Market research methods
Goal:
To simplify the search for information that makes technology evaluation and
marketing possible. Ideally the information is publicly available, free to OTL, and
can be found in less than an hour.
Criteria in technology evaluation and marketing:
 Commercial Potential
 Scientific/Technological Merits
 Proprietary Position and Patentability Issues
 Avenues to Commercialization
Acquire the information needed:
 Market (end user applications, size, maturity, etc.)
 Performance criteria (speed, accuracy, durability, etc.)
 Benchmarks
 Near term products
 Trends
 IP landscape
 Competing technology
 Players – major, minor, emerging
 Market dynamics – competition, barriers to entry
Examples of these types of information as applied to the whole genome DNA
sequencing market (See DNA sequencing and Biosensor Report)
Examples of related information
Use of Information
Size: 7.8 B (2004), 17.8 B (proj 2009)
/ Market has about 15 players
Aids in evaluation of commercial
potential and avenues to
commercialization
Cost per base pair / Read Length /
Throughput
Used to in evaluating the scientific
merits of a technology and in guiding
discussion with inventors
Benchmarks
The ABI 3730xl synthesizer (Sanger
sequencing technology): Cost per
base pair = $.001 / Read Length =
1000 bp / Throughput = 2Mbp/day
Used to determine whether a new
technology is revolutionary or
evolutionary
Near Term Products
454 Corp. - Genome Sequencer 20 Pyrosequencing technology / Helicos
- Single molecule sequencing
instrument 2006-07 / Solexa - Single
molecule sequencing instrument
2005-06
Aids in the determination of the
direction the market is moving as well
as the performance criteria and
benchmarks in the process of
development
Market
Performance Criteria
Trends
IP Landscape
Competing
Technology
Players
Market Dynamics
Movement toward the "$1000
Genome" in one day / Development of
sequence production technologies to
supplant dideoxy method
Pyrosequencing technology is
monopolized by 454 and Biotage AB
who have dominant IP position in the
field
Sequencing by Synthesis /
Sequencing by Hybridization / Single
molecule methods / Sanger method
Aids in evaluation of technology in
regard to its scientific merits and in
tailoring abstracts to potential
licensees
Helps identify "qualified" licensing
leads and aids in evaluation of
technology
Aids in identifying "qualified" licensing
leads and helps in writing of effective
abstracts
In Sanger Sequencing Methodology:
ABI / GE Healthcare / Beckman
Coulter / Li-Cor
Aids in identifying "qualified" licensing
leads, and allows for more effective
marketing efforts
Does not appear as though there is an
existing value chain in this market: i.e.
Companies in this market design and
manufacture their own instruments
and related consumables
Aids in evaluation of commercial
potential and avenues to
commercialization
Possible Method and other resources:
1) Literature
In scientific literature, the “review” article is the type of article that is most
useful gathering the type of information that is interesting for OTL technology
evaluation and marketing. Review articles are generally written by leaders in
a particular field of research to be easily accessible for someone with general
science background. Frequently, these articles have a particular focus such
as educating the reader about the status current academic or industrial
research. In some cases it is possible to find review articles that specifically
focus on the market for a particular type of technology, i.e. DNA sequencing,
Antibodies in In Vitro Diagnostics, Glucose Sensors, etc. Obviously, the later
types of articles best for OTL type research needs, but the other reviews can
also be useful.
To search for review articles in scientific and medical literature focus on the
following databases available through the Stanford libraries.

ISI SciSearch - https://lib.stanford.edu/isi-scisearch
ISI SciSearch is an international, multidisciplinary index to the literature
of science, technology, and biomedicine. Over 4,000 journals
representing all scientific disciplines are indexed. The database covers
1900 to the present, and records from January 1991 to the present
include abstracts. Cited reference searching is a valuable feature of
the database. ISI SciSearch is available via ISI Web of
Knowledge/Web of Science. SciSearch allows for you to keyword
search for journal articles and reviews as well as set up alerts that
inform you as to when new articles are published in a particular
keyword search. PubMed also allows you to link to full text pdf and
html files for journal articles if Stanford has a subscription to the journal
of interest.

PubMed - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?otool=stanford
PubMed is a database that provides access to bibliographic
information for scientific and medical journals and focuses primarily on
research in the biological sciences and medicine. With PubMed you
can search for journal articles using keywords, or you can search for
journal article that are cited by or related to articles of interest.
PubMed also allows you to link to full text pdf and html files for journal
articles if Stanford has a subscription to the journal of interest.
NOTE: The major difference between ISI SciSearch and PubMed is the focus
of the databases. If you are looking for information on a biological topic start
with PubMed and move to ISI SciSearch second. However, if you are
searching for information that is closer to the physical or engineering sciences
start with ISI SciSearch and move to PubMed.

