Commercialization of Innovative Technologies Bringing Good Ideas to the Marketplace

by Touhill, C. Joseph; Touhill, Gregory J.; O'Riordan, Thomas A.

• ISBN13: 9780470230077
• ISBN10: 047023007X
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2008-04-07
• Publisher: Wiley-AIChE

Summary

Your blueprint for successful entrepreneurship-from building an innovation team to bringing a product to market There is no shortage of great technological ideas; however, having a great idea is no guarantee of a successful product. This book helps you find innovative new technology ideas and guides you through the complete lifecycle of product innovation, including screening, funding, development, and commercialization. It gives you an edgeby enabling you to start off with a solid foundation and strategy. Commercialization ofInnovative Technologies focuses on three core areas that set the stage for successful commercialization: 'ˆ— Developing and managing a strong, flexible "innovation team" of inventors, investors, technologists, and entrepreneurs 'ˆ— Building a portfolio that spreads risk 'ˆ— Leveraging input from technologists throughout the commercialization process The first three chapters of the book deal with key strategic issues. Here you discover the characteristics to look for in recruiting members of your innovation team and how to deal with each member's idiosyncrasies. You also get expert guidance for developing and executing a winning strategic plan. The next chapters deal with hands-on tactical issues such as how to find, fund, assess, develop, design, and demonstrate innovative technologies. The final two chapters focus on steps after successful commercialization, including further improvements to the technologies. This book provides the real-world guidance and wisdom that investors, inventors, entrepreneurs, and managers need to bring innovative technologies to market. It is also ideal as a textbook for management and engineering courses in entrepreneurship.

Author Biography

C. Joseph Touhill, PhD, PE, DEE, is President of Touhill Technology Management Corp., which specializes in environmental technology and management consulting. Dr. Touhill has been an engineering manager of major projects for more than forty years, twenty-three of which he served as Chief Executive Officer. He is a Fellow of both the AIChE and ASCE and is the author of more than eighty books and journal articles.

Gregory J. Touhill, MS, is Commander, 81st Training Wing, Keesler Air Force Base,Biloxi, Mississippi. Colonel Touhill led the team that was awarded the 2006 U.S. Air Force Science and Engineering Achievement Award.

Thomas A. O'Riordan, MS, is Director of the Omaha field office of the Raytheon Co.,where he manages major programs focusing on preservation of national security. General O'Riordan also has thirty-two years of distinguished service with the United States Air Force as a command pilot and as Commander of the USAF Personnel Center.

