MCEL60092
Innovation and Commercialisation of Research
Coursework Handbook
Lecture Dates:
Lecture Time:
Monday 27 January to Monday 5 May 2014
13:00 to 15:00
Unit Leader:
Coordinator:
Lynn Sheppard (l.sheppard@manchester.ac.uk)
Claire Gill (claire.gill@manchester.ac.uk)
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Introduction
The course begins on Monday 27 January 2014 at 1pm in 2.40 MBS West. Attendance at
each of the sessions is an important aspect of the unit and a register will be taken at each
session. Any changes to lecture rooms will be communicated via Blackboard.
Unit Aim
The unit aims to:
 Develop the ability and confidence to transfer knowledge from the research phase to
the market;
 Develop knowledge and skills in the field of commercialisation, knowledge
management, innovation strategy and enterprise;
 Enrich career prospects in both academia and industry.
The unit examines the various aspects of the commercialisation of research and is very much
project-based; allowing students to develop commercialisation ideas and business models
which could be based on their own area of research and preparing students to focus beyond
the laboratory. Students evaluate first hand the business opportunity developing a
commercial business case based on the idea; and then preparing a business report and
presentation.
The unit is delivered as a series of lectures by speakers from the fields of enterprise and
commercialisation, along with study group tutorial sessions. There are also follow-on
sessions and events to outline the opportunities available for research students who would
like to take an idea to the next stage – perhaps as a start-up company or as a licensing
opportunity.
Learning Outcomes
Knowledge and understanding
 Identify what makes a viable commercial research opportunity/idea
 Recognise market opportunities and barriers for new product development (NPD)
 Identify the role of Intellectual Property (IP) in the commercialisation process
Intellectual Skills
 Evaluate the main channels and stages for the commercialisation of research
 Review the relationship between innovation and entrepreneurship
 Critically evaluate the role business strategy and its models play in the
commercialisation process
Practical Skills
 Develop a business idea
 Access and mine secondary market research databases
 Research intellectual property rights through the access of specific databases such as
espacenet
 Develop a robust commercial business model
Transferable Skills and Personal Qualities
 Research, analyse, evaluate and utilise information from a range of reliable sources
 Communicate in an effective manner
 Develop commercial awareness
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Reading References
Main Texts:
 Byers, Dorf & Nelson, Technology Ventures, McGraw-Hill, 2011
 Lowe & Marriott, Enterprise, Entrepreneurship and Innovation, ButterworthHeinemann,2006
 Tidd & Bessant, Innovation and Entrepreneurship John Wiley &Sons, 2008
 Rae, Entrepreneurship: From Opportunity to Action, Palgrave-Macmillan, 2007
 Bragg & Bragg, Developing New Business Ideas, FT Prentice Hall, 2005 (On-line)
Further references will be provided in class to support the taught sessions.
Outline Syllabus
1. 27 Jan
2. 3 Feb
Induction & overview - The process/impact of commercialisation of
research
The ‘Research Student Perspective’
Developing the commercial case - Osterwalder
3. 10 Feb
Establish groups and allocate group work
Patents/University IP
4. 17 Feb
Markets & market research
5. 24 Feb
Formative work table
hand-in
6. 3 Mar
Group Presentations
7. 10 Mar
Formative work table
feedback
8. 17 Mar
Tutorials
Presentation skills
Start-up examples & lessons
9. 24 Mar
Importance of teams, support networks and the funding pipeline
10. 31 Mar
Individual Presentations
Easter Break
11. 28 Apr
Report writing and proposals
12. 5 May
Unit review and assignment tutorial
Next steps to take ideas forward - Graphene/Nanotechnology strategy
and prospects
Monday 12 May - Final Individual report hand-in
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Assessment
This 15 credit unit, Innovation and the Commercialisation of Research (MCEL60092) is
assessed by two individual pieces of work (see Table 1). At the end of this document there is
a comprehensive set of instructions for completion and submission of postgraduate
coursework - please read very carefully.
Table 1: Coursework details
Assessment task
Length
Weighting within
unit (if relevant)
Hand in/
Presentation
Formative task
Work table (500 words
max)
Zero
Week 5
Final presentation
5 min presentation plus
5 min Q&A
20%
Week 10
Final individual report
4,000 words max plus
appendices
80%
Deadline:
Monday 12
May 2014
Individual presentation materials and final individual report must be handed in to the
administration office - Room 8.22 Harold Hankins before the deadlines indicated in Table
2 below. An electronic version must also be submitted via Blackboard by the same specified
deadline. The standard assignment instructions are included at the end of this handbook.
