Allen, Kathleen :

Kathleen Allen is the author of several texts including Launching New Ventures, Third Edition, and Entrepreneurship and Small Business Management, Second Edition, as well as a variety of trade books in the field of entrepreneurship. A professor in the Greif Entrepreneurship Center of the Marshall School of Business at the University of Southern California (USC), Allen has helped hundreds of entrepreneurs realize their dreams of starting new ventures. At USC, she is director of the Technology Commercialization Alliance, a collaboration of the schools of business, engineering, and medicine to commercialize USC technologies. She also leads a National Science Foundation project with several university, public, and private partners.

Bringing New Technology to Market is the first text designed to address the entire technology commercialization process, from idea to market. Today, as technology drives innovation and companies seek more effective ways to exploit the intellectual property they create, it is important for students in business, engineering, and the sciences to understand the processes that result in successful new technology products in the market. Consequently, the subject of technology commercialization is becoming an important part of the graduate and undergraduate curricula in schools of business, engineering, and science. Bringing New Technology to Market presents a comprehensive look at the issues related to the transfer and commercialization of new technology. High-tech businesses with patentable technology, whether engineering technology, biotechnology, or information systems technology, display different business models, processes, and characteristics from mainstream types of businesses. Therefore, CEOs, CTOs, managers, entrepreneurs, faculty, and students need to understand this phenomenon and learn how to successfully commercialize the intellectual property they develop.

Technology is different from any other type of new product. For one thing, the market responds differently to technology; customers are slow to accept a new technology with which they are not familiar. The entrepreneur who introduces a new technology must, therefore, devise a strategy that captures early adopters in a variety of niches in order to develop sufficient momentum to push the technology into the mainstream market. The development of new technology is generally a longer and more expensive process than that for other products. Securing intellectual property to protect technological products, processes, and know-how is also a critical component of the commercialization process. New technologies are commercialized in a variety of ways, but the underlying commonality is an entrepreneurial approach that seeks to create new value. Whether technology is developed inside the laboratories of a large company or in an entrepreneur's garage, the need for a fast-cycle process with checkpoints and criteria that must be met is essential to success.

This book was written to address all of these issues. Although it was prepared for a graduate-level course, it can be used equally well in undergraduate courses. It was designed with 15 chapters to permit teaching the material comfortably in one semester. The text is compatible with an overview course presenting the broad picture of the technology commercialization process. Because it contains application tools, it is also appropriate for a course where students are moving through the commercialization process with real inventions they have developed or technology they have acquired for the purposes of commercialization.

Bringing New Technology to Market embodies three major themes. The first is new value creation. For companies to be successful in sustainable technology innovation, it is critical that they punctuate their incremental or value-added innovations with radical or value-creating innovations. Creating new value is the most important way that a company can distinguish itself from its competitors. Therefore, the commercialization process as discussed in this book makes it possible for a company to successfully combine the development and exploitation of both incremental and radical innovations. The second theme is speed. As windows of opportunity for new technologies are shrinking, product development timelines are by necessity shortening, creating a real dilemma for product developers--how to produce superior high-technology products faster, yet at prices the market will tolerate. This book presents methods, based on empirical research, that result in faster time to market without sacrificing quality or value creation. The third theme is entrepreneurship. The tools that entrepreneurs employ to recognize and create opportunity, test a business concept in the market, and gather the resources to execute the business concept are the same tools required to successfully navigate the technology commercialization process. In this book, these entrepreneurial tools are applied in the context of a new technology venture, whether that venture is a start-up, a venture inside a large organization, or a spin-off venture from a large corporation.

Bringing New Technology to Market contains many features designed to benefit faculty, students, and others interested in technology commercialization.

• The book covers the entire spectrum of the commercialization process, from idea conception through prototyping and testing, intellectual property acquisition, market analysis, and product launch. Readers will have a single source for the latest information and research in technology commercialization.
• It recognizes the broad spectrum of technology industries with examples from information systems, industrial engineering, biotechnology, and other technical industries. The book is adaptable and compatible with courses in engineering, science, and business.
• Each chapter has a small real-world case that relates to the topic of the chapter. Readers will be able to discuss the content of the chapter through the practical environment of the case.
• Each chapter contains real-world examples of concepts presented in a readable style. Readers will be able to easily see how theory translates into practice.
• The book follows a logical progression in its development from idea conception to market launch. Readers can learn the process through a natural progression where each new concept builds on the previous one.
• The book treats the topic of feasibility analysis, a critical component of the commercialization process. Readers will learn how to develop a business concept for a new technology and test that concept in the market.
• The book contains three chapters on the development, acquisition, and management of intellectual property, which is a critical aspect of the technology commercialization process. Readers will understand their rights regarding the intellectual property they develop or acquire, and how to manage that IP to create wealth.

Every chapter contains a short case or profile of a real entrepreneur, inventor, or company grappling with the commercialization process. Other real-life examples are sprinkled throughout the chapters to keep the topics grounded in reality. Current and relevant research is the basis for the chapter content and additional resources, both books and Internet resources, are given at the end of each chapter. In addition, questions at the end of the chapter serve to provoke stimulating discussions in class or may form the basis for a class assignment.

Bringing New Technology to Market presents a comprehensive look at the issues related to the transfer and commercialization of new technology. High-tech businesses with patentable technology, whether engineering technology, biotechnology, or information systems technology, display different business models, processes, and characteristics from mainstream businesses. Therefore, CEOs, CTOs, managers, entrepreneurs, faculty, and students need to understand this phenomenon and learn how to successfully commercialize the intellectual property they develop.

Bringing New Technology to Market is the first text that addresses the entire technology commercialization process from idea to market.

I. THE FOUNDATIONS OF TECHNOLOGY COMMERCIALIZATION.

II. INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY.

III. FINANCIAL STRATEGY FOR TECHNOLOGY START-UPS.

IV. THE TRANSITION FROM R&D TO OPERATIONS.