Accessing NASA Technology Innovation
Ken Dozier
NASA Far West RTTC
9/24/02
University of Southern California
School of Engineering Technology Transfer Center
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Organization History
Since 1967, USC has been developing Primary Market
Research for NASA in the area of Technology Transfer.
• 1967 NIAC Started
• 1976 Subsidized Information Searches
• 1982 Information Services Expanded, RISS Launched
• 1984 Affiliate Network Starts
• 1991 Affiliate Network Expands
Mid-West
Northeast
• 1992 USC Selected as RTTC
• 1994 Wins TRP Award
• 1997 ETTC Formed
Far West
Mid-Atlantic
Southeast
Mid - Continent
University of Southern California
School of Engineering Technology Transfer Center
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B01-003
The Future
“When the Rate of Change Outside is
Greater Than the Rate of Change Inside,
The End Is In Sight”
Jack Welch, Chairmen General Electric
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School of Engineering Technology Transfer Center
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Velocity
“ According to Silicon Valley CEO’s, 60 % of
the high-tech items they manufacture today
did not exist 10 months ago”
Lon Hatamiya, Secretary - California Trade and Commerce Agency
“Startups are now expected to go public
within 6-18 months after venture investment”
Donna Jensen, Founder and CEO of startups.com
University of Southern California
School of Engineering Technology Transfer Center
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The Future
“Man will never reach the moon, regardless of all future scientific advances”
Lee De Forest, Radio Pioneer, 1957
“where ... The ENIAC is equipped with
18,000 vacuum tubes and weighs 30 tons,
computer in the the future may have only
1,000 vacuum tubes and weigh only 1.5 tons”
“There is no reason anyone would want a
computer in their home”
- Ken Olson, president and
founder, Digital Equipment Corp., 1977
- Popular Mechanics, 1949
“This ‘Telephone’ has too many shortcomings
to be seriously considered as a means of
communication. The device is inherently of
no value to us”
“The problem with television is that the people
must sit and keep their eyes glued on a screen;
The average American family hasn’t time for it”
- New York Times, 1949
- Western Union, Internal memo, 1876
“I predict the internet... Will go spectacularly
supernova and in 1996 catastrophically collapse ”
- Bob Metcalfe, 3COM founder and inventor, 1995
University of Southern California
School of Engineering Technology Transfer Center
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What is Knowledge ?
Truth
Universal
Knowledge
Belief
Social
Personal
No Debate
Converge on debate
Diverge on debate
Effect
Cause
Cause
10 Philosophical Mistakes (Adler 85)
University of Southern California
School of Engineering Technology Transfer Center
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1st Perspective
• Knowledge is a New Kind of Asset
– The foundation of industrialized economy is shifting from natural
resources to intellectual assets (Hansen 99) (Davis 98)
– Knowledge assets are viewed as factors of production that may be
more important than traditional resources of capital, labor and
land. (Davis 98)
– Converging technologies and rapid innovations can transform
markets Overnight . Administrative systems no longer provide the
underpinnings of value creation. (Teece 98)
– Reward goes to those who are good a sensing and seizing
opportunities. Dynamic capabilities are most likely to be resident
in firms that are highly entrepreneurial. (Teece 98)
University of Southern California
School of Engineering Technology Transfer Center
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Global Competition
•3
Finland
• 4 Luxembourg
•5 Netherlands
•6 Hong Kong
•7 Ireland
•8 Sweden
•9 Canada
•10 Switzerland
Source: The world Competitiveness Yearbook IMD International
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School of Engineering Technology Transfer Center
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Industry Clusters
University of Southern California
School of Engineering Technology Transfer Center
(ERI/McGraw Hill,”America’s Clusters”,1996)
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The Evolution of Industry
(ERI/McGraw Hill,”America’s Clusters”,1996)
Theme Parks
Motion Pictures
Motion Pictures
Television
Computer
Peripherals
Aviation
Electronics
Defense
Instruments
Defense
Aviation
Defense
Aerospace
Theme Parks/
Tourism
Visual Media
Production
Professional
Services
Multimedia
Technology
Engineering
Services
Commercial
Aviation
Technology-Based
Metal
Products
General
Manufacturing
Food
Processing
General
Manufacturing
Information
Processing
Agriculture
Information
Processing
Business
Services
Automobile
Manufacturing
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School of Engineering Technology Transfer Center
Manufacturing
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Clusters
Gus Koehler, USC
University of Southern California
School of Engineering Technology Transfer Center
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B01-043
Clusters
Gus Koehler, USC
University of Southern California
School of Engineering Technology Transfer Center
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B01-044
Clusters
Gus Koehler, USC
University of Southern California
School of Engineering Technology Transfer Center
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B01-045
Clusters
Gus Koehler, USC
University of Southern California
School of Engineering Technology Transfer Center
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2nd Perspective
• Entrepreneurship Super Normal Wealth Creator
– Business Environments Have Become Hypercompetitive because of the
High Magnitude and Velocity of Interfirm Rivalries (D’Aveni, 94)
– Innovations in Products, Services, Business Processes, and Organizational
Designs are Creating Dramatic Discontinuities in Product- Market Spaces
and Disrupting the Traditional Approaches to Competitive Strategies and
Business Conduct (Christensen, 97)
– In the Short Run, Entrepreneurial Firms Reaps Supernormal Returns
(Create Wealth) as Established Incumbents and Rivals Seek to Understand
the Competitive Disruptions in their Market Space.(Christensen 97)
– Thus Competition Occurs in the Form of a Series of Market Disruption
Moves by New Entrants or Entrepreneurial Firms and Efforts by
Incumbents and Rivals to Shape Their Response Actions (Young et al 96)
University of Southern California
School of Engineering Technology Transfer Center
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Make & Sell vs Sense & Respond
Chabol (large companies)
hierarchy, products based, (push)
Federal Agencies, SBIR:
Mission Based, Linear (push)
Universities: Curiosity
Based, emerging, (push)
Venture: Niche markets,
Incubators and Science Parks
created to bridge gap between
development and commercialization
University of Southern California
School of Engineering Technology Transfer Center
public trading (pull)
Chart Source: Corporate Information Systems, Applegate
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Licensing Wealth
Drivers
Gates
Jobs
Clark
Clark
“Microsoft”
“Apple”
“SGI”
“Netscape”
University of Southern California
School of Engineering Technology Transfer Center
Developers
Xerox
Xerox
E&S, Stanford
University of
Illinois
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Market Redefinition:Radical Change
Seven Organizational Change Propositions, Venkatraman 1994
University of Southern California
School of Engineering Technology Transfer Center
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RTTC Focus:Discovery
Zmud 2001
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School of Engineering Technology Transfer Center
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3rd Perspective
• Entrepreneurial Firms Represent a New Online
Community
• Network computing, supported by advanced communications
infrastructure, can facilitate collaborative entrepreneuralism (Teece 98)
• Successful business models set themselves apart in their communication
design leading to a deconstruction of traditional value chains and the
emergence of value Webs. (Lechner 01)
• The most critical factor for a venture business success is how to implement
and commercialize lab-based technology/knowledge/ideas into actual
products and/or services (Sung 01)
• Entrepreneurial firms use knowledge to reshape clusters of assets in
distinctive and unique combinations to serve ever changing customer
needs. (Teece 98)
• The key sources of wealth creation at the dawn of the new millennium will
lie with new enterprise formation. (Teece 98)
University of Southern California
School of Engineering Technology Transfer Center
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Online Community
Community = Set of Agents + Medium
Agents = user groups
Medium = Internet
Subscribers
Netiquette
Self Organized
Non-Commercial Culture
Communities - Business Models and System Architectures:
The Blueprint of MP3.com, Napster and Gnutella Revisited, Lechner
University of Southern California
School of Engineering Technology Transfer Center
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Components of a Medium
Knowledge
Intention
Communities - Business Models and System Architectures:
The Blueprint of MP3.com, Napster and Gnutella Revisited, Lechner
University of Southern California
School of Engineering Technology Transfer Center
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Evidence from Practice
• Secondary Market Research as practiced by expert
communities may be not be producing market knowledge
fast enough or broad enough for modern high velocity
markets
– Market analysis of existing markets was not encouraging
• A KMS that uses IT to gather primary market information
rapidly, facilitates the complex transformation between
basic research (IP) and commercialization (Wealth)
– Online research for potential markets has changed the lens
– MOB/WOB community is rich with profitable SMEs
University of Southern California
School of Engineering Technology Transfer Center
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Market Research Repository
You can sort or
filter you selection
Each technology list
the available primary
marker research
we have done.
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School of Engineering Technology Transfer Center
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Docket Example
MULTI-CHANNEL SPATIALIZATION SYSTEM FOR AUDIO SIGNALS
U.S. patent 5,438,623 (August 1, 1995)
PROBLEM ADDRESSED separation of auditory inputs by
simulation of different source locations
TECHNICAL APPROACH
(1) use of synthetic auditory head related transfer
function (HRTF) to simulate different virtual spatial
source locations for up to five auditory signals;
(2) analog-to-digital conversion for noise-free
processing with HRTF, and subsequent digital-to-analog
conversion for presentation of modified signals to right
and left ears
POTENTIAL APPLICATIONS teleconferencing, aeronautical
communications, virtual reality video games, command and control
BENEFITS (1) binaural hearing advantages: substantial improvement (6-8 dB)in signal to noise; faster
reaction times, less listening fatigue, increased perception and immersion; (2) less expensive than general
purpose 3D audio displays; (3) customizable; (4) user-friendly, not requiring computer interface
University of Southern California
School of Engineering Technology Transfer Center
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Gather Competitive Intelligence
• By using the CAP
Tools, you can collect
industry feedback and
potential commercial
applications.
University of Southern California
School of Engineering Technology Transfer Center
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B01-063
The Radar
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School of Engineering Technology Transfer Center
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CAP Tools (Explicit)
In the CAP, say you need
to build a Technology Status
Report.
Clicking on the link, brings up more
information about what is a
Technology Status Report (TSR),
including an example.
University of Southern California
School of Engineering Technology Transfer Center
Clicking on the
details button reveals
more information
about the TSR.
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Market Wanted Innovations
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Real time
General Solution (360 sphere)
Low Cost
Head Orientation Sensitive
Set Top Box
Sound Card Add in
Listener Location Independence
University of Southern California
School of Engineering Technology Transfer Center
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MOB/WOB Firm
• Breakaway
– On going profitable south central MOB IT Service Business
– Strong Private and Public Network
– No Products
– Strong business relationship with Microsoft
• Far West
– Assisted with Business Plan
– We located Physicist
– Located Chip Designers
– MOU in process with Taiwan partner for chip fabrication
– Assisting with SBIR and STTR to ensure dual use
– Prepared mathematical demonstration of algorithm
University of Southern California
School of Engineering Technology Transfer Center
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Leveraging Existing Network
Breakaway will take lead on SBIR Phase I and Phase II
(hopefully) Far West RTTC will support
USC School of Engineering will support STTR work.
Large Chip manufacturer is monitoring process
Large Set Top Box manufacturer is monitoring process
VC is monitoring process
Investment Bank is monitoring process
DoD is monitoring process
Time to Market 24 to 36 months
University of Southern California
School of Engineering Technology Transfer Center
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Assessing Your Technology
After-Technology
(Customer Facing)
Before Technology
(Non-Customer Facing)
Industry Adoption of Technology
CIO Magazine June 2002
CEO Not Involved
CEO Involved
Executive’s Approach to Technology
University of Southern California
School of Engineering Technology Transfer Center
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B01-113
Intern Opportunity
Opportunity to work with Boeing
Review current licensees for audit.
Coordinate request for patent licenses and recommend
changes to strategies and process.
Interface closely with attorneys, patent consults and portfolio
management personnel.
2/ 20 hours a week
$12/hr.
University of Southern California
School of Engineering Technology Transfer Center
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