Please make sure that you read and understand the instructions before beginning your
assignments.
Table 2: Deadlines for submission of coursework
Individual work (formatively assessed)

Table to be submitted by
Blackboard
Individual work
(summatively assessed)

Individual presentation

Individual final report
Submission deadline
Via BB, Week 5
by 8am Monday 24
February 2014
Feedback to be given
Submission deadline
Feedback to be given
Via BB
by 12noon
Wednesday
26 March 2014
Via BB and Hand in
by 10 am, Monday
12 May 2014
Week 7
Week 11
3 weeks from hand in
date
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Formative work
Formative work is designed to help you identify what your strengths are with regard to a
particular set of learning outcomes and where there may be areas for improvement.
Formative feedback is given to help you to develop and improve with the unit of study.
This formative work will also help you to prepare your presentation and final individual report.
Formative work to be submitted in Week 3
You are asked to fill in a table (500 words max), in order to understand the characteristics of
your research and begin to explore commercial opportunities based on your research area.
Please make your comments as simple as possible so that non-experts would understand
and keep the overall length to less than 500 words.
The table must be submitted electronically through Blackboard no later than 8 am Monday
24 February 2014. Please bring a hard copy to the class on Monday 24 February.
Further comments and discussion will follow in tutorials on Monday 10 March 2014.
Table 3: Formative work table (available on Blackboard)
Name
Student ID
School & University
Title of doctoral project
Describe your area of research
- What are the unique features
of your research?
- What aspects are you
particularly interested in?
What are the ‘capabilities’ of this
research?
- Which applications or areas
could these ‘capabilities’
benefit?
Which of these options provides
the best commercial opportunity?
- What problem could it solve?
- How would you adapt to meet
market needs?
- How would you protect and
develop the technology/idea?
What are the barriers and risks
and how would you test them?
- In terms of market
acceptability, IP, competition,
resources required
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Summative assignments
Summative assignments are marked and feedback is given. The summative mark is used in
calculating the final unit mark. The two pieces of summative work, one individual presentation
and one individual final report, are described below
1) Individual presentation - weighting 20%
Submission deadline:
Your presentation slides must be submitted via Blackboard by 12noon
Wednesday 26 March 2014
You will deliver your presentation on
Monday 31 March 2014
You are asked to present, in 5 minutes, to a panel of experts about a commercial
opportunity based on your area of research. After 5 minutes, you will be cut off. 5 minutes
Q&A with the panel will then follow.
You are asked to prepare a Power Point presentation which contains the following 5 slides:
1. Opportunity/application identified
2. How your research will address this opportunity
3. Who would be your target market?
4. What business model would help you to commercialise and capture the value of your
idea?
5. Next steps – what are the next ‘critical’ actions to carry out and why?
Your presentation slides must be submitted via Blackboard by 12noon Wednesday 26
March 2014. Oral presentations will be held on Monday 31 March 2014. Make sure you
bring your presentation slides on a USB stick as a back-up when you present. The time and
place where the presentations take will place will be announced nearer the time.
This exercise will cover the following learning outcomes: A1, A2, C1, C4, D2, D3
Table 4: Unit learning outcomes assessed by the presentation
Category of
outcome
Knowledge and
understanding
Practical skills
Transferable skills
and personal qualities
Students will be able to:
A1. Identify what makes a viable commercial research
opportunity/idea
A2. Recognise market opportunities and barriers for new product
development (NPD)
C1. Develop a business idea
C4. Develop a robust commercial business model
D2. Communicate in an effective manner
D3. Develop commercial awareness
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2) Individual final report – weighting 80%
Submission deadline:
Your individual assignment must be submitted by 10 am
Monday 12 May 2014, both via Blackboard and handed in as a hard copy.
You are asked to write a commercial business report about the commercialisation
opportunities and business ideas based on your research area.
Your report will be structured and presented in an appropriate business manner i.e. cover,
content page, executive summary, main report body with appropriate subdivision headings,
concluding remarks, references and appendices.
The final report content should have following elements:
Executive summary
Introduction – a brief description and overview of your research identifying areas of
commercialisation opportunities.
Main body - detailed information about the product/service/company, including
understanding of the market and its application, identifying the target market and the
business model. Outlining how you adapt the research in order to meet the market needs
with your development/commercialisation plans.
Concluding remarks - summary of the business idea and any remaining issues including
possible next steps
References
Appendices
Individual Assignment Instructions
Your final assignment should be no more than 4,000 words in length, excluding
references and appendices.
This exercise will cover all of the learning outcomes as specified in Table 5.
To get high marks you need to consider the issues and standards as specified in Table 6.