Annual Reviews - http://www.annualreviews.org
Annual Reviews publishes authoritative, analytic reviews in 32
focused disciplines within the Biomedical, Physical, and Social
Sciences. You can search Annual Reviews by keyword and get full
text pdf files from this web site. However, Annual Reviews may be
more focused on academic research as opposed to industrial
research and market information. Annual reviews is an excellent
source of basic background information that is accessible to people
with a basic science background.

IEEE Explore - http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/Xplore/dynhome.jsp
The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) is a
non-profit, technical professional association that publishes a
number of journals in the fields of electronics and electrical
engineering. This search engine is useful in searching IEEE
journals for scientific articles by keyword. You can find a lot of the
articles on IEEE on SciSearch as well, but IEEE may have better
coverage overall of the electronics and electrical engineering fields.

Other databases @ Stanford –
http://library.stanford.edu/catdb/dbases_articles.html
Stanford has a number of other interesting databases. Many of these
databases are of less general interest and are very specific for certain
fields.
Suggestions for literature searching
o Use of keywords – Use the technology buzz words that you get
from talks with the inventors. Also as you start searching you will
find more buzz words to add. Combining the technology buzz
words with words like trends, technology, methods, and market
help gear the search to find more industrial focused articles. In
searching these databases use only one or two keywords when
searching because the searches are already limited to review
articles only.
 Examples of successful keyword searches;
 DNA sequencing and market
 Biosensor and optical
 Biosensor and trends
o Evaluating a search – Try to get between 25 and 200 hits for
review articles in the preliminary search. Scan the titles to see
what kind of articles are popping up. Sort the lists by publication
date and only consider reviews from the past three years. The best
reviews to have a broad focus and have titles like to following:
 “Home blood glucose biosensors: a commercial perspective”
 “Advanced Sequencing Technologies: Methods and Goals”
 “Advances in DNA Sequencing Technology”
 “Antiangiogenic therapy for cancer: current and emerging
concepts”
 “Nanomedicine: current status and future prospects”
o Evaluating articles – The problem with scientific articles and even
reviews is that they are long, dense, and require some scientific
priming. Therefore, it may be best to not read the articles but give
the articles a quick skim (~ 2-5 minutes). Read the first few
paragraphs of the introduction, look at the headings of the sections,
and read the conclusion. Usually after doing this you will know at
what level the article is written (how accessible the article is),
whether it deals mainly with academic or more industrial research
topics, and basically if you want to spend any more time with the
article. When skimming, look through the paragraphs in the body of
the text for capital letters and parentheses. These are usually a
good sign that there will be company names in the article which are
always useful. It may be important to find articles that deal with
more that just the science because it is easy to get bogged down in
trying to understand all of the science when you only need a
cursory understanding.
 From a good review you can get:
 New keywords
 Company names
 Industry profiles
 Definitions
 Technology trends
o Keeping up to date – On PubMed and SciSearch, it is possible to
save searches and also to export bibliographical information in the
form of text files. This way you can start a search and get a
number of potential interesting articles and then follow up later and
look at the articles that you find interesting. SciSearch also allows
you to set up a search that is automated which makes it easy to
stay up to date. For example, you can set tell SciSearch to send
you the results of a search at weekly or monthly intervals.

Time estimate = A literature search can take anywhere from 1 – 2 hours.
This does not include the time necessary to synthesize the information
into a report.
2) Internet
 Market research reports – The table of contents of market research
reports may be extremely useful in determining the companies that are
relevant in an industry. Use the table of contents to get a better idea of
the overall structure of the market i.e. producers, suppliers, trends, etc.
The major drawbacks of this method of company searching include:
 The need for a current report – last few years
 The need to double check the report – frequently the companies
listed in the table of contents do not belong
If you are okay with market reports that are slightly outdated, you can go
to Jackson library at Stanford ( http://www.gsb.stanford.edu/library/ ) and
use their computers to access on-line research reports. These could be
outdated and rather hit-or-miss.
Guide to finding market research reports on the web.
1. MarketResearch – www.marketresearch.com
 MarketResearch.com is an aggregator of global business
intelligence representing the most comprehensive collection of
published market research available on-demand. Strategy starts
with the most relevant, current and credible research available.
You need to sign in every time you want to look at a table of
contents.
2.
3.
4.
5.

