Technology Commercialization

About

The Turner Center for Entrepreneurship at Bradley University recognizes the economic growth opportunities in assisting entrepreneurs and tech‐based companies in developing innovative products and services. To help drive this approach, the Center is assisting companies in commercializing tech-based products and services into the marketplace.

Technology commercialization is much more than creating scientific breakthroughs and intellectual property. It requires a multi-disciplined approach that merges technology and business and accesses a diverse set of people skills in transforming ideas into great products and services.

Recognizing the need to converge the advances in science and technology with the evolving needs and wants of customers to fully understand innovation.
Helping companies assemble and manage technology commercialization projects in which each project consist of multiple components, including: innovation, people skills, business development, and investment capital.
Developing a robust group of projects that vary by stages of development, technology areas, and types of companies. This provides for a very flexible method for managing projects.

Our Center helps companies identify, evaluate, and pursue technology commercialization projects that lead to innovative products and services. This includes helping companies make connections with Bradley faculty, students, and labs as well as with a network of innovation companies and capital providers in developing commercialization projects.

This approach coincides with Bradley’s strategic vision. It reflects the technology and business resources which have global impact and are also located in the Bradley region. By leveraging these resources, technology commercialization can support the dual purpose of creating and growing vibrant companies and generating jobs and investment for the local economy.

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Innovation and Technology Commercialization

The term “innovation” has multiple interpretations. For many companies, it’s the focus point for growing both top and bottom line revenues. For entrepreneurs and early-stage companies, innovation is essential to the company’s existence. Universities strive to transform their intellectual property into innovative products and services. Governments and economic development organizations are targeting innovation as a tool for generating jobs and investment.

Innovation can be viewed as a dynamic process with these two attributes:

Science and technology are always advancing and create potential for new technical solutions.
The needs and wants of customers continue to evolve and create opportunities for new products and services.

Understanding how these two dynamics may merge and intersect, provide targets for creating new, innovative products and services that deliver the “wow” effect to customers.

Many companies are generating profits by using various approaches for commercializing new technologies into innovative products and services. For the Turner Center, successful technology commercialization is a function of smart technology development and deep business insight that requires three basic elements:

A management process for fostering common areas between technology development and business disciplines.
Multi-disciplinary people skills to envision how new technical solutions can be transformed into new products and services that deliver large benefits to customers.
A strategy for initiating and managing various individual technology commercialization projects that reflect this convergence of technology development and business disciplines.

Project Components

One of the challenges facing technology commercialization is acquiring the appropriate set of skills and resources for transforming a technical concept into a product or service that customers purchase. An effective method for doing this is to initiate and manage technology commercialization projects in which each project consists of four main components:

Innovative tech-based product, service, or process. These range from breakthrough ideas to product platform extensions.
Appropriate multi-disciplinary people skills for managing the project.
Business development resources for creating the optimal business model.
Investment capital for funding the various stages of development.

The Turner Center’s approach is to participate in various projects in which each project consists of the four components and also involves one or more companies with interest in commercialization. These companies include entrepreneurs, emerging tech companies, and mature tech companies. The Center’s role is defined by the unique domain of each project. Our Center frequently accesses Bradley faculty, staff, students, intellectual property, and facilities to assist in developing and supporting projects.

There are many types of technology commercialization projects. The Turner Center is focused on pursuing projects that:

Target areas of innovation that have potential for global impact and also leverage technology and business resources located in Central Illinois. These include areas such as: advanced engineering and manufacturing, human life sciences, and bio-refining.
Include start-ups, emerging tech companies, and mature tech companies.
Represent various stages of development, potential returns on investment, and risks. These projects include early stage innovation assessments, R and D, proof-of-concept, prototypes, and product extensions.
Collectively provide for a portfolio of technology commercialization projects representing different technologies, types of companies, and stages of development.

Project Types

The Turner Center assists companies on technology commercialization projects in which each consists of four essential elements. Collectively, these projects vary by stages of development, types of companies, and technology areas. This creates many project opportunities for companies to collaborate with Bradley. These range from pursuing breakthrough ideas to enhancing current products, and include:

Innovation and commercialization assessments – Identify innovation opportunities (i.e., where technical solutions merge with customer problems, needs, or wants) and create an assessment plan for commercializing new technology and product platforms and business models.
Research & Development – Conduct R and D to solve defined technical problems that also have industry or customer applications. The data is used to evaluate if and how the problems can be solved and identify potential product or process applications.
Proof-of-concept – Create first iteration of a new product or process with basic features and generates data. Initial considerations are given to customer applications, market adoption, and business models.
Prototype testing – Perform iterative testing to evaluate technical performance and target product applications. The data helps test product features, collect customer feedback, perform market research, and evaluate business models.
Initial deployment of new product/process with customers – Use customer feedback in a product application environment to evaluate the “wow” effect, final product/process features, market adoption, and if and how the product/process will be launched.
Platform and product extensions – Leverage a company’s existing technology and product platforms to develop new product applications. This takes advantage of in-house product designs, manufacturing processes, and customer knowledge for creating new product applications and markets.

Stage Gate Framework

To help initiate and manage commercialization projects, the Turner Center uses a stage gate framework. This allows the respective project teams to evaluate technical development, customer and market adoption, and business model development at each stage. This is essential for moving the concept to the marketplace. It also offers companies multiple ways to collaborate with Bradley University.

Attributes of Stage Gate Model

Technology commercialization projects are initiated and managed via the respective stages.
Three criteria are collectively used to evaluate the project at each stage:
Technology and Product Platforms: Identify, develop, and test new product/process applications that provide technical solutions.
Customers and Markets: Target unmet customer needs and wants to plan market adoption and marketing strategy.
Business Model: Evaluate and create an optimal model for making, selling, managing, and financing the new product/process.
Each criterion is integrated with the other two (e.g., understanding customer needs and wants helps develop product features and as well as the business model). Projects must meet all three criteria metrics at each stage to move forward.
Unique criteria metrics are developed for each stage and are used to evaluate if and how the project moves forward. This decision making is conducted in a “go/no go” gate process.

Resources

Successful technology commercialization projects require a multi-disciplinary approach. Being able to generate these projects in a sustainable effort requires building and maintaining an ecosystem. This consists of creating and connecting together various inputs and resources into a network that supports:

Creating and exchanging ideas.
Collaborating on projects.
Participation from public and private organizations.
Attracting funding, investment, and in-kind support to sustain the system.
Generating sufficient outcomes and returns to public and private participants.

The Turner Center helps companies access this ecosystem as it represents a very comprehensive resource for supporting many kinds of individual commercialization projects.

Using the ecosystem, our Center works with companies on a project-by-project basis. Because these projects involve a wide spectrum of people skills and experiences, the Center provides services to a diverse set of individuals, including:

For entrepreneurs: assessing potential areas of innovation, reviewing business development needs, and evaluating ways that Bradley can assist in technology commercialization.
For faculty and students: discussing industry collaboration and necessary agreements, identifying areas for technology innovation, and reviewing intellectual property.
For tech companies: assessing ways to collaborate with Bradley faculty and students and other tech companies, evaluating intellectual property, and discussing collaboration agreements.
For investors: networking with innovative early stage companies, assessing intellectual property, and reviewing investment and project management strategies.