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Table 5: Unit Learning Outcomes
Learning outcome
Knowledge and
understanding
Intellectual skills
Practical skills
Transferable skills
and personal
qualities
Students will be able to:
A1. Identify what makes a viable commercial research opportunity/idea
A2. Recognise market opportunities and barriers for new product development
A3. Identify the role of Intellectual Property (IP) in the commercialisation process
B1. Evaluate main channels and stages for commercialisation of research
B2. Review the relationship between innovation and entrepreneurship
B3.Critically evaluate the role business strategy and models play in the process
C1. Develop a business idea
C2. Access and mine secondary market research databases
C3. Research intellectual property rights
C4. Develop a robust commercial business model
D1. Research, analyse, evaluate and utilise information from a range of sources
D2. Communicate in an effective manner
D3. Develop commercial awareness
Table 6: Marking scheme for the Final Report
Marking category
(Learning outcomes)
Organisation and
presentation of the
report
(D1, D2, D3)
Information
acquisition &
management
(A1, A2, A3, B1, C1,
C2, C3, D1)
Analysis &
evaluation of
research and
commercialisation
ides and business
models
(A1, A2, A3, B1, B2,
B3, C1, C2, D1, D3)
Conclusions &
further specific
issues
(B1, B2, B3, C1, D1,
D2, D3)
To get high marks you need to consider the issues below and to
achieve the following standards
Does the work submitted meet the basic criteria of the assignment
(structure, word count, and topic)?
Is the report structured in a logical and coherent manner?
Is the language fluent, and the grammar and spelling correct?
Is the report presented in a professional and engaging manner?
Does the layout and presentation of information (graphics) assist the
reader in their understanding of the material and navigation of the
document?
Is the referencing to the required standard and accurate?
Is the research of appropriate scope & depth?
Does the research provide a multitude of perspectives (e.g. protection,
market analysis)?
Is the use and grasp of relevant databases demonstrated?
Is there evidence of wider reading?
Have any limitations been clearly understood and explained?
Has research/practitioner/market input been used to guide the analysis?
Has the market and wider environments been analysed in order to identify
potential opportunities and threats?
Have a range of opportunities - for a new product or service; been
identified, considered and evaluated?
Have different business/commercial models been critically evaluated in
order to determine strengths and weaknesses?
Has critical thinking, creativity and original thought been demonstrated in
the analysis?
Are the conclusions clear and do they logically follow on from the line of
reasoning developed?
Are arguments expressed with confidence and with clarity and are they
supported by a clear evidence base?
Are conclusions compelling, well articulated, demonstrate original thought
and are highly relevant and appropriate to the assignment set and your
own PhD project?
Have the value of the identified business opportunity and the business
concept been clearly communicated?
Are any specific remaining problems or issues clearly defined and
articulated?
%
10
30
30
30
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Assessment
This 15 credit unit Innovation and the Commercialisation of Research (MCEL60092) is
assessed by two individual pieces of work:
Table 7: Coursework details
Assessment task
Length
Weighting within
Hand in/
unit (if relevant) Presentation
Formative work
Work table (up to 500
words)
Zero
Week 5
Final presentation
5 min presentation plus
5 min Q&A;
20%
Week 10
Final Individual Report
4,000 words max plus
appendices
80%
Deadline:
Monday 12
May 2014
Individual Presentation materials and Final Individual Report must be handed in to the
MEC office - Room 8.32 Harold Hankins before the deadlines indicated below. An
electronic version must also be submitted via Blackboard by the same specified
deadlines.
Table 8: Deadlines for submission of coursework
Individual work (formatively assessed)

Table to be submitted by
Blackboard
Individual work
(summatively assessed)

Individual presentation, Q&A

Individual Final report
Submission deadline
Via BB
8am Monday 10
February 2014
Feedback to be given
Submission deadline
Feedback to be given
Via BB
12noon Wednesday
26 March 2014
Via BB and hand in
10 am, Monday
12 May 2014
Week 7
Week 11
3 weeks from hand in
date
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Postgraduate Assignment Standard Instructions - Individual 2013-14
The 15 credit unit Innovation & Commercialisation of Research MCEL60092 is
assessed by:
Individual presentation contributes 20% of unit total marks
Deadline: 12noon Wednesday 26 March 2014
Individual final report contributes 80% of unit total marks
Deadline: 3pm Monday 12 May 2014
Hand in Deadlines
Assignments are designed to allow you to present a piece of work which shows your
depth of understanding of the topics being assessed. A generous time period has
been allocated to allow you to undertake the research and composition of these
pieces of work. A single printed copy of your completed assignment work must be
handed in to 8.22 Harold Hankins Building, before the deadlines stated above. An
identical copy must also be submitted to BlackBoard.
