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At the LES annual meeting 2014 workshop “University-Industry Collaborative Research
Awards: Where the “Rubber Meets the Road” presenter, Dr. Erroll Arkilic made the point that
while we all know about the Valley of Death in early-stage research, it is important to understand
the length and depth of the Valley. This workshop presented information on using federal, state,
and other funding sources to seed and mature research. It first discussed the transition from
funding for early-stage research such as the federal SBIR (Small Business Innovation Research)
and STTR (Small Business Technology Transfer) programs to funding for technology maturation
and commercialization. The focus was upon helping university faculty and industry understand
the challenges and opportunities at each stage of the technology’s development. What are the
roles of the different parties and the IP issues when research is jointly developed?
The workshop moderator was Marie Talnack, Ph.D., Director of Technology Transfer Office and
Industry Clinic, California State Polytechnic University, Pomona that presented information
about the initial development of the Small Business Innovation Research Program as a pilot
program at the National Science Foundation (NSF), followed by legislation establishing the
program at 11 different federal agencies. Later this program was followed at NSF with a sister
program, the Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) program. Both of these programs
serve as one of the few non-equity sources of funding for early-stage research. The distinction
between the two programs was made and under what types of university-industry collaborative
research arrangement each program fits.
The success of NSF’s SBIR and STTR programs has been followed up by the agency with their
more recent program, the Innovation Corps. Presenter, Errol Arkilic was previously the founding
and lead program director for the National Science Foundation Innovation Corps program. He
led the I-Corps effort from its inception until July, 2013. Currently he is President of m34 Capital
and USRCA.org. Dr. Arkilic discussed when the NSF I-Corps program fits the stage of
technology development and why the program was developed.
Dr. Arkilic presented the Technology Innovation Spectrum, the theoretical S-Curve of moving
from discovery to development to full commercialization. If we know this process, why is it so
hard? This gets back to the opening statement that it is the timing and depth of the Valley of
Death that needs to be understood by the innovator, researcher, or entrepreneur. How much time
and funding do you have to move through the searching, proving, executing and scale-up process
as the technology matures? This is typically shorter than expected and more expensive than
expected. Thus, it is critical to understand your Enterprise Risk Profile: the Technology Risk,
People Risk, Market Risk and Financial Risk. There is a right and wrong source of funding for
each level of risk and each stage of technology commercialization. Sources of funding such as
angel, loans, private equity, and venture capital require repayment in either cash or equity or
both. Grants represent a good source of funding in the early stages without repayment or loss of
equity—but they are very competitive. Partners, the right types of partners at each stage:
technical, financial, marketing partners, help your enterprise be more competitive in seeking out
grants and reducing your enterprise risk profile to follow-on sources of capital for growth.
The National Science Foundation’s Innovation Corps program partners graduate students in the
sciences, engineering or business with university faculty researchers and an industry mentor to
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reduce the risk profile of an early stage technology. Faculty that have received grants from the
National Science Foundation within the past five years are eligible to receive an additional
$50,000 in commercialization funding. In the process students learn about innovation and
product development moving the early-stage research further along the path to
commercialization.
Carol Mimura, Ph.D., Assistant Vice Chancellor, IP and Industry Research Alliances or (IPIRA)
at the University of California, Berkeley then presented
In conclusion, it was agreed that for most research, no matter where the research is being
developed and who is leading its development, there are two common lessons learned:
1.) You cannot go it alone…i.e. partners.
2.) You will need to find low cost, hopefully no equity funding to save your
equity for later stages of development.
public , the purpose for ndearly years of
Speakers:
Carol Mimura, Ph.D., Assistant Vice Chancellor, IP and Industry Research Alliances
(IPIRA), University of California, Berkeley
Errol Arkilic, Ph.D., Founder and the President of USRCA.org
Contact for Speakers: Marie Talnack at gmtalnack@csupomona.edu
Errol Arkilic, Ph.D., Founder and the President of USRCA.org
Dr. Arkilic is a Founder and the President of USRCA.org. Founded in June of 2013, this
organization’s mission is to support the translation of academic-based research into products and
services that address significant market needs. Previously, he was the founding and lead program
director for the National Science Foundation Innovation Corps program. He led the I-Corps effort
from its inception until July, 2013. Prior to this, Errol was the lead software and services program
director for the NSF SBIR program. Before NSF, Errol was founder and CEO at StrataGent
Lifesciences and the Manager of Product Engineering at Redwood Microsystems. Errol received his
BS in Mechanical Engineering from George Washington University and his Master’s and Ph.D.
degrees in Aero/Astro Engineering from MIT.
Carol Mimura, Ph.D., RTTP™, Assistant Vice Chancellor, IP & Industry Research Alliances
(IPIRA), University of California, Berkeley
Dr. Carol Mimura is the Assistant Vice Chancellor for Intellectual Property & Industry Research
Alliances (IPIRA) at the University of California, Berkeley. IPIRA is the portal to Berkeley for
industry access to Berkeley’s preeminent faculty and research capabilities. She was a former
Director and Executive Director of U.C. Berkeley’s Office of Technology Licensing, is a Registered
Technology Transfer Professional, has received a Deal of Distinction award from the Licensing
Executives Society, the President’s Cup from Yale, an inaugural Patents for Humanity Award from
the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, several Distinguished Service Awards and a Chancellor's
Special Service Award from UC Berkeley. She established the office of IP and Industry Research
Alliances (IPIRA) at UC Berkeley in 2004. Over 150 startup companies have been formed to
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commercialize UC Berkeley IP rights under license. 65 have raised an average of $13.8M in private
funding and over a four year period a larger group raised >$1.3B. Over 100 products have been
commercialized under license and dozens more are in the pipeline.
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