T2+2®: Technology Transfer Tools and Training

T2+2® is a comprehensive solution for the targeted marketing of technology. By targeted marketing, we mean commercialization efforts focused on finding partners who are interested in, and ready to, take technology to market.  The on-line service is purchased through an annual site license subscription fee. A site is defined as one office in one location, although staff for that office may log in from anywhere to facilitate work by telecommuters and when on travel.

T2+2® provides:

Templates and Spreadsheets

There are four templates to help you collect and analyze data.  These are downloaded as Microsoft Word or rich-text format (RTF) files so your data always stays on your machines. As document files, the templates are easy to modify to meet the precise needs of your office.  Each template is accompanied by a on-line help file with detailed, context-sensitive help on how to complete the template.

• The Go/NoGo® is a weeding tool for disclosures and ideas. Go/NoGos® are used to determine which inventions to patent, which patents to maintain, and which ideas are candidates for proposals or other monetization/fund-raising efforts or which patents to abandon. The template contains a set of hurdles over which a technology must pass to be a feasible candidate for commercialization. It examines products to see if the invention or innovation is redundant, patents to see if it is protectable, and R&D to see if it is timely or behind the curve. Next it looks at markets to see if it can make money or meet mission needs. Finally, it determines who might be the licensee, investors, alliance partner, etc. (whichever is desired). After all, it makes no sense to say a market opportunity exists if you cannot identify anyone who might be that opportunity. Those inventions which make it over the hurdles are Gos. Those that stumble and fall are No Gos.
• The QuickLook® examines three market niches in more detail in order to determine which technologies are candidates for licensing and which have substantial enough breadth or value to support a spin-out. In each niche, end-user needs are defined and the imperativeness of needs to sustain buying assessed; the ability of current and other emerging technology to meet those needs are evaluated; market drivers and barriers to entry are explored; price points are determined; and market size is estimated.  Then the analysis pulls back to take a bird’s eye view of the market opportunity, the value proposition, and the path to market. As with all Foresight reports, potential licensees, investors or other commercialization/transitioning partners are identified. The analysis provides a set of funnels that, like a cell sorter, shunts what is being analyzed one way or the other – here to the appropriate pathway to market.
• The Technology Niche Analysis® positions the technology for commercialization or transitioning and opens to the door to the people and entities with which deals will be done. It is a set of filters that begin with filtering out applications where the technology does not meet end-user needs (competitive opening), moves on to reject openings where current or emerging competition provides better solutions (sustainable competitive advantage), eliminates applications where successful market entry is unlikely (launch tactics), and finally discards those for which partners interested in substantive discussions cannot be found. The Technology Niche Analysis® downselects quickly to a viable market opportunity, provides the perspective needed to find people who will do deals, and gets you into discussions with them. It sets up the licensing executive or business development person and provides them the introductions and data they need to move forward.  The Executive Summary is a non-proprietary “tear off” which provides a marketing piece.
• The Commercialization Plan is a variant of the Technology Niche Analysis® focused on equity investment. It provides additional information on key people for the company to be spun-out, costs of goods sold, financing needed, and other pertinent data in addition to the competitive opening, competitive advantage, market entry strategy, and lead customers. It is structured in a format suitable for presentation to venture capitalists, angel investors, and government and non-profit equity funds.

A set of spreadsheets facilitates calculations and analysis. Spreadsheets include:

• The Patent Matrix Engine which structures your examination of the potential claims for disclosure against claims in patents and patent applications in order to provide better insight into novelty and the breadth of the IP turf that might be claimed.
• The Market Size and Share Projector is a tool for calculating those.
• The S-Curve Projector allows you to derive numbers for the market size and share for this technology by adjusting the S curve of an equivalent or similar technology
• The Royalty Rate Calculator contains the factors from the US Supreme Courts Georgia Pacific case and from the technology transfer and legal literature for adjusting industry average royalty rates to address the specific situation and character of your intellectual property. New templates are also staged and tested in this area, prior to production deployment with a context-sensitive help file.
• Technology Valuation is a Net Present Value based calculation.
• Real Option Valuation enables you to determine the value of a technology that is immature and undergoing a staged R&D product development process

Data

Multiple datasets are provided to enable you to conduct market analysis and do deals.

