This is the 29th article in a continuing series that examines the state of the ecosystem necessary to successfully bring technology to market. Based on dozens of interviews with entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, angel investors, business leaders, academics, tech-transfer experts and policy makers, this series looks at what is working and what can be improved in the go-to-market ecosystem in the United States, Canada and Britain. We invite your feedback.
By Francis Moran and Leo Valiquette
Over the past two weeks, we’ve talked about how Canada falls short when it comes to commercializing university IP and the leadership from the business community that is needed to address the gap. We’ve talked to entrepreneurs and technology transfer officers who straddle the line between the university lab and the marketplace.
But what about the students? How do we inspire and lever our next generation of innovators and entrepreneurs to drive commercialization from the university setting?
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This is the next entry in our “Best of” series, in which we venture deep into the vault to replay blog opinion and insight that has withstood the test of time. Today’s post hails from February 2008. We welcome your feedback.
By Francis Moran
About a month ago, as part of my continuing series of Francis’s favourite fictions, I tackled the too-widely held myth that public relations can’t be measured. I described how, at inmedia, we establish a critical path, or set of outputs, for every project and ongoing program that allows our clients to certify that we’re exerting the amount of effort we said we would. This, I said, was a good starting point for program measurement, but a woefully inadequate one.
I went on to describe what we call outcomes, a set of clear and unambiguous objectives we set that tell our clients what they should expect by way of actual coverage by our target media and analysts, with more granular objectives established for specific program elements such as news releases, product launches, contributed articles, speaking programs, trade show support and so on. Applying such an approach turns the whole PR value proposition on its ear; instead of a cost centre that should be managed down to its minimum, a client can now view the PR function as an investment centre, and can answer the question, “Are these results, or outcomes, a sufficient return on the investment my PR agency or department is asking me to make?”
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This is the 28th article in a continuing series that examines the state of the ecosystem necessary to successfully bring technology to market. Based on dozens of interviews with entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, angel investors, business leaders, academics, tech-transfer experts and policy makers, this series looks at what is working and what can be improved in the go-to-market ecosystem in the United States, Canada and Britain. We invite your feedback.
By Francis Moran and Leo Valiquette
Last week we aired a laundry list of challenges that hinder the commercialization of university IP in Canada. Several of our readers weighed in with their thoughts on Canada’s challenge to fully exploit its global reputation for cutting edge innovation.
How does Canada fall short? Let’s recap the ways:
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This is the next contribution to this blog by Associate Andrew Penny, an Ottawa-based business development and market strategist for B2B companies, and president of Kingsford Consulting Ltd. We welcome your comments.
By Andrew Penny
I work with dozens of business owners and executives every year. Many of them have been successfully running their businesses for the last 10 to 20 years – steady as she goes. What many of them don’t realize, however, is that a massive shift is taking place in business, driven by the relentless aging of the incumbent “decision making” class.
In fact there are 71 percent more people aged 45 to 65 than in 1990. In the next few years, these people will be leaving the workforce and the next generation will be in charge. The point is that it is not a gradual migration; it will be a rapid and exciting changeover.
About 11,000 people are retiring from the North American workforce every day – many of them are the decision makers you have been selling to for the last 20 years. As they retire, who is taking their place? I guarantee that this new person will be younger and think very differently.
What makes them different?
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As part of our ongoing series examining the ecosystem necessary to bring technology to market, David French, a senior Canadian patent attorney with 35 years of experience, now provides the fifth of his commentaries on the importance to a company of protecting its Intellectual Property.
By David French
I began this series by talking about the importance of having an IP Co-ordinator on the team and how this role fits into an organization. Then I addressed what it means to obtain meaningful patents. We identified the three principles that apply if the objective is to obtain meaningful patents:
1. Right invention
2. Right market circumstances
3. Right patenting opportunity
In my last post I addressed the concept of “right market circumstances.” This time I will address the concept of the “right patenting opportunity.”
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By Francis Moran and Leo Valiquette