Business Communications Co. – www.bccresearch.com
Freedonia – www.freedoniagroup.com
Frost and Sullivan – www.frost.com
Others
 The table of contents may be easier to print and read on the
websites of the companies who produce the research reports.
However, since MarketResearch lists all of the reports, you may
just look there for information.
Google Searches
Use Google for very specific searches once you have a good
understanding of the field and the important keywords associated with the
field. For instance, do not go to Google and search for “DNA sequencing”.
However, try to Google and search for “pyrosequencing DNA sequencing
technology”.
These Google searching suggestions are not profound. Use as many
keywords as you can in a search usually between 4 and 7.
o Examples: Trends, technology, methods, company, list, and other
industry specific keywords like optical biosensor, piezoelectric
biosensor, or sequencing-by-hybridization.
Also, remember that if you want to search for an exact string of words
using Google use quotations to designate the string i.e. to search for
sequencing by hybridization use “sequencing by hybridization” instead of
sequencing by hybridization which will omit the ‘by’
3) Jackson Library – Stanford Business School Library
 Stanford’s Jackson library is an information source for market research
primarily because it requires time away from one’s desk to get information.
Also before you venture over to Jackson, peruse the library’s website
which is pretty extensive and can save you a lot of time. You can find
some rather out dated and hit or miss market research reports at Jackson,
but you can also find In Vivo and Medtech Insight which are respected
market research periodicals in biotech and medical technology. Also
listed a number of links on the Jackson website that may be of interest:
o "Hot topics" Biotech and Pharma (basically a news site):
http://public-prod-acquia.gsb.stanford.edu/library/articles/hottopics
o Market Research: This can help with finding the market research
information beyond what is written here.
http://libguides.stanford.edu/market-research
o Jackson library databases:
http://www.gsb.stanford.edu/library/articles/databases/databases.ht
ml
More Information resources –
Trade Publications
Here is a list of trade publications from a number of organizations. Not ranked,
each one is rather industry specific. Check out the ones that you feel are most
related to your field of interest.
Chemical and Engineering News – http://pubs.acs.org/cen/
C&EN Online is a weekly magazine published by the American Chemical
Society. It covers recent research in chemistry and chemical engineering as well
as giving an overview of important business, government, and policy trends that
are important in fields of chemistry and chemical engineering. The magazine
frequently has features on trends in the pharmaceutical and biotech industries.
Genetic Engineering News – http://www.genengnews.com/
Genetic Engineering News is the most widely read bioindustry publication
worldwide and has long been acknowledged as the voice of the global
biotechnology bioindustry. GEN covers all areas of biotechnology: our
international purview includes all aspects of applied research through
commercialization. Editorial content includes regulatory, strategic alliances and
collaborations, clinical trials, corporate profiles, in-depth interviews with leaders in
industry, academia, and government, instructive tutorials in drug discovery and
bioprocessing to enhance research results, and products that enable significant
advances in bioscience R&D.
Solid State Technology – http://electroiq.com/mems/
EE Times - http://www.eetimes.com/ - EE Times' editorial mission is to provide
engineers and technical managers with timely, relevant news, analysis and
opinion - of both technology and business - to help them keep their fingers on the
pulse of the industry and to enable them to make the most informed business,
technology and product decisions involving their designs.
Design News - http://www.designnews.com/ - A print and online magazine that
covers the latest tools, components, and materials used in mechanical and
electromechanical design of a broad range of products and industries including:
 Aerospace/Defense
 Consumer Electronics
 Medical / Healthcare
 Semiconductor manufacturing
 Telecommunications.
Scientific Journals –
In general, on journals use a search engine to find articles and link to the full text
.pdf’s directly from the search site. Finding review articles from the journals
Science or Nature (the two most prestigious scientific journals) may be the best
because the authors are usually the premier researchers in their respective field,
and the articles are written for a general scientific audience.
 Nature Biotechnology – Nature Biotech is the premier journal for
biotechnology research and academic and industrial commentary. You may
not want to go directly to journal websites and fish around for articles because
you can usually do that better on PubMed or SciSearch, but Nature Biotech is
one journal useful in this way. This journal frequently has insightful
commentaries on the biotech industry including technology and business
trends.
Websites –
Here is a list of websites useful for getting magazine type articles about
technologies and industries as well as lists of company names:
Biospace – www.biospace.com
Technology Review – www.technologyreview.com
Nanotechnology Law and Business – http://www.nanolabweb.com/
Qmed - http://www.qmed.com/supplier-directory
NanoInvest – http://www.nanoinvest.com
Nanotechnology Now – www.nanotech-now.com
Sensors Online – www.sensorsmag.com
Photonics.com – http://www.photonics.com
NanoBiotech News - http://www.techconnectworld.com
GlobalSpec - http://www.globalspec.com/
Drug Discovery & Development - http://www.dddmag.com/
Other interesting and help web-based resources –
Access Science - http://www.accessscience.com
USPTO Patent Search - http://patft.uspto.gov/
MEMS company list from Mark Madou (UC Irvine) http://mmadou.eng.uci.edu/Edu_Services/Companies.htm
http://mmadou.eng.uci.edu/Edu_Services/Foundries.htm
Trade Organizations –
Not ranked, these groups are industry specific. Look at the descriptions of these
organizations and pick the ones that you find applicable to your search. At these
websites, you can typically find extensive company lists (members of the