Identify your work
Your work will be marked anonymously, please indicate the following on the front of
your work:
Student ID Number
Course code
Course title
Title of assignment (as given in the assignment instructions)
Word count (main text only, excluding figures, tables, appendix and reference list)
BlackBoard submission
In BlackBoard, please also submit an identical copy of your printed work in pdf
format. Your work is marked anonymously so you must give the work a Submission
title made up out of your student ID and the Unit code: 7654321MCELxxxxx
Check that you are completely happy with your document and that you are submitting
the correct version before you submit.
Blackboard will produce an electronic receipt with a unique number which you
should note and retain for your records, as this is proof of your submission.
Instructions on how to submit your work to Blackboard via Turnitin (the online
plagiarism detection software) will be provided in the Blackboard unit space.
Late Penalty
Work handed in after the deadline will be given a mark of zero.
Extensions for Exceptional Circumstances
Please plan your time carefully as extensions to the hand in deadline are only granted
for exceptional circumstances (such as lengthy illness or bereavement). Any event
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which could reasonably have been predicted to occur within the assignment period is
not legitimate grounds for an extension (going to parties, days off, working, religious
observance, minor sickness, event attendance or loss of data). Your request for an
extension must be in writing (e-mail) to the mitigating circumstances officer of
your home School. Do not delay. The request must be submitted as soon as you
identify the need for an extension.
Please also e-mail your unit lecturer and copy claire.gill@manchester.ac.uk to alert
us that you have formally made a request to your School.
Plagiarism and Referencing
Your assignment demonstrates to the marker your level of understanding and
analysis of the subject. It is essential that the assignment which you hand in is
written in your own words. If you do use even a few words from another source,
then you must reference exactly where the quotation has come from. A
quotation must appear inside ‘quotation marks’ and be followed by a full reference.
A full reference is one that allows the reader to go directly to the precise page in the
document that you have obtained the information from.
Information must never be ‘cut and pasted’ into the body text of your assignment.
Do not start to draft your assignment work by collecting cut and pasted
information into a rough document that you then edit and hand in. This is poor
academic practice and will be heavily penalised.
Each and every table, graph, chart, photograph and diagram, unless created from first
principles by you, must be clearly and fully attributed to the original source.
Unless otherwise indicated, you are expected to work individually on your
assignment. Any assignments which appear to have similarities with each other will
lead to disciplinary action under the University rules. Allowing your own work to be
copied is treated as severely as the act of copying from someone else’s work.
You must not submit any work for assessment that you have previously submitted for
assessment. (This is called self-plagiarism)
You will sign the cover sheet when handing in your work stating that it is all your
own material. Your attention is drawn to the University policy and guidelines on
plagiarism:
http://documents.manchester.ac.uk/display.aspx?DocID=2870
All electronic copies of assignments submitted via Blackboard will be checked for
plagiarism
Feedback
Formative assessment tasks are designed give you an early indication of how well
you are working in the subject area. You will receive feedback, however the mark for
formative work does not get used in calculating the unit final mark.
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Summative assignments are marked and feedback is given. The summative mark
is used in calculating the final unit mark.
.
All assignments which are handed in before the deadline will be marked within a
target time of 15 working days from the hand in date. Individual feedback comments
sheets and marks will be made available for you to collect from 8.22 Harold
Hankins Building. You must collect only your own feedback sheet and will need to
show your ID card. General feedback points may be given to the whole class group
as a hand out or within a lecture/ tutorial. These feedback comments are intended to
help you to improve your approach to future work tasks.
It is important to note that the mark awarded is not negotiable. The mark you are
given has been through a strict marking and moderation process. The mark is subject
to further checking and moderation by the external examiner and exam board. Once
you have handed work in, you cannot re-attempt or re-submit an assessment in order
to try to achieve a better mark a second time round.
All MEC staff are willing to meet with students, on request by e-mail, to give brief
personal feedback. This is additional to the written assessed feedback and should be
undertaken no more than 4 weeks from the written feedback being made available.
If you believe that there has been a numerical mistake in the marking of your work
you can e-mail Claire.gill@manchester.ac.uk to request that the assignment be rechecked stating where you believe the mistake has occurred.
Note: The University of Manchester ‘Policy on Feedback to Undergraduate and
Postgraduate Taught Students’ may be viewed at:
http://documents.manchester.ac.uk/display.aspx?DocID=6518
Manchester Enterprise Centre
Updated 18.7.13
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