Table of Contents

Foreword	p. xiii
Acknowledgments	p. xvii
Establishing Perspective	p. 1
Organization of the Book	p. 4
The Importance of Viewpoint	p. 5
The Inventor/Innovator	p. 9
The Investor	p. 17
The Technologist	p. 23
The Entrepreneur	p. 29
Managing Innovation Team Interactions	p. 33
The Importance of Flexibility	p. 34
Timing Is Everything	p. 34
The Importance of Determining "Prime Time"	p. 37
Expanding the Innovation Team	p. 38
Determining How Much Money Is Needed	p. 39
Maintaining a Reasonable Pace of Progress	p. 40
Knowing the Customer	p. 41
Can Entrepreneurship Be Taught?	p. 41
The Difference Between Talent and Skill	p. 41
Entrepreneurship Programs at Major Universities	p. 42
Corporate Research and Development Programs	p. 56
Key Points	p. 57
Our Perspective	p. 59
Strategy Development	p. 60
Rules for Investing	p. 61
Areas of Interest	p. 62
Risk	p. 68
Flexibility	p. 70
Experience of Others	p. 71
Technology Assessment	p. 71
Discovery	p. 72
Evaluation	p. 72
Technology Development	p. 73
Technology Management	p. 74
Key Points	p. 75
Developing an Endgame	p. 77
Alternative Endgames	p. 77
Growing a Company to Maturity	p. 78
Growing a Company to a Target Point	p. 80
Selling a Patent or Trade Secret	p. 83
Licensing a Patent or Trade Secret	p. 83
Developing a Technology, Then Selling the Patent or License	p. 84
Using Acquisition to Fill In Holes	p. 85
Showstoppers	p. 85
Endgame Objective Realized-Sort of	p. 87
What's a Widget	p. 89
Making It Work	p. 94
Building a Team	p. 94
Establishing Milestones	p. 94
Evaluating Progress	p. 94
Making Decisions	p. 95
Planning the Celebration	p. 95
Key Points	p. 96
Finding Ideas	p. 97
If You Have Money, Ideas Find You	p. 97
Using a Quick-Screening Technique	p. 99
Doing the Homework	p. 100
Having a Network	p. 100
Having a Referral System and Getting Rewarded for It	p. 101
Ideas Must Be Consistent with the Overall Plan	p. 102
Buffets Cause Overeating	p. 103
Making a Quick Estimate of Cost and How Long It Will Take	p. 103
Remembering to Consult the Budget	p. 103
Inventors/Innovators Must Be Prepared to Give Up Equity	p. 104
Structuring the Agreement	p. 104
Assuming Success	p. 105
Engendering Cooperation	p. 105
Key Points	p. 105
Investing in Ideas	p. 107
Beware of Eye-Popping Projections	p. 107
Remember This Is Risk Capital; Only a Percentage of Ideas Pay Off	p. 108
Structure the Payoff When the Ship Docks, Not When It Sails	p. 109
Bet on People with Proven Track Records	p. 110
Take Care in Assembling the Investment Group	p. 111
Key Points	p. 113
Assessing Ideas	p. 115
The Assessment Process	p. 115
Strategic, Administrative, and Legal Issues	p. 116
Technical Issues	p. 117
Marketing and Commercialization Issues	p. 120
The Need for Exclusive Rights	p. 121
Technological Assessments Are Easy; Marketing and Business Assessments Are Difficult	p. 122
Ideas That Are 10 Percent Better Aren't Good Enough	p. 123
Not Skimping on Time or Money When a Great Idea Shows Up	p. 124
Tapping the Full Resources of the Team Before Moving Ahead	p. 124
Moving Ahead with Development, Then Revising the Plan	p. 125
Key Points	p. 126
Paying for and Controlling Ideas	p. 127
Buyer and Seller Wish Lists	p. 128
Buyer Wish List	p. 128
Seller Wish List	p. 130
Using Wish Lists to Reach Agreement	p. 131
Is Buying the Company a Good Thing?	p. 131
Intellectual Property: The Most Valuable Asset	p. 132
Paying with Future Profits Whenever Possible	p. 132
Key Points	p. 133
Developing Ideas	p. 135
Remember: This Is Business, Not Research	p. 136
Maintaining Control of Development Efforts	p. 137
The Goal of Development Is the Basis of Design	p. 137
The Importance of Feasibility Studies	p. 140
The Value and Meaning of Estimates	p. 141
Knowing When to Celebrate and When to Cry	p. 142
Key Points	p. 143
Designing and Building Technology	p. 145
This Is Where the Spending of Real Money Begins	p. 146
Simple Designs Are the Most Elegant	p. 147
The Design Technology Should Be as Good as the Technology Designed	p. 148
The Manufacturing System Should Be Built to Be Flexible	p. 149
Key Points	p. 152
Demonstrating Technology	p. 155
Nobody Wants to Be the First to Use a New Technology	p. 155
Everbody Wants All the Details on How Our System Works (Free of Charge)	p. 158
A Demonstration Deserves Something in Return	p. 158
When a Showcase Demonstration Works, Invite Everybody in the World to Come and See It (and Not Before)	p. 159
How Many Demonstrations Are Enough?	p. 161
Key Points	p. 162
Standardizing Technology	p. 165
Custom Suits Take Longer to Make and Are More Expensive	p. 166
Standard Designs Are Cheaper and Easier to Operate (and Fix)	p. 169
Modularize Where Possible	p. 170
Cooperate with Suppliers and Partners	p. 171
Key Points	p. 172
Packaging Technology	p. 175
Overcome the Stigma of Being First	p. 175
Determine What Needs to Be Done to Make Technology Appealing	p. 178
The Art of Being Cool	p. 179
Protect Our Proprietary Rights Aggressively	p. 180
Key Points	p. 181
Applying Technology	p. 183
Off-the-Rack Suits Require Alterations	p. 183
Alterations and Options Always Cost Money	p. 184
Make Technical Support Easy and Accessible	p. 185
Good Service Generates More Business	p. 186
Key Points	p. 187
Marketing and Selling Technology	p. 189
The Difference Between Marketing and Selling	p. 189
Selling Value, Not Cost	p. 190
Don't Waste Time with People Who Aren't Serious	p. 192
The Importance of Market Share	p. 193
Marketing Tools	p. 193
Measuring Performance	p. 194
Technology Quotas and Retention Requirements Are a Must	p. 196
Key Points	p. 197
Tracking Technology	p. 199
Make Certain the Buyer Is Applying the Technology Correctly	p. 199
How About It If We Operate Your System for You?	p. 202
Publicize Success	p. 204
Know When to Move On	p. 205
Key Points	p. 205
Monitoring Technology	p. 207
Make Sure We Are Collecting All Revenue That Is Due to Us, and Devise a System to Make It Happen	p. 207
Arrange for Visitors to Have Free Access to Customer Sites	p. 209
Obtain Access to Operating Data	p. 210
Key Points	p. 212
Improving Technology	p. 213
Figure Out Ways to Make the Innovation Better	p. 214
String Technologies Together to Form Integrated Systems	p. 215
Using Technology to Innovatively Transform the Battlefield: RIPRNET	p. 216
Close Air Support a Phone Call Away	p. 224
Remember That the Most Efficient Sale Is to a Repeat Customer	p. 227
Often It Is Much Easier to Increase Profit Margins on Existing Technology Than to Start from Scratch	p. 228
Key Points	p. 228
Building on Success and Learning from Failure	p. 231
"Chase Them to the River"	p. 231
Investing in Improvements	p. 233
Identifying New Opportunities	p. 234
Everybody Makes Mistakes, but the Biggest One Is Not Learning from Them	p. 235
Key Points	p. 236
Bibliography	p. 239
Index	p. 241
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