organization), articles that deal specifically with the state of the industry and
important news about company members of the organization, as well as industry
related publications.
BIO – Biotechnology Industry Organization - http://www.bio.org - The
Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) represents more than 1,100
biotechnology companies, academic institutions, state biotechnology centers and
related organizations in 50 U.S. states and 31 other nations. BIO members are
involved in the research and development of health-care, agricultural, industrial
and environmental biotechnology products.
NSTI – Nano Science and Technology Institute – http://www.nsti.org/ - NSTI was
created in 1997 and chartered with the promotion and integration of small
technologies through education, technology and business development. NSTI
accomplishes this mission through its offerings of consulting services, continuing
education programs, scientific and business publishing and community outreach.
The NSTI is the founder and manager of the world's most comprehensive small
technology scientific and business event, the annual Nanotechnology
Conference and Trade Show (Nanotech). The NSTI provides technical,
informational and business services to industrial and governmental organizations
worldwide.
AMTA – Advanced Medical Technology Association - http://www.advamed.org/ AdvaMed is the world's largest medical technology association representing
manufacturers of medical devices, diagnostic products and medical information
systems. AdvaMed’s more than 1,300 members and subsidiaries manufacture
nearly 90 percent of the $80 billion of health care technology purchased annually
in the United States and more than 50 percent of the $175 billion purchased
annually around the world. AdvaMed members range from the largest to the
smallest medical technology innovators and companies. Nearly 70 percent of our
members have fewer than $30 million in sales annually.
AAMI – Association of the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation http://www.aami.org - The Association for the Advancement of Medical
Instrumentation (AAMI), founded in 1967, is a unique alliance of over 6,000
members united by the common goal of increasing the understanding and
beneficial use of medical instrumentation. AAMI is the primary source of
consensus and timely information on medical instrumentation and technology.
AAMI is the primary resource for the industry, the professions, and government
for national and international standards. AAMI provides a unique and critical
forum for members who cover a complete range of interests, from clinical and
biomedical engineers and technicians, physicians, nurses, and hospital
administrators, to educators and researchers, manufacturers, distributors,
government representatives and other health care professionals with an interest
in medical devices. These diverse groups have been instrumental in making
AAMI the leading source of essential information on medical devices and
equipment for over 30 years.
MDMA – Medical Device Manufacturers Association http://www.medicaldevices.org/public/ - The Medical Device Manufacturers
Association (MDMA) is a national trade association based in Washington, D.C.
that represents independent manufacturers of medical devices, diagnostic
products and healthcare information systems.
NEMA – National Electrical Manufacturers Association - http://www.nema.org/ NEMA has over 400 member companies, including large, medium, and small
businesses that manufacture products used in the generation, transmission and
distribution, control, and end-use of electricity. Annual shipments of these
products total $100 billion. NEMA's mission is to promote the competitiveness of
its member companies by providing quality services that will impact positively on
standards, government regulations and market economics.
PhRMA – Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America http://www.phrma.org/ - The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of
America (PhRMA) represents the country’s leading pharmaceutical research and
biotechnology companies, which are devoted to inventing medicines that allow
patients to live longer, healthier, and more productive lives. PhRMA’s mission is
to conduct effective advocacy for public policies that encourage discovery of
important new medicines for patients by pharmaceutical/biotechnology research
companies.
AMDM – Association of Medical Diagnostics Manufacturers http://www.amdm.org/ - The AMDM is a nonprofit trade association that serves
as a resource for education and information on compliance issues between
member companies, and as an interface between member companies and the
FDA. Today membership includes companies of all sizes who manufacture and
distribute in vitro diagnostic products, including cell cultures and cell culture
media, immunology and immune status test products, antigen and microbial
detection products, and toxicology.
DCAT – Drug, Chemical & Associated Technologies - http://www.dcat.org/ DCAT is the premier business development association whose membership is
comprised of companies that manufacture, distribute or provide services to the
pharmaceutical, chemical, nutritional and related industries. The Association
provides services, programs and activities designed to support the business
development objectives of its membership.
NanoBusiness Alliance - http://nanobusiness.org/ - The NanoBusiness Alliance
is the first industry association founded to advance the emerging business of
nanotechnology and Microsystems. The NanoBusiness Alliance's mission is to
create a collective voice for the emerging small tech industry and develop a
range of initiatives to support and strengthen the nanotechnology business
community.
MIG - MEMS Industry Group - http://www.memsindustrygroup.org/ - MIG strives
to be the unifying voice of the commercial MEMS industry. Our mission is to try to
understand and to eliminate the barriers that prevent the greater commercial use
of MEMS and MEMS-enabled technology.
SEMI - http://www.semi.org - As the voice of the semiconductor equipment and
materials industry, SEMI represents the collective interests of its membership,
and is an advocate for the industry in the areas of public policy, environment,
health and safety, workforce development and investor relations.