Driving Jobs through Innovation: Fostering Science Entrepreneurship Priming Scientists into Entrepreneurs February 3, 2012 The is a product of Neworks, LLC www.neworks.biz 1
What Do Scientists Do? Research & Development N e w I n v e n t i o n s Small to Large Corporations Universities, Academic Institutions ~ $60B Federal Laboratories ~ $40B Reference: NSF Survey of Research and Development Expenditures at Universities and Colleges 2007-2010 ~ $100B expended annually 2
R&D Expenditures by State $ Billions 14.0 Universities and Federal Laboratories Reference: NSF Survey of Research and Development Expenditures at Universities and Colleges, 2007-2010 12.0 10.0 8.0 6.0 4.0 2.0 0.0 Legislation allows technologies to be transferred OUT, and INTO corporations OR start-up companies; Start-ups, based on these technologies, can create jobs! 3
R&D and Then What!? SM High-tech Start-up Companies! R&D Jobs! Economic Growth! Innovation-Based Economy! 4
Complicating Factors For high-tech start-ups, scientists must be involved Scientists became scientists because they liked science Not trained as entrepreneurs; business is foreign The fact that they ended up with commercializable invention, in most cases, was secondary Now what do I do? Am I supposed to take this to market? Academics have a full teaching load, grad students, postdocs, grant proposals, publications, tenure concerns, etc. Going to market is not necessarily a priority or area of interest or expertise Historically, not incented to start companies 5
Ideas get Stuck in the Lab! After Patent Filed on High-Tech Invention Scientists Tech Transfer Officers? Licensing Opportunity OR Start-Up Company Business Coaches, Consultants, Attorneys Angel Investors, Seed Fund Managers, Early Stage VCs Incubators, EiRs Big VCs, Strategic Investors Many Business Questions!! Seven years ago 6
Our Solution: Bring experienced community-based professionals together with scientists from local universities and labs and ask everyone to volunteer/commit their time for 2 ½ days to help: 1) investigate the commercial potential of new technologies 2) transform the more promising technologies into preseed stage companies 7
6-8 Teams per Workshop Talent is carefully balanced: Technical (inventors) Legal Business Finance Tech Transfer Industry & Regulatory Seasoned Entrepreneurs (coach) Collective Intelligence magic! 40-60 High-Level Professionals Value of Pro-Bono Support ~ $100K per Workshop 8
Nine Idea Analysis Sessions Hands-On Work as a team!! 1. The Technology: Do you have a proprietary product? 2. Technology to Market Map: To whom will you sell? 3. Market Need: Where is the pain? 4. Competition: Why will you win? 5. Value Propositions: Who cares? 6. Business Model: How will you operate? 7. Revenue Potential: How big is this opportunity? 8. Management Team: You and what army? 9. Technology Status: What does the roadmap look like? Over 2 ½ days, teams address 20 key questions and create first-cut commercialization plan for start-up company; and make a decision on whether or not to execute on those plans 9
Success-to-Date Seven Year Metrics: Measures of Success Results (2004-2011) Workshops Held 46 Host City Locations 10 Inventions Analyzed 274 Number of Participants 1774 Companies Formed 130 + Estimate $70M in follow-on funding has been raised by alumni And ~ 400 jobs created, with the potential for many more Of the 130 companies, most now being led by business professionals as CEOs, while scientists serve as CSOs or CTOs 10
Scientists into Entrepreneurs? A few things to keep in mind: 1. Scientists don t have to be CEO; they can be CSO, CTO, on the BOD or Scientific Advisory Board 2. Layered under the senior researcher or university professor are junior researchers, post-docs, grad students and undergrads New generation of scientists see entrepreneurship as a viable career choice, alternative to traditional career paths 3. In discussing high-tech, must differentiate between some IT opportunities and hard sciences because $100B is funding: Life, physical, environmental, computer sciences, and energy, engineering, etc High potential, harder, higher risk, more capital intensive 11
Conclusion If $100B here, then future policies must focus on transition stage, to achieve an Innovation Based Economy R&D Remove some legal and administrative barriers to tech transfer Support translational programs that prime scientists Increase availability of pre-seed, seed, early stage capital Accommodate the time horizon for job creation; not shovel-ready but essential for long-term economic growth and global competitiveness 12