“Venture Enhancement Teams (VETs) for Commercialization of IP”
Louisiana Tech University
Center for Entrepreneurship & I.T. (CEnIT)
PI: Dr. Les Guice
Co PIs: Dr. Jon Pratt, Dr. Rich Kordal,
Dr. James Nelson, Dr. Dave Norris
NSF Award # 0650130
3 Year Award
Start Date: 1 Feb. 2008
Key Attributes of our
Innovation Ecosystem:
Brief Project Overview:
Questioning & Curiosity:
This project implements Venture Enhancement Teams (VETs)
to transform recommendations about Louisiana Tech IP from
the existing Innovative Venture Research (IVR ) process into
concrete products or venture opportunities that fuel
economic development in our region.
Due to the intense nature of the work, only the creative
and highly motivated faculty and students volunteer to
participate in the IVR/VET commercialization process
developed at Louisiana Tech. But those who join, make
lasting friendships and finish with a “Can-Do attitude”.
Risk Taking:
Program Activities:
The VETs are formed within Louisiana Tech University.
This academic environment lessens the fear of failure
and encourages taking the necessary risks to make
great innovations a reality. Louisiana Tech’s Research
Foundation has sponsored a new Innovation Fund to
provide seed money to promising new venture
opportunities arising from the VET program.
•Our previous PFI grant created the IVR process in which a
multidisciplinary class studies an invention and identifies and
describes the specifications of a product that will sell.
•Venture Enhancement Teams (VETs) of business and
engineering students are formed within the University’s
existing Multidisciplinary Senior Design class and are
supplied with the resources needed to create a specific
product prototype previously recommended for
commercialization.
Openness:
The IVR/VET program at Louisiana Tech is open to any
and all students and faculty who are willing to work
hard across disciplinary lines for innovation. The
nature of the program causes the breakdown of
barriers related to “turf” and discipline, as teams must
focus on the project rather than themselves.
Collaboration Across Fields:
The NSF PFI grant program has enhanced the already
strong willingness of faculty and students at Louisiana
Tech to collaborate in cutting-edge research and
commercialization . The number of reports of invention
per dollar of federal funding and the prototypes produced
by VETs at Louisiana Tech is evidence that “Innovation
occurs at the interface of disciplines”.
•VETs are augmented with graduate assistants who enable
marketing research needed to produce a market-ready
product or graduate engineering student s who are familiar
with the faculty inventor’s research to supplement hands-on
design capabilities.
Placing Partners in “New
Environments” & “Playgrounds”:
Top Challenges:
Top Contributions:
1. VET projects have provided an excellent and unique
interdisciplinary learning experience for the students enrolled
in the program.
2. Half of the VET projects so far, have led to real opportunities
for negotiating IP licenses with 3rd parties through the contacts
made with outsiders by the VETs.
3. A core group of faculty researchers whose research was
furthered by the VET program have become enthusiastic
supporters of the program. Graduate student participation is
also on the increase as of the second year of the program.
1. VETs require close supervision by faculty
inventors/advisors to hold the VETs accountable. New
procedures to facilitate closer supervision by faculty
inventors in the 2nd year are addressing this challenge.
2. The ongoing need for higher quality, more motivated
students to increase the quality of the prototypes is
addressed with new awareness campaigns and outreach
to identify potential students to enroll in the program.
3. A new, Internal Triage Team (ITT) consisting of the PI,
co-PIs, 3 local volunteer mentors, instructors and faculty
inventors now meet more frequently to enable provision
of timely interim advice and feedback to the VETs.
Partners:
Engineering student members of VETs are initially
intimidated by the requirement that VETs prepare business
plans and marketing research for their prototypes. Business
students are similarly intimidated by the technical aspects of
these projects. Mentorship by our PFI partners helps
alleviate these fears and makes this a unique real world
experience for students. Through mentorship, regional
entrepreneurs have a new awareness of the invention and
commercialization process going on at Louisiana Tech.
Leading/Inspiring for Surprising
or Unexpected Results:
Faculty inventors leading VETs are reporting
unexpected contributions to the quality of prototypes
from the involvement of business students.
1. Louisiana Fund1 (www.louisianafund.com) , Baton Rouge, LA
2. Biosyn, Inc. (www.biosyn-inc.com) Harahan, LA
3. Microtec Associates Fairport, NY
4. VCE Capital Partners, LLC New York, NY
5. Louisiana Department of Economic Development (led.louisiana.gov) Baton Rouge, LA
6. Louisiana Business and Technology Center, Baton Rouge, LA
7. Jones, Walker, Waechter, Poitevent, Carrère & Denègre, LLP (www.joneswalker.com) Baton Rouge, LA
PFI
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National Science Foundation Partnerships For Innovation
Grantee’s Meeting April 25-27, 2010
Arlington, VA
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Your School“Your
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Grant Title Here”
Name of Institution
Department
PI: Full Name
Co PIs:Full Names
NSF Award #IIP-
3 Year Award
Start Date: 16 March 2007
Key Attributes of our
Innovation Ecosystem:
Brief Project Overview:
Questioning & Curiosity:
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Risk Taking:
Program Activities:
Openness:
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Collaboration Across Fields:
Top Contributions:
1.
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2.
Placing Partners in “New
Environments” & “Playgrounds”:
3.
Top Challenges:
1.
Partners:
PFI
2.
Leading/Inspiring for Surprising
or Unexpected Results
3.
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National Science Foundation Partnerships For Innovation
Grantee’s Meeting April 25-27, 2010
Arlington, VA
.
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