• The Data Warehouse contains non-proprietary information from thousands of Foresight market research reports conducted in the past few years, including market size; market drivers; standards and regulations; experts and end-users to interview; targets for licensing, sales, investment, etc.; competing technologies; and more. Also included are footnotes to the sources of the data. These are searchable by simply entering the kind of technology you are interested in examining.  If you do not see what you need in the warehouse, Foresight can provide targeted data for you through a Market Overview. (See below.)
• Market Overviews contain reports prepared in response to subscriber requests. These reports provide market size, market dynamics, key players and stakeholders, and other useful information. Your annual subscription includes up to 10 free reports. Addition reports can be obtained for a modest fee.
• Technology Roadmaps is a catalogue of all the roadmaps we could find on the web. There are hundreds of them addressing almost every area of economic activity. Roadmaps are prepared by governments, associations, and other authoritative bodies and project out technology needs in the five to 20 year time frame.
• Royalty Rates contains thousands of royalty rates, with full agreements, culled from US Security and Exchange Commission filings. Also included are sponsored research agreements, which soon will be their own database.
• Venture Capitalists and Angels is a catalogue of all inventors in the US, Canada, South America, and Europe. It contains information on what these firms or individuals invest in, their portfolio, how to submit material, and of course points of contact
• Standards is a global catalogue of all bodies creating standards and what areas/products these standards apply to.
• Pipeline Partners™ contains hundreds of companies that are actively seeking technology, with information on who they are, what they are looking for, points of contact, what information to submit, how long it takes to evaluate your technology and much more. If you do not see who you want, just ask and we will add them. If you do not know the company you want, just let us know.

Training

Foresight provides free training for T2+2® users.

If you use staff, interns, or fellows new to technology transfer, T2+2® contains Commercialization 101™ (COM 101™), an on-line e-learning course based on The Art and Science of Technology Transfer by Foresight founder Phyllis (Phyl) Speser, J.D., Ph.D. This on-line, self-paced course is designed to provide graduate students, summer interns, and new hires with the orientation required to do market research. It can be used as a stand-along course in market research for temporary staff or as a hands-on, result oriented tutorial to supplement other training for permanent staff, such as the Association of University Technology Managers courses. Nearly 100 supplemental videos provide informal “fireside chats” by Phyl Speser; provide a video commentary on the Commercialization 101™ course materials. Associated with the lessons in COM 101™ is a series of labs. These ensure students actually understand the lessons and also teach them how to use T2+2®. If you would like, Foresight will provide on-line or in-person training (you pay only travel) to take your employees or interns through the course and labs.

• For faculty, T2+2® includes the white paper “What Every Researcher Needs to Know about Commercialization” and a video version of the paper. Also, to support your spin-outs, there is a series of tutorials on how to write SBIR proposals. We are glad to work with you to prepare similar material for your country. Foresight is also happy to create an open access site with your logo on it where your “entrepreneurs” and potential entrepreneurs can log into our training materials.

• For managers of T2+2® teams, we include the Assessments Production Manual. This on-line resource walks you through how to select and modify templates to address your needs, structure work flows, train and supervise staff, and interact with the “customers” and people you serve in order to garner greater value from your investment in T2+2®.

Advice

T2+2® incorporates several ways to get guidance and advice in order to better move your technology to market.

1. Free on-line and phone support is included your subscription. This consulting is with a Foresight analyst or, (if needed) a senior consultant, conducted via on-line chat or phone.
2. K2™, the Know-How KnowledgeBase™ is a wiki that contains overviews of industrial sectors, information on Foresight Pipeline Partners (firms looking for technology to acquire), and other data. It is a “Wikipedia” focused on commercialization and technology transfer. Again, if you do not see what you need in the wiki, Foresight will provide it for you.
3. The Foresight Blog provides a forum for issue exploration, perspectives on events, getting tips of how to work smarter and faster, etc. It is maintained by senior Foresight staff.
Support can be requested at any time, via e-mail or online posting to a discussion board, and we may be contacted via phone or our secure, on-line chat system from 8:00am – 6:00pm, Monday – Friday (excluding Federal holidays).

Frequently Asked Questions

1. How does your tool incorporate IP as a relevant input for technology valuation?

   In addition to providing vital market data for calculating revenues, T2+2® contains a number of spreadsheets that enable you to calculate the value of a technology. We have both NPV and real option tools available, as well as as tools for calculating royalty rates if that is the concern.  We can help you valuate a stand-alone technology or a IP-based company. Most importantly, in distinction to passive database system, T2+2® is a web based service. So if you are looking for help, you can get one of Foresight’s professionals on the line to help you work through valuation questions.

2. What would you say are the main competitive advantages of your product vs. IPscore®, IPR-Systems®, Palisade®, and TechAdvance®.

   First of all these are software tools that require you to have data. We either provide that data or have people ready to help you find the data.

   Second, the EPO and IPR systems assume you are valuing a patent. We do not. While our spreadsheet tools can evaluate a patent, we can also put a value on a lot more. For example, most companies don’t buy a patent for the sake of patent. They buy a patent because it is instrumental for making a product or delivering a service. We can value an IKit®, that is a bundle of IP (a patent, knowhow/trade secret, trademark, etc.) that is useful for solving specific identified problems or doing specific things. After all, that is what the customer thinks they are buying unless they are a patent troll. They are buying a way to make money and that legal transaction just happens to involve a patent. What they will pay will be related to the NPV of the revenues the technology generates – and that means just the share that can be reasonably attributed to that technology (which of course is the basis for a running royalty rate.)

   Third, our tools are ready to go and come with live support from real people. So to reiterate, not only do you get the data to feed into the calculation, the help to figure out what calculation method and assumptions make sense in light of WHY you are doing the valuation, you get the spreadsheet to use and the training to use it correctly. Compare that with Palisades®. (Which we actually own and use internally.)

Fourth, with respect to TechAdvance®, here is another canned one size fits all solution which is basically a template. T2+2® also gives you templates. We have a series of templates so you always have something you can use with which-ever gate or step are are at in the commercialization process.

3. What is the difference between Knowledge Express® and T2+2®

   There are three core differences. First, Knowledge express is focused on biomedical and biotech. T2+2® covers the breadth of technology. Second, T2+2® is far more extensive and comprehensive. Services like Pipeline Partners™, custom Market Overviews or Royalty rate Reports, etc. are not included, nor is hands-on, live person help from experts in technology transfer and commercialization. Third, we are less expensive. We do not limit downloads. We do not charge thousands for extra users.

4. What About Freedonia®, Frost & Sullivan®, BCC®, and the other market research services

   Such services sell reports designed to provide a bird’s eye view on a market. They are very helpful if that is all you need. The problem is, in technology transfer and commercialization we are not moving a market to market, we are moving this technology or this product or this service or this process or this material. In other words, what is needed is a market analysis focused on this technology and the relevant markets for it. Unfortunately, that is not what these other services provide. Nor do they provide all the other content in T2+2® presented above.

Download the T2+2® Professional brochure.

To view examples of the Market Overview reports that are written upon request for T2+2® subscribers at no extra charge, click here.

Ready to see more?

Call (401) 273-4844 x.10 to schedule a live online demonstration.
See for yourself how T2+2® can provide value for your organization!

Please call (401) 273-4844, x. 14 with any questions or for pricing.