Office
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