Assessment Tools,
Methodologies and Due
Diligence
Taj S. Mattu
President,
Foresight Science & Technology Inc.
May 2013
Foresight Science & Technology
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Why Foresight?
• Foresight wrote the book
• “The Art and Science of Technology Transfer” (John Wiley and Sons,
2006) by Phyl Speser – Founder & CEO of Foresight
• Experienced
• 34 years, completing circa 350- 500 projects annually with highly staff
• Phyl also co-authored much of the U.S. legislation e.g. SBIR
• Trusted
• U.S. NIH, EPA, DOE, NMRC Singapore, as well as universities and high
technology companies across five continents
• Low profile
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Commercialisation
…the activity of introducing a new product (or
method or production) into the market….
…for net commercial / socio-economic
gain…
Technology push vs. market pull
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Foresight Science & Technology
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Commercialisation
…the activity of introducing a new product (or method or
production) into the market….
…for net commercial / socio-economic gain…
Technology push vs. market pull
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The technology proposition
Product space
Application space
Functionality space
Invention characteristics
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Technology / invention type
No New
Metrics
New Metrics
No New
Technology
Incremental
Adaptive
New
Technology
Radical
Disruptive
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Foresight’s Stage Gate system
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Due diligence
• An investigation of something (business /
person / proposal / product offering ) to
ensure substantial resource allocation is
justified
• Risk management
• Assumption testing
• Unbiased report as a record
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Risk factors
•
•
•
•
•
•
IP
Technology
Market
Execution
Liquidity
Return on
investment
May 2013
End-User
Needs
Substitutable
Technology
Launch
Tactics
Market
Dynamics
Market
Size
and
Share
Concurrent
Engineering and
Beta Test
Partners
Targets
Revenue
Projection
Awardee
Technology
Foresight Science & Technology
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Factors Affecting Risk
Stability
Of
Dominant
Design
Rivalry
Indu
s
Conc trial
entra
tion
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t
ke
ar rs
M rive
D
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e
i
r
r
Ba
Entry
Ra
Pro te of
Ch duc
an t
ge
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Undefined risk reduces value
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Key questions:
• Who was involved & owns it?
• What is the IP, its potential & barriers
• What is the problem it solves?
Is it
competitive &
do people
care?
• Features & benefits vs. competitors?
• Do end users want to buy the product?
• Is there a prototype & test results?
• What investment is needed?
• What is the market & the return?
May 2013
Do we have
something to
sell?
Foresight Science & Technology
Cost of
development &
return on
investment
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COMPARING YOUR TECHNOLOGY WITH OTHERS
Other
Price
Ease-of-Use
Performance
Customer Requirements
Relat ive Weig h t in g
3 Strong
2 Medium
1 Weak
Features and
Functionality
of Tchnology
YOURS
Total Weight
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0
0
0
0
0
Foresight Science & Technology
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
13
Product Life-Cycle
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Markets
“Mastering the dynamics of
Innovation” by James
Utterback Harvard Business
School Press 1994
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The product & market story
Product Advantage
Market Orientation
Basic research
Investors do not care about the
technology story only the market
story (Investment & ROI)
Launch Tactics
Applied
research
Development
New Product Performance
Product
development
Beta site
testing
Out-flow of cash
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Organizational Performance
Product
launch
Revenue
Generation
Income
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The Story Begins with End-Users
Technology is a Tool for Doing Something
5 Ws:
Who is doing it?
What is being done?
Where are they doing it
Why is it being done?
When are they doing it?
Sell intellectual assets that can provide
“a proven solution for a repetitive activity”
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Talk to Experts and End-Users
• Six Degrees of Separation
– Start with People Likely to
Know or Know Someone to Talk
With
• Government Program
Managers
• Chairs and Members of Trade
Association and Professional
Society Committees
• Editors and Authors
• Center Directors and
Professors who Consult
– Network Through to the Right
People
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Pull through: identifying and
aligning stakeholders
• The means by which market forces are
leveraged
• Critical for building pull-through
• Engage with communication or regulatory
nodes
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How pull-through is built
Developer
Seek
technology
create awareness and
stimulate demand
Producers/Distributors
legitimize and
enhance desirability
seek product and/or service
create awareness
and support
Opinion
Leaders
May 2013
legitimize
and stimulate
demand
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End-Users
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Stakeholder Analysis
STAKEHOLDER ANALYSIS
Level of Commitment
Group
Internal
Government
Customers
Partners
Opinion Leaders
Media
Enthusiastic
Helpful
Compliant
Hesitant
Indifferent
Uncooperative
Opposed
Hostile
Key:
+ - Above Necessary Level for
Success
O - Level Necessary for Success
X - Below Level Necessary for
Success
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TNA® Components
• Elevator pitches
• Voice of expert & customer
• End user requirements & specifications with
technical characteristics & ease of implementation
• Landscape for existing products, patents, R&D
• Pricing
• Regulatory environment
• Market size & dynamics
• Stakeholder communities & channels
• Entry strategy
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Analytical Framework
Is There a
Competitive
Opening?
Is There a
Sustainable
Competitive
Advantage?
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Absorptive Capacity
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Market dynamics & strategy
• Offensive
– Emerging
– Pacing
– Spare
• Defensive
– Hedging
– Imitative
– Spare
Lead all Competitors
Be in Top 5% of all Competitors
Impact
from Use of
Technology
Lead all Direct Competitors
Be in Top Half of all Competitors
Crucial for Future Growth
Crucial for Take-off
Offensive
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Defensive
Function
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• Nothing happens without a
sale.
David Speser
• If opportunity doesn’t knock,
build a door.
Milton Berle
• A well-defined imagination is
the source of great deeds.
Chinese Fortune Cookie
• Money Talks, Nobody Walks
Charlie Greer
• Risk comes from not knowing what you’re doing.
Warren Buffett
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