This is the seventh 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
“Nothing disheartens me more than meeting an entrepreneur in B.C. who says his ambition is to one day conquer the Ontario market,” Anthony Lee, general partner at Altos Ventures and co-founder of the C100, told us in an interview a few months back.
While building a globally competitive company may not be the right objective for everyone, Lee makes a key point. For any venture to succeed, its founders must have a vision that will stretch the boundaries of what they know and challenge what they believe is attainable.
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This is the first contribution to this blog by Associate Caroline Kealey, an internationally recognized communications strategist, speaker, trainer, facilitator and author.
By Caroline Kealey
In my experience, decision making executives in a variety of sectors often fail to recognize the value their communications people bring to their organization. Often, this arises because the communicators themselves have not adequately conveyed the value they provide in a way that resonates with management.
As a senior decision maker, regardless of whether your organization is a startup or a mature technology company, you can make a powerful shift in your thinking by framing the communications function as a strategic element of your organization’s business development and revenue generation activities. Effective communicators contribute far more than the typical “stuff” of communications, such as news releases, speeches or events. They can provide unique counsel that will bring insightful and strategic “outside-in” thinking to your organization.
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As part of our ongoing series examining the ecosystem necessary to bring technology to market, we asked David French, a senior Canadian patent attorney with 35 years of experience, to discuss the importance to a company of protecting its IP and how creating the position of “IP Coordinator” can facilitate the process. This is the first of David’s commentaries and we welcome your comments.
By David French
The theme of this website is getting technology, to market. This is an honorable objective. Indeed, I would like to present why intellectual property is a key part of the business case for getting technology to market. And doing it right.
Intellectual property such as patents, copyright, trademarks, designs and corporate secrets, all have an important place in the modern business enterprise. Entrepreneurs who are founding a business based on a new product invariably see the patent right as key. Angels and venture capitalists look for the comfort of patent protection when considering whether to make an investment. But even in the absence of a new patentable concept, every business has to address choosing a trademark under which it will be known. So you have to get at least a little bit wet in the IP birdbath.
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This is the fifth 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
In his book, The Way Ahead: Meeting Canada’s Productivity Challenge, Tom Brzustowski, RBC professor for the commercialization of innovation at the University of Ottawa’s Telfer School of Management, talks about the “social contract between science and society in the U.S.” that arose in the late 1940s and gave rise to that unique ecosystem we know today as Silicon Valley.
The basis of this contract is found in Science: The Endless Frontier, a 1945 report to U.S. President Harry Truman by visionary Vannevar Bush that outlined a U.S. post-war science and technology policy that would ultimately result in the creation of the National Science Foundation. In the years that followed, military-funded unclassified R&D in the private sector, driven by the pressures of the Cold War and the space race, laid the foundation for Silicon Valley and made Bush’s vision a reality.
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Thank you for being with us for the first month of our new blog. In case you missed any posts, here is a recap, beginning with, in chronological order, our special report on getting technology to market, The Commercialization Ecosystem, which continues this month.
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By Francis Moran and Leo Valiquette
