A Method for Monetizing Technology Innovations

• Main Author: NARASIMHALU, Arcot Desai
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University 2009
• Subjects: Technology innovation; business innovation; technology transfer office; commercialization; optimal; Computer Sciences; Technology and Innovation
• Online Access: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/sis_research/467
• Institution: Singapore Management University

Technology innovations from most universities and research institutes are generally created with no clear path to commercialization in mind. This is largely due to the culture in academic institutions and research institutes whose mission it is to explore the creation of innovations that promise long term benefits. This culture of academic freedom leads to a stockpile of technology innovations at their technology transfer offices (TTOs). These offices are often in a dilemma on how best to monetize the technology innovations that are in their custody. While there have been many social science research methodology based studies on this subject under the broad umbrella of “Technology Management”, there is still no method available to help TTOs manage the commercialization of their IP better. A clearly articulated method for translation of technology innovations into business innovations will certainly help move accumulated IP at the TTOs to the markets. Such a method should help identify the best commercial application of technology innovations. This paper is based on action or practice research. This approach uses empirical data and experiential observations derived from several years of commercialization experience to derive and define a method. The method will present a framework for capturing the properties of technology innovations. A heuristic algorithm is used to achieve a prioritized list of business innovations that can be generated from a set of technology innovations. The paper will use an example to illustrate the method. An early version of the algorithm is being used in a course on technopreneurship. This exercise is expected to both validate and refine the method presented in the paper.