Fall 2010 MGT 605 - Practicum in Technology Commercialization

Fall 2010
MGT 605 - Practicum in Technology Commercialization
Date/Time: Thursdays, 6:15 – 8:45 PM

Babbio Rm. 320
Contact:
Professor Elliot Fishman
[email protected]
Ph: 201-216-8548
OVERVIEW
This course will teach students to perform the function of a technology
manager assessing the commercial prospects of early-stage technology and
recommending a business strategy. The course is designed with a practical
focus: By the end of the semester, students are expected to write an actual
technology commercialization plan for a real invention or discovery that some potential
to become a Stevens Technogenesis® company or licensing opportunity. While
research programs at Stevens will serve as a source of "deal flow", the course has a
broader focus than just university-to-industry technology transfer. Pedagogy will focus
also focus on technology commercialization within industrial and government settings.
Universities, industry and non-profit institutions face the enormous
challenge of finding commercial outlets for new discoveries and science-
based R&D. An estimated $150 billion of R&D is written off each year
in the US economy from research that appears commercially fruitless and from
undertakings based on "pure," rather than applied, science. This course
will teach students how to identify, evaluate and package science-based
R&D for commercial exploitation.
COMMERCIALIATION PLANS VS. BUSINESS PLANS

This is not a course on writing business plans - a skill set that is taught in other courses at
the Howe School. Instead, MGT 805 will teach students how to write a
commercialization plan. A commercialization plan is distinguished from a business plan,
as the former is the precedent exercise, necessary to determine what elements of the
science-based technology may have commercial potential. The commercialization plan is
written before deciding whether the licensing, venturing (or abandonment) options are
pursued.
Modules will cover various phases of the commercialization process: technology
assessment, patentability assessment, competitive research, market research, technology
partitioning, and investment advice for licensing or spin-out companies. One early
module will cover techniques on interviewing scientists, as part of the initial consultative
process; students will be trained to start making critical decisions on the true commercial
prospects of technology, independently of the inventors’ own view. Students will come
to appreciate that inventors own views are often rooted in scientific interest, rather than
commercial reality.
PEDAGOGY AND SOURCES OF TECHNOLOGY

Pedagogy will consist of lectures, discussions of difficult readings, and industry guest
speakers, in approximately equal proportions. In addition, teaching faculty will make
themselves available to students for hands-on tutorials on writing chapters of the
commercialization plans throughout the term.
Sources of the technology will be actual research that has been or is being conducted in
the three Schools at Stevens. At the start of the term, a list of potential technologies will
be made available from Stevens’ office of technology licensing and several key
departments, including some previously rejected Technogenesis® opportunities. Student
groups of 2-3 students will select projects from this list, and each group will work on a
single technological opportunity throughout the term. In successive class sessions,
students will write chapters of the commercialization plan, including patent research,
market research, competitive research, etc. At the end of the semester, the students are
expected to present their final commercialization plan to an independent review board,
consisting of Stevens faculty, administrators, and outside venture capitalists.
IMPORTANT THEORY COMPONENT

Although the course is intended to have a practical focus – teaching the skill set of
writing a commercialization plan – a strong theoretical thread will also be included.
Theory is important to maintain the academic standards of a national university, and
to distinguish this graduate curriculum offering from an executive education course;
this is decidedly not intended to be executive education. As such, most of the weekly
readings will be difficult, graduate level articles or book chapters that deal with the
underlying theory relating to the given step of the commercialization process. For
example, the module on evaluating patentability will include a graduate level economics
article on monopoly and oligopoly rents. Similarly, the module on market research will
include a graduate level article on the heuristics of search algorithms and synonym
problems with keywords. The module on interviewing scientists will include CP Snow’s
1959 anthropology classic Two Cultures, and the module on marketing technology will
include a challenging graduate article on the sociology of professions. By providing
weekly graduate level readings, students will be stimulated to think more critically and
take away much more from the course than the skill set of writing a commercialization
plan.
FACULTY
Professor Elliot Fishman will teach the course. He is a full-time professor at
the Howe School
Pre-requisites/co-requisites:
MGT 671 Technology & Innovation Management

MGT 672 Technology, Licensing & Finance (co-req)
MGT 623 Managerial Finance (co-req)
or MGT 600 Accounting and MGT 607 Managerial Economics
MGT 605 - Updated Syllabus as of September 14
week Date Topic Reading before class Homework Due start of class
Economics of R&D
1 28-Aug intro to course/economics of R&D
2 4-Sep review of intellectual property Harvard articles on

intellectual property
3 11-Sep Guest lecture - Dave Peacock Univ Enterprises Univ-industry tech transfer analysis of a patent
university-industry tech transfer in CMR; AUTM survey
Meyers Briggs test 1-page technology screening
4 39343 Communicating with Scientists CP Snow, Two Cultures Meyers Briggs test
4 on reserve at library http://www.humanmetrics.com/cgi-win/JTypes2.asp
see webct group selection of final project
5 25-Sep Guest lecture - Seth Tropper - Plasmasol group outline and task assignments
Market Research Belkin and Spiegler articles Draft of Chapter 1
6 2-Oct Linda Scanlon: Guest Lecture see webct Technology Background and
Application
Patent Analytics and Prior Art Draft of Chapter 2
7 9-Oct Field Trip to PIUG Annual Meeting in New Brunswick, NJ see webct Market Segments, Growth & Size
www.piug.org for downloads Competition
8 note: Wed 10-Oct Keith Lobo Guest Lecture n/a n/a
9 16-Oct Licensing Technology article and fishman lecture Draft of Chapter 3

notes on licensing technology; Patent Position, Strength of Claims
sample license agreements Patenting activity in field
see webct
note: no class 10-23
articles and fishman lecture Draft of Chapter 4 - Part I
10 30-Oct Financing Technology notes on IP financing; Commercialization Strategy*
see webct License, Litigate, Spin-off and/or partner
11 6-Nov Litigation over intellectual Property articles & fishman lecture notes Draft of Chapter 4 - Part II
on IP litigation; see webct Commercialization Strategy*
License, Litigate, Spin-off and/or partner
12 13-Nov Sales and Marketing of Early Stage Technology technology trade associations Draft of Chapter 5
see webct Financials behind Strategy
13 20-Nov Joint Ventures articles & fishman lecture notes Draft of Chapter 6
on joint ventures; see webct Conclusion and Next Steps
note: no class 11-27
Revise and polish all chapters above
14 4-Dec Final Reports/Presentation Due Final report and presentation due
© 2007 by Professor Elliot Fishman. All rights reserved. *This is the core of your commercialization plan. This chapter
must be very detailed down to the tactical level, and relate
specifically to the technology, markets identified, and patent
position, as described in previous chapters.

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Fall 2010

Date/Time: Thursdays, 6:15 – 8:45 PM

COMMERCIALIATION PLANS VS. BUSINESS PLANS

PEDAGOGY AND SOURCES OF TECHNOLOGY

IMPORTANT THEORY COMPONENT

MGT 671 Technology & Innovation Management

2 4-Sep review of intellectual property Harvard articles on

8 note: Wed 10-Oct Keith Lobo Guest Lecture n/a n/a

9 16-Oct Licensing Technology article and fishman lecture Draft of Chapter 3

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