By Gary Lundquist

Successful commercialization is achieved through a combination of product development and technology transfer. Indeed, neither development nor transfer are goals, but strategies for delivering better and more competitive products to the marketplace.

If commercialization is our goal, then we need to understand how the best companies in America do their jobs. We need to know how they plan, what tools they use, and how they measure success.

That was the objective of a joint meeting on how to integrate new technologies into products in time to meet market windows of opportunity. The Technology Transfer Society (T2S) and the Product Development Management Association (PDMA) jointly sponsored and produced this dynamic conference on March 6-7, 1998, in Atlanta.

The result was a cross-functional learning experience so powerful that the two Societies are already discussing making this cooperation an annual event. PDMA focuses on the theory and practice of new product development while serving functions from R&D through marketing across a range of vertical industries.

The result was a cross-functional learning experience so powerful that the two Societies are already discussing making this cooperation an annual event. PDMA focuses on the theory and practice of new product development while serving functions from R&D through marketing across a range of vertical industries.

T2S focuses on theory and methods by which designs, ideas, research, and innovations are moved from their origins to any avenue of utilization, including commercialization. T2S serves individuals and organizations from industry, academia, and government.

The conference developed around four themes:

• Forecasting
• Roadmapping
• Technology access
• Project management

All four themes were framed in the context of today’s rapid change in business — changes in customers, markets, technologies, products, product lines and competitive pressures. Commercial companies need to improve both their technical edge and time to market. No small challenge!

Forecasting: What will make a difference in your markets? How do you know for sure? When will the impact occur?

Business is an ongoing series of bets — wagers that the results of these decisions will produce high return on investment. With product launches costing $20 to $50 million, companies are betting big money.

Forecasts result from the application of a variety of tools that predict commercial outcomes. Session co-chair, Lee Meadows of Business Genetics started the conference with an overview of methods:

• Group scenario forecasting: A team of experts defines assumptions, challenges them, measures impact, and develops plans.
• Core-driver mapping: Map the history of long-term change (20-30 years) around core business trends, then correlate those trends forward 5-10 years.
• Technology mapping: For selected research communities, map the diffusion of innovations to create a profile of change precursors, then use that profile to predict technology change.
• Lead-user forecasting: Bring the most sophisticated users of a technology together with company developers to jointly predict technical evolution.
• Future market simulations: Show customers future product choices by creating literature and promotional material as if the products were already available, then ask for their preferences.

With this introduction, speakers from Allergan, AlliedSignal, and Nabisco presented details of implementation and fascinating case studies.

For instance, forecasts based on figures from manufacturers of laser-eye surgery systems had Allergan poised to abandon the contact lens-care business. They conducted a study using lead-user and market simulation methods that showed global growth in use of contacts, not decline. Instead of changing businesses, they became aggressive and now have dominant market share.

Roadmapping: Knowing markets isn’t enough. Companies need to develop a consensus view of how they will get where they want to go. They need to make sure that needed capabilities are in place at the right time.

Richard Albright of Lucent gave an overview of roadmaps and roadmapping. If the roadmap is the result, then roadmapping is both a learning process and a communications tool for sharing that learning.

Companies roadmap industries, technologies, products, and product core technologies. Albright focused on Lucent’s product technology methods driven by customer priorities:

1. Market and competitive strategies: Clarify corporate goals, incorporate customer feedback, develop competitive information, segment markets, and tie all these back to goals by stating objectives for market share.
2. Product strategy: Use learning curves, such as Moore’s Law for semiconductors (twice the power at half the price every 18 months), to project required product features. The trick is deciding which features are critical, then tying investments and development emphasis to those features.
3. Technology strategy: Create standard R&D plans, product evolution plans, and product positioning plus, and this is critical, the “attack strategy” which defines areas core to competitive advantage.

This type of strategy and planning requires both top-down and bottom-up commitments. The product manager “owns” the roadmap, yet management uses it in corporate strategy and teams use it to guide tactical development.

Alan Porter of Georgia Tech showed how to use “bibliometric” tools to find information essential to roadmapping and forecasting. Along with electronic databases, he has built and adapted tools to “mine” publications, patents, project descriptions, and citation databases to discover knowledge at project, program, S&T management, and policy levels. His methods show levels of innovation activity around technology areas of R&D, development, application, impact, grown, and maturation.

Quite literally, methods like this create new knowledge from the synthesis of widely scattered packets of information.

Technology Access: Of course, technology itself is also widely scattered. Accessing the right technology with the right support is the key to implementing any forecast or roadmap.

Conference co-chair Karl Dakin of Dakin Lawtek introduced tech transfer, both for what it is and what it can do. After dealing with typical misconceptions, Dakin delivered three key viewpoints:

• Tech transfer is a body of knowledge for overcoming resistance to change.
• Tech transfer is a business tool for managing risk.
• Tech transfer is a strategy for competing at the pace of technical change.

Think about those concepts. Tech transfer is a key tool for survival in today's competitive markets.

Within this topic, Tyrone Mitchell of Corning spoke on assessing sources of technologies, with emphasis on universities, and Mark Mellier-Smith of Sematech spoke on the importance of strong business relationships in development of cutting-edge technologies.

Project Management: All the planning and technology in the world is useless if not backed up with solid management.

The keys, as presented by speakers from BF Goodrich, Battelle, and Lucent, include constructing strategic partnerships with internal and external sources of technologies, making rapid and effective group decisions, and using effective metrics to manage the development process.

In summary, cooperation between T2S and PDMA produced a truly valuable conference in which both product developers and tech-transfer specialists gained practical knowledge.

Such joint efforts are a strategy of T2S to provide ever increasing value to members. Don’t hesitate to get involved in the next conference. You will gain far more than you spend.