Commercialisation & Early Stage Funding
Adam IrvineBusiness Development ExecutiveEdinburgh Research and Innovation
A Tale of Two Taps
A Tale of Two Taps
The Mixer Tap
“The market decides.”
Where are you in the supply chain?
Who is the buyer & what do they want?
The Segway Story
Hype
• “It will will be to the car what the car was to the horse and buggy“ Dean Kamen
• “It will be the fastest company to reach $ 1 billion in sales” John Doerr
• “It would become more important than the internet” John Doerr
• $180m product development
Target Market & Competition
£500-£1000+£100-£500+ £500-£1000+
Free £2000-
£4000£1000+
What went wrong?
• 50,000 units sold by 2009 = c$250m sales
1) Expectation – too high. This is the future of transport? 2) Performance – top speed 12.5 mph, c40km range & 8 – 10 hours to
recharge3) Infrastructure – Where do you charge? Where do you park?4) Regulation - banned from sidewalks and roads because it did not fit any
existing categories5) Product Launch – Amazon!!!
Key – Lack of user and market engagement
Innovation meets need meets viability
Commercialisationn
Funding
Successful Commercialisation
Stop innovating Start Prototyping
Funding
Innovation Initiative Grants - www.iig.ed.ac.uk • Opens mid-February• Up to £5k for new initiatives in teaching, research and student support
Wellcome Trust Institutional Strategy Support Fund • £2m per year - Biannual calls - 27th March 2015
Initiating Knowledge Transfer Fund (IKTF)• Open call • Up to £30k for Proof of Concept
RCUK Impact Acceleration Accounts • STFC, BBSRC, EPSRC, ESRC, EPSRC
Funding
Responsive Mode Grants • Pathways to Impact – no limit on the resources requested but 5-10%
BBSRC Networks in Industrial Biotech and Bioenergy • Proof of Concept – c£7m - projects up to c£50k • Need an industrial partner • Anaerobic Digestion, Biocatalyst Discovery, Bioprocessing, Metals in
Biology
Technology Scouts
• Eligibility: PhD & Post Docs
• Duration: Up to 4 months
• Time commitment: 4-6 hours per week
• Support & Training: • Supervised/mentored by a member of ERI personnel• Trained on key aspects of commercialisation of research• Budget to attend relevant external conference or partner engagement
Technology Scouts
• Evaluate a technology/opportunity
• Targeted marketing, IP Landscaping, market research to gather initial feedback on the commercial potential of a particular concept or technology
• Identify a specific theme or area of BBSRC research, identify the potential impacts and obtain feedback
• Audit internal capabilities or tools for commercial potential
• Profile a company, obtain wish list and match with University research
Obligatory Steve Jobs Quote
Innovation has nothing to do with how
many R&D dollars you have. When
Apple came up with the Mac, IBM was
spending at least 100 times more on
R&D. It’s not about money. It’s about
the people you have, how you’re led,
and how much you get it.
- Steve Jobs, 1998
Questions?
The Intellectual Property Question
• When is something patentable?• Novel• Non-obvious/inventive• Useful
• Patents are not always essential• Patenting costs money
• c£20-30k over 3 years
The Publication/Presentation Question
What is the Market?
What does the user want?
Who do you need